Let roommate take care of my new puppy while I had to leave the state for 5 days - while I was gone he surrendered the dog to a shelter. Shelter is now refusing to give her back. WA State.

Three months ago I adopted a pure bred Golden Retriever female puppy. I went to a respected adoption agency who sourced the puppy and I was able to adopt an adorable little girl who I love dearly. She came with everything up to date - records of her shots/healthcare/authenticity/birth lineage the whole 9. I was excited as I finally was debt free and kinda on my own and wanted a companion. Three months into doggo ownership I was called out of state to help my father who was having a medical emergency. My roommate was a guy I knew since college and said that he would take care of the dog while I was gone. I thought that was perfect and told him I would pay him when I got back for whatever he had to do.

Four days into my trip I get a message from my friend group chat with a screencap of a local animal shelters ad for a dog that looked exactly like mine. Lo and behold when I called they were able to confirm everything about her and verify that she was mine - first I was furious but the shelter had no idea that the actual owner was out of state and that the scumbag roommate surrendered her while I was gone. Luckily the shelter has a policy for surrendered animals that within 72 hours the owner can come back and pick up their animal. I called under the 24 hour mark and explained the situation and to tell them Im flying out on the next flight to come back and claim my dog and to not do anything to her. The clerk on the phone confirmed the policy and knew I called within 24 hours and said that she couldn't process the release, only the supervisor could. Cool. Supervisor is coming in tomorrow morning (still under 48 hours now) and I could talk to her.

My flight lands and I book it over there to pick her up. On my drive over, Im an hour away and the shelter closes in an hour and a half - I call to talk with the supervisor and she tells me that my girl has been spayed... freaking spayed without my permission. They also clipped her nails, gave her some "updated" shots and treated her skin with a "prescribed" cream. The supervisor also said that they would not be giving her back to me and that they already have a home picked out for her. Im distraught at this point. I zoom to the shelter and bust inside looking for the supervisor and finally speak with her and she is not having anything I have to say - I pull up the adoption records with my name on it, the microchip with my name on it and all the photos I have on my phone. She tells me that since I was not the one who surrendered her that I couldnt pick her up. She is my property, she was surrendered without my consent and my roommate is ghosting me after a million phone calls and texts.

At this point with 30 min until closing I call the police as my last resort. They unfortunately dont show until 15 min after closing. Officers show up and I explain the situation but at this point the staff is gone, Im soaking wet from sitting in the rain and they tell me they will come back in the morning with me.

I go home and my roommate and his things are all moved out. He isn't answering my calls or friends calls. I print out all the info I can of my girl and pass out until the next morning.

I get to the shelter (at the 60 hour mark now) early and confirm that the cops are showing up. They come, we all go in and the shelter/supervisor is still adamant that they are not going to give my dog back - blah, blah, blah policy, Im not the right person, family is lined up and they are coming tomorrow blah blah. I brown out and the cops say they cant force my dog back to me, but take a report and leave. I go home and start to compile everything I can and write everything down that has happened and start calling attorneys. No one has gotten back to me and tomorrow she will be going home with another family.

I need to know what I can do to firstly stop them from adopting her to someone else. Get her back. And what I can do about how they handled the whole process and by giving her medical treatment without my consent.

edit: Thank you all to the community of Reddit for going above and beyond to provide me with comments and messages about my next steps here. Ive taken a look at everything but haven't replied as I have been running around and collecting information.

In my haste to post I left out some context - Im 23 (almost 24) and look like a kid. I was treated like a kid when I was at the shelter and talked down to by the staff. Today 1.24.2020 the shelter told me that my dog was "neglected" per its skin condition that had to force the shelter to use their prescribed cream on her. I was yelled at by the supervisor and staff of how a child would neglect a dog like this and that I didn't deserve her and thats the reason they are taking her away from me.

I was aware of this as the vet I took the dog to, when I adopted her, said it was pruritus - a simple itchy spot. I ALREADY had the cream the vet prescribed to me sitting at home in my pile of puppy stuff that Ive collected. Ive been using this cream for a week up to when I left the state.

Ive contacted a few attorneys pleading my case. Ive called/emailed the Director of the county shelter services. Ive left a letter of intent detailing my timeline of things and that I want my dog returned to me. Now with this new information about the "neglect" of the skin condition. I am going to bring my medical records about the skin condition with the prescribed cream and receipt showing when I paid for it to hopefully show that I was not neglectful.

I haven't seen my dog since I left, I told my roommate to apply some cream to the itchy spot once every other day. I dont know if he did and that may have caused a flair up. No contact with the roommate from anyone that I know or graduated with - but he did post on Instagram story with a shoutout of his video game channel but is not replying to my dm's there.