From http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/7787119.htm:

Dog's adoptive family: `We are not villains'
COUPLE BREAK SILENCE ON DISPUTE
By Yomi S. Wronge
Mercury News

They were vilified across the nation for keeping a dog from its rightful
owner. But the family that adopted Bella, the golden retriever, spoke
out Friday with an impassioned message: We're the good guys in this
story.

And the Los Gatos family broke its silence in dramatic fashion,
appearing on the Greg Kihn show on KFOX radio, and then granting an
interview to the Mercury News.

The family, who asked not to be named, said they thought they were
rescuing an abandoned dog when they adopted Bella as a birthday gift for
their 10-year-old daughter. Shortly afterward, they left town, and were
unaware that Bella's original owner gained national attention with her
pleas to get her dog back.

``We are not villains,'' said the father.

``There are children harassing our daughter at school, and for what?''
said the girl's mother in an interview Friday afternoon. ``For following
the law, trying to rescue a dog and rewarding a 10-year-old.''

Since it was first reported in the Mercury News and picked up by
national media, people from Silicon Valley to Syracuse, N.Y., now know
the saga of Bella: how the stray dog was adopted from an animal shelter,
then found by her original owner hours later. Initially, the adoptive
owner declined to return the dog, but on Wednesday, Bella was reunited
with Niki Karanastasis.

The girl's parents say they were thrilled when a friend called to say a
handsome golden retriever had been brought to the shelter.

On Jan. 9, the day they were to bring her home, the parents got a call
from the shelter. Someone was claiming to have lost the dog.

``I have had dogs all my life, and at that point we said, well, we would
never keep somebody else's dog, and so I'd be happy to return it,'' the
mom told Kihn.

But she said she wanted to speak to the owner first, to be sure they
were all talking about the right dog. When the Humane Society set up the
call, a man got on the phone. Turns out he was a friend of Karanastasis.

After asking him a few basic questions about the dog's history, the Los
Gatos couple said they were not convinced that the real owner had
stepped forward. They were not the only ones who thought so.

``Multiple people had come down, multiple people had claimed to be the
owner, and it was never clear who the owner was,'' said Christine
Benninger, president of Humane Society Silicon Valley.

Humane Society officials took the phone from the man and apologized, the
family said.

Satisfied they had a new pet, the couple kept the dog. They named her
Lady. Their daughter fell in love.

``I even slept with her,'' the girl told Kihn.

On Jan. 15, about a week after bringing Lady home, the family went back
East for a weekend trip and left the dog in a grandmother's care.

A distraught Karanastasis, meanwhile, went public.

The Los Gatos parents returned to town late Monday night. When they
arrived at work Tuesday, they discovered they had become front-page
news. Scores of angry dog lovers were demanding that they give Bella
back.

The family is especially angry at the Mercury News, alleging the paper
distorted its stories to make them look bad, and refused to include
information that would explain their actions.

``We stand by the facts we reported,'' said Mercury News Executive
Editor Susan Goldberg. ``We tried repeatedly to interview the family,
and we're glad we can finally tell their side of the story.''

Overwhelmed, the family said they called the Humane Society and arranged
to return the dog.

It's been nothing but heartache for everyone involved.

The family feels their reputation has been thoroughly trashed. They say
that is why they do not want to be named in the paper.

The 10-year-old girl is seeing a counselor to deal with the stress, her
mother said.

``If I was that lady, I would want my dog back,'' the child said on the
radio.

Mom and Dad said they don't even want to think about getting another dog
right now.