A man in Florida has been arrested after neighbors called the police reporting horrifying sound coming from his barn and mistreatment of his dog. When authorities investigated, they found that the dog had been hung upside down from the rafters. The man claims he was training the dog.

According to Newsiosity,

A Florida man was arrested for animal cruelty after it was discovered that he hung his dog upside-down from the rafters of a horse stable. The dog was rescued but the man denied hurting it.

The Pinel County Sheriff’s Office sent deputies to the home of Martin Benavidez, 51, when his neighbors called to report he was mistreating his dog. The neighbor spotted the poor dog through a fence. The pup was hanging from his hind legs, whimpering in terrible pain.

“When deputies arrived at the property where the dog was seen hanging, they found the dog cowering under a table in a covered horse pen,” reported Sheriff Paul Babeu. “It was no longer hanging, but was clearly injured as it could not walk. The deputies contacted the resident, Martin Benavidez, who said he was training the dog, but denied hurting the dog.”

The dog was rescued by an Animal Control officer, who found it injured. The 6-month-old Queensland Heeler had rope marks on his hind legs and some swelling. The officer documented the injuries. “the dog is with us and is recovering from the injuries. We’ve named him ‘Spur’ and we’re confident that Spur will never suffer from abuse again,” said the Pinal County Animal Control Director Audra Michael.

“This is a horrific case of animal abuse and for the owner to think he was training the dog is absurd. The dog was being tortured, not trained,” said Babeu.

This man obviously had some horrible ideas about how to train a dog and was abusing the animal severely. This guy got exactly what he deserved as his poor dog had no defenses against his mistreatment. Lucky for the dog the neighbors seemed to care more than it’s owner. The only problem with animal cruelty cases is that they usually do not carry too harsh of a sentence and there is nothing to stop the person from getting out of jail and doing it again. Let’s hope that this loser learned his lesson and never hurts another animal again. Hopefully Spur will find a kind and loving home.