He had cuts on his ear and a swollen face when they found him in July.
Tuesday, they arrested James McNeally for animal cruelty and neglect.
Concerned for the young dog, they followed him to his house in Tropical Gulf Acres.
"This dog definitely looked like it had been hit, beaten, run over, something to that effect," explains Lisa Kreager who used to live on that street.
She remembers the scene, saying, "It would walk, and then lie down and get up and walk and lie down and finally it made its way back to the house."
"You could see that his face was monstrously swollen. He had open lacerations, puncture wounds, things like that to his face," describes Reannon Juergensen, with Charlotte County Animal Control.
Officers got Slay to a vet who checked out the animal. After shaving off his fur, they discovered scars all over his chest, face and legs. "That's the first time I've ever seen that magnitude of scars on an animal," Juergensen says.
She says the scars suggest Slay was involved in several fights and never got proper medical attention. "This dog suffered for a very long time before we knew he was out there."
Juergensen prepared a case and deputies arrested James McNeally Tuesday. He's accused of animal cruelty and neglect. Authorities hope to charge the dog's legal owner, Cleveland DuBose next.
"This animal suffered needlessly as a result of their negligence," Juergensen says.
The two-year-old dog's behavior was so unpredictable he couldn't be adopted. The vet had to put him down.
(abc-7 - Jan 16, 2013)
