Couple enraged over dog-bite citations after they say they don't own a dog

Two weeks ago it was like any routine May morning for Brianna Miller, until she opened her front door.

"There was one citation on the door saying I need to go to the animal shelter regarding a dog bite. I didn't think anything of it, I'm like, you have the wrong apartment," said Miller.

That was just the beginning of the confusion

"Then it was like more and more and more and I'm like wait a minute," said Miller.

Brianna and her roommate Precious Carter say they don't own a dog.

"You're not going to knock on the door and speak to look inside the apartment to see if there's a dog? Come on now. That's a false investigation. They're just citing anybody. We're the only black people who live here so, there's no other way to feel for that," said Kevin Bailey, Miller's fiance.

Their neighbor Lihua Wu says she was bitten by a Chihuahua and is certain the dog came from apartment 229.

"Yes they do have a dog and they said the owners didn't obey the tickets," said Wu.

"Just because we have pictures of dogs, they automatically threw it to us," said Bailey.

The Austin Animal Center released a statement saying "as standard operating procedures, animal protection makes every effort to reach the residence of an animal bite investigation. In this case they came to the residence nine times." The couple says they must have not tried hard enough.

"They should've came and knocked on our door, they should've came and at least talked to somebody. They came day after day just putting a new citation," said Bailey.

The animal center says after speaking with Miller and her family the tickets are now void, but they feel the situation was never handled properly in the first place

"They said they're going to cancel out the ticket, but what does that do for the apartment people thinking we have unlawful animals in our apartment? That's going to come with a fine," said Bailey.

The shelter describes the dog as a black Chihuahua, and it is still on the loose. As for who owns it, it may never be known.

"There was a black woman or black ladies walking the dog, and I saw she went in 229," said Wu.

"You guys write tickets for what people "think" is going on in someone else's apartment?" said Miller.

The shelter tells FOX 7's Bridget Spender that they stuck to protocol and even reached out to Miller over the phone but that she never called them back.