Ninety-six pounds of love is how Candace Dean describes her 13-year-old black Labrador, Gus, who was killed during a home invasion in Owen Sound.

“He was a happy dog. Very gentle. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body and he loved everybody,” she said Thursday in an interview.

Gus was severely wounded, as a result of blows to his head and body, after someone broke into the family’s home on Owen Sound’s west side Wednesday evening. He later died of his injuries at an emergency veterinarian clinic.

“It’s only an eight-minute drive to the vet, but it seemed like a million years,” said Dean, who rode in the backseat with Gus while trying to comfort her dying dog.

“He was just barely responsive. He tried to lick my hand and I just held him and talked to him.”

Police have charged a 23-year-old man with animal cruelty and other offences in connection to the break in.

Dean said her husband Martin got home from work around 7 p.m. Wednesday. She arrived from a meeting about five minutes later.

The front door was unlocked, which was unusual, and neither of their two dogs were waiting by the window like they typically do when their owners arrive home.

“There was a massive amount of blood. You would not believe how much blood. It was in every room. And there was no sign of Gus or our other dog. And there was a bloody axe in the middle of our kitchen floor,” Dean said.

The couple’s five cats were hiding and both dogs had gotten outside during the break-in, she said. Their other pup Juliette, a Sheltie-dachshund-cross, wasn’t found until Thursday morning.

They found Gus shortly after police arrived.

“Gus was in the far, far corner of the backyard. And we didn’t find him right away. We were in shock,” she said.

Dean said Gus’s skull was fractured and the veterinarian couldn’t save him.

“The bone had actually punctured his eye and was sticking out of his eye. But we couldn’t tell. He was all bloody and they started to clean it up and found that and they knew they couldn’t save him,” she said.

Dean said all seven of her pets were rescues. Gus was adopted from the Owen Sound Animal Shelter.

“I feel like this happened to somebody else. I feel like it’s some horrible videotape; the experience of walking into my house and the huge amounts of blood.”

Insp. Jeff Fluney of the Owen Sound Police Service said police received a call shortly after the Deans called 911 about an injured man at another west-side home.

Police determined the man was responsible for the break-in and attack on the dog.

Fluney said there is no known connection between the man and the house that was broken into.

The man has been charged with animal cruelty, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and breaking and entering.

Anyone with information is asked to call city police at 519-376-1234.