Connecticut dog is found frozen solid, chained inside its doghouse

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

Animal cruelty charges are pending after police found a dead dog chained in its doghouse during the current cold weather. Its body was frozen solid.

Hartford, Conn., police told local media that the pitbull mix might have been outside for as long as a month before it was discovered. They said the dog’s owner has been in jail on drug charges and claimed to have made arrangements for the dog’s care.

Local TV station WTIC reported that the dog had been lying in fecal material which was frozen on its body.

According to another station, WVIT, police said that on New Year’s Day a concerned neighbor reported that a dog had been left outside during the bitter cold weather. Officers responded to the home northwest of downtown and found the dead pet.

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“The dog was not provided any type of protective measures against the cold,” police said in a report quoted by the Hartford Courant newspaper.

Police said the owner told them that the dog was living in the basement of the home until a pipe burst and had been placed outside.

"The dog showed signs of hypothermia," Deputy Chief Brian Foley told WTIC on Tuesday. "As morbid as it is, the dog was frozen solid when the officers got it."