POTTSBORO --  Danika Shipman dotes on her Yorkie, Penny. She and her husband, John, will tell you their two dogs are like family.

"The dogs come to work with me every day and I travel a lot with my work as well. They travel with me wherever I go," John Shipman said.

His wife added, "They sleep in bed with us. They sit on the furniture with us in our home."

That's why they were so surprised to receive the phone call they did over the weekend.

"This is the Dallas Police and you need to come out to your car immediately. The fire department has broken into your car and we have your dogs," Mr. Shipman said, remembering what he thought was a prank call.

The two were celebrating John's birthday in Dallas. They stopped for lunch in the West End leaving Penny and Copper inside the car. The couple said they pulled the back seat forward so they could stay safely in the trunk area. Someone heard the dogs barking and called 911.

The temperature in Dallas was in the middle fifties over the weekend. We left a thermometer in the back of a KTEN vehicle Wednesday. Temperatures were measured in the high sixties.

The Shipmans say damage on the car has been estimated at $5,000. They're hurt to be accused of harming their dogs.

Mrs. Shipman insists, "The dogs were not locked in the trunk of the car. The person that was the so-called witness to it says he saw us lock them in the trunk of the car. Had that person maybe said, with two sentences, 'Hey, did just lock your dogs in the trunk of the car?' I would have been more than happy to say, 'No, absolutely not. Come here, let me show you."

Regardless of the couple's intentions, police pressed charges. John Shipman faces animal cruelty charges that carry a penalty of up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine. He says he's having a hard time understanding the accusations. As the Vice President of Sundowner Trailers, keeping animals safe is part of his business.

We've spent our lives trying to build the safest possible vehicle to transport livestock down the interstate," Shipman said.

For now, the Shipmans will have to wait on Dallas courts to decide what's right.