Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina

Depends on if they believe the dog 'ran away'. Animal control in NC is basically on a county by county basis. Some counties make animal control part of their county or city law enforcement and those animal control officers may have power of arrest. Other counties contract with private companies to provide animal control services and they generally will not have any more power of arrest than any other regular citizen. There use to be a position known as a dog warden that by statute has the power of arrest but I can't think of any NC county that still utilizes a dog warden. Generally, you will not be arrested unless you have committed a crime or violated a court order. It is doubtful that your dog running away would constitute a crime on your part and you would have been notified of any order. So odds of you being arrested are slim. Even if you are arrested, your bond would most likely be extremely low if any at all - so your odds of actually going to jail if you are arrested are almost zero.