Man bites dog - man jailed

A man has been charged with animal cruelty for biting his Jack Russell terrier as punishment, and police say he used a 200 pound bull mastiff in an attempt to keep back officers who arrived to arrest him.

Mount Lee Lacy’s girlfriend’s mother called police because she was concerned at an argument between him and her daughter over his unusual discipline method for the dog named Lady.

Officers kicked down the apartment door in Gainesville, Florida, when they heard an argument and a barking dog.

Lacy was holding the mastiff named Breaker on a taut leash six feet inside the door. The officers drew their guns but did not fire.

Lacy, 21, was handcuffed and jailed for animal cruelty and resisting arrest.

“He said that biting the dog was good punishment and that’s how you train them, that dogs bite so that’s what they understand,” Sergeant Keith Kameg said. “When an officer went to check on Lady, she was cowering in the back of her crate as if the officer was going to hurt her.”

Police reported Lady’s left front paw was bloody from a bite. Jack Russell terriers normally weigh no more than 16 pounds.

“If you are inflicting injury or breaking skin, or the dog is responding to pain, you are not doing any good,” said Pepe Peruyero, a former police officer who operates a dog training school in nearby High Springs.