In December of 2011, a nine-month-old Yorkie-poodle mix named Sox was discovered locked in a bathroom with a rubber band around his muzzle. He was starving, covered in fleas and surrounded by feces. The SPCA learned of the dog and his condition after being contacted by a teacher who was told by two students that their dog was “dying slowly in the bathroom.”

The rubber band was so tight that it had begun cutting into the dog’s skin and jawbone. It caused an infection that opened a hole on top of the snout that Sox could breathe through. He was surrendered to the SPCA the next day after owner Tieesha Cogdell refused to take him to a veterinarian.

The Largo, Florida woman claimed she didn’t know that her dog’s snout had been clamped shut with a rubber band, and only noticed when Sox started having trouble breathing. His fur was so long that it hid the rubber band. But it is doubtful that she was clueless to his condition considering the dog had also been trapped in the bathroom for weeks. Also, wouldn’t she have noticed that he wasn’t eating? That is, if she bothered to feed him in the first place.

The judge didn’t buy her story, and sentenced Cogdell to six months in jail for animal cruelty. This may not seem like nearly long enough, but she will also receive one year of probation following her jail sentence, as well as a lifetime ban from ever owning dogs again. In addition, she has been ordered to pay the $2,000 medical treatment for Sox.

Sox has since been adopted by a woman named Lori Chambers.

“The fact that there’s a human being out there that would do something like that to an animal makes me sad,” Chambers said. “He wants to be loved. He shows us that every day.”