Abused Toledo dog makes slow recovery

7/8/2018
BY AREEBA SHAH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
  • CTY-DOGUPDATE-8

    Andrew Leslie shares a moment with his 2-year-old dog Major on his truck at his residence in Perrysburg Township.

    The Blade/Kurt Steiss
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    • Sitting in a kennel in the corner of his home, Major, a 2-year-old mixed breed dog, looked down trying to avoid eye contact.

    He is nervous around strangers after enduring a year and a half of abuse.

    “In my eyes, I don’t see the old Major that I raised,” said Autumn Harvey, 25. “I see a scared puppy in him.”

    She rehomed Major with Corrie Hunt, 27, of South Toledo. After reuniting with her dog in May, Ms. Harvey discovered Major had burn marks all over his body and had been whipped with a belt, she said.

    VIDEO: Autumn Harvey and Andrew Leslie discuss Major

    His weight had dropped from 90 pounds to 36 pounds. He now weighs about 54 pounds. She found marks on Major’s paws and said she believes he had been tied up with a rope.

    Her boyfriend Andrew Leslie said the dog also had an inch wide circular mark on his body that even the Toledo Area Humane Society failed to identify. Mr. Leslie later found out it was a burn mark from a cigar.

    Since the dog has returned, the two have struggled to make him feel safe again, Ms. Harvey said.

    Unlike his old self, Major feels threatened by loud noises and struggles to be around new people. When they took him to a car show last month, he was anxious and scared the entire time.

    “He’s still broken,” Mr. Leslie said. 

    Ms. Harvey said she feels angry at how poorly her dog has been treated. He doesn’t let go when the two hold him.

    “I’m happy to have Major back. I just wish we never gave him to Corrie,” she said.

    The humane society is pursuing charges against Ms. Hunt and Bernard Perez, 43, both of the 1300 block of Colburn Street.

    Mr. Perez faces a fifth-degree felony charge of animal cruelty, elevated from a misdemeanor because of a previous conviction involving animal cruelty in 2004. He also faces an additional misdemeanor charge. Ms. Hunt has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.