Martin Dean doesn’t know if he can ever go home after a family dog died following a break and enter and their residence.
He and his wife Candace have been living in a hotel since their family pet was brutally beaten, and later died, following a home invasion Wednesday night.
Martin describes the scene that faced him when we arrived home from work to find their home had been broken into.
"I looked onto the floor and all the blood and all that, and in the middle was an axe, so then I thought all my animals had been chopped up, so I just started freaking out."
Gus, a 13-year-old chocolate lab, was found seriously injured in the backyard and had to be put down after suffering severe head injuries.
Candace says, "He was covered in blood and gashes you could see." Martin adds, "He wasn't our Gus, I thought my God, it's not Gus it's a different dog."
He had been hit with an axe during the home invasion, in which nothing was taken.
The family's other pets, another dog named Juliette and five cats, were all okay.
The randomness and brutality of the incident has the Dean family questioning whether they will ever go home.
A 23-year-old Owen Sound man found injured at a nearby home was later arrested and charged with break and enter, weapons possession and cruelty to animals.
The family have never met or even heard of the man who allegedly broke into their home and brutally beat their pet.
Canadace says they're, "Totally baffled. Why would anybody break-in and cause all that and why would anybody hurt Gus, he was 96 pounds of happy."
As for whether they'll return home once all the blood is scrubbed away, Martin says, "It's never going to be the same...I will never forget what happened in my home, never."
A fundraising page set up for the family to cover their veterinary bills has already far exceeded its goal.
