Severely Beaten Pit Bull Pup Recovering, Owner Charged

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PEMBROKE PINES (CBSMiami) - A pit bull puppy that was severely beaten, reportedly by its owner, is recovering at a local animal hospital.

"He's rebounding, right now it's just love and a good home that he needs," said Dr. Jason Horgan with the Leader Animal Specialty Hospital.

At just 12 weeks old, Dexter the pit bull pup has survived an awful lot. Pembroke Pines police said his owner, 21-year-old Daniel Smith, abused him and lied about it.

"When they came in they said he slipped in the shower, but very quickly we recognized this is not a slip in the bathtub or anything like that," said Horgan.

The vet said it appeared the injuries came from something much worse.

"For me, this just looked like an act of rage or something along those lines. What could incite someone to be so angry against an innocent puppy," said Horgan.

On examining Dexter, cuts and broken bones were found in the dog's head and skull.

"A lot of his injuries were from blunt force trauma, he was hit very hard in some manner where he has fractures, broken bones in the skull, broken bones along his jawline, cheekbone if you will," said Horgan.

And there was more.

"The swelling has gone down greatly but he was strangled at some point. You can't see it right now but with strangulation you get a lot of swelling of the face, the eyes get very red," said Horgan.

In court, prosecutors said Smith told the police several stories of what happened. His attorney countered that the evidence was inconclusive and asked for a lesser bond.

"There's no evidence that my client or anyone, in particular, caused it, in fact, one of the vets said these injuries are consistent with the animal being struck by a car, which wouldn't be consistent with abuse of any kind, but an accident," said attorney Peter Delrico.

Smith is facing an aggravated animal cruelty charge.

People who would like to help Dexter can send a text to (954) 348-7849.