In Michigan, Genesee County Animal Control officials have apologized to Anette Hetzer for accidentally euthanizing her dog last week.

Junior, a two-year-old black lab had been quarantined at the county's animal shelter to observe for signs of rabies after escaping from Hetzer's home and biting a woman. Hetzer's husband received a ticket for a leash law violation.

Animal Control interim director Mary Conaton said the dog's death was caused when a worker misread a card on Junior's cage and took the wrong animal for the lethal injection.

Conaton said the county's system for tracking animals with handwritten cage cards is flawed and in the process of being reviewed. She offered to charge the family only the fee for spaying or neutering if they wanted to adopt another dog.

"He was the sweetest dog," an Associated Press story quotes Hetzer as saying. "It doesn't seem right. This was a family dog -- almost like a family member. ... He shouldn't have died like that."

Hetzer said the hardest part is explaining the loss to her two-year-old son. "He is really heartbroken," she said. "He wants his dog to come home."