Dog owner, accused of leaving pup outside during cold snap, states his case

DAYTON — UPDATE @ 10:45 p.m. (Feb. 6): A dog owner who is the focus of an ongoing investigation into allegations of animal cruelty said he wants to tell his side of the story.

Antonio Brown, who spoke with WHIO-TV's Sean Cudahy on Wednesday night, did so on the condition his face not be shown on television. Montgomery County Animal Resource Center officials have not filed charges.

"I'm not cruel to my dogs," he said. "My dogs eat better than I do."

Dayton police said one his dogs -- Brown identified it as his pit bull puppy Oreo -- was found shivering and chained in the yard on Howell Avenue when they arrived to investigate a reported domestic disturbance Jan . 31.

Brown said Oreo was fine, that he keeps her and his other dogs outside in heated dog houses. Brown also said he pours hot water over frozen water in dog bowls that are left outside also.

INITIAL REPORT (Feb. 4)

Police officers called to a domestic disturbance Thursday evening rescued a small dog next door left out in the cold that was “vigorously shaking” and had frozen water in its bowl.

Officers were called around 8:30 p.m. Jan. 31 to the 1800 block of Howell Avenue. To get to the residence, they had to walk past a small female dog chained in a yard.

>> 6-year-old boy reportedly made to stand in cold as punishment could be heard yelling ‘mommy’ for help

“The dog’s cries could be heard more than 25 feet away and sounded like it was in distress,” according to a Dayton police report.

Water in the dog’s water dish was frozen and there was no food in sight.

The dog was chained to a shelter, but the air temperature was 11 degrees with subzero wind chills with the winter vortex.

The officer reported that the dog was “vigorously shaking” in the cold.

Once officers cleared the original call 30 minutes later, the small dog was still outside.

No one answered knocks at the door, which already had a notice of animals seized from that address by the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center.

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ARC said they seized two small dogs from the residence a few hours earlier, but not the remaining dog because it had a shelter and did not appear malnourished like the others did.

Dayton police seized the third dog and took it to the ARC facility.

There is an open investigation for animal cruelty against the resident, the report stated.

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