Ok, cool security feature making the solution slightly more complicated, but...

Apple systems can absolutely know that's the same AirTag that was "muted" and its ownership hasn't changed (like if I stole an airtag out of the collar and reset it to be mine, Apple knows the AppleID linked has changed). So a check in with Apple's servers should be done before alerting, which it likely does already (they don't alert while my wife is with me because I am with my airtags), its only if airtag not with owner and airtag is with subject while subject moves to new place @ greater than 20 minutes or some such