The man, 40, claimed the 16-pound terrier bit him. He was arrested for investigation of a felony.

LYNNWOOD — A Lynnwood man beat his niece’s terrier so severely the dog had to be euthanized, according to police reports filed in court.

The niece awoke Sunday to the loud whining of her dog, Chewy, in a bathroom at a home near Lynnwood, court papers say. She got up to find the pet, a 16-pound terrier mix, covered in blood. He was on his side with an exposed fresh wound, and he could not walk on his own.

The uncle, 40, stood over the dog. He said something about how Chewy bit him, so he’d beaten him with a leash, according to the niece’s report to Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies. She rushed Chewy to a veterinary clinic. The dog vomited several times on the ride, something he’d never done in the car.

The man texted his niece.

“Dnt tell them I hit or anything,” he wrote, according to the reports. “I kud go to jail for animal cruelty. Even if he attacked me.”

In another message he added, “(Expletive.) Ok. Hope I dnt go to jail.”

The dog, age 3, suffered bruised lungs and hemorrhaging in both eyes. X-rays showed he’d also been shot with a BB gun in his lower body. In the meantime, the man called his sister, who is the niece’s mother. He reportedly told her he might’ve killed Chewy. He claimed the dog made a mess in the house, so he’d thrown him outside, chased him down and threw him out one more time. He hit him until the dog urinated again, then kicked him and beat him with the leash, according to a story retold in court papers.

A few hours before Christmas Eve, the deputy got a phone call telling him the dog needed to be put down.

Deputies surrounded the home around noon Dec. 24, telling the man through a loudspeaker to exit. They heard him inside on the phone.

He eventually came to the door with a cigarette in his mouth, refusing to turn and face the house.

Deputies took him to the ground and struck him in the back, until he finally let them put his hands in handcuffs, according to police reports.

A knife was recovered from the suspect’s pocket. A gun case was discovered in the home, but no BB gun. The man reportedly told deputies he dumped it in the trash, because a friend told him to.

“I didn’t mean to kill the dog, man, I didn’t know he was hurt,” he reportedly told deputies.

He repeated to deputies the story about the dog biting him. He let a deputy photograph his wound, a superficial injury to his left hand, with no puncture marks.

An Everett District Court judge found probable cause to hold the man in jail Wednesday for animal cruelty and resisting arrest.

Bail was set at $10,000. The man posted bond hours later.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.