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A Bristol man is defending himself in court, facing a charge that he mistreated a dog.

Dmitriy Lebedev, 46, was charged in April 2015 with mistreating animals after his dog, a yellow Labrador, was found tied to a pier in Bristol a month earlier, its feet frozen to the lake.

The man who found the dog freed it and brought it home for food and water, then contacted the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the criminal complaint, the deputy who arrived said the dog was too weak to stand, it’s face was swollen and a “foul odor” was emanating from an infected wound on the dog’s neck. The deputy found there was a rusted metal choke collar embedded in the dog’s neck.

The dog was then taken to Safe Harbor Humane Society, where the collar was surgically removed and the dog was treated for the infected wound where the dog’s skin had grown over the collar.

Lebedev later came to Safe Harbor to try to claim the dog, which he said had been missing for a week before it had been found at the pier.

He said the dog was in good health when it had gotten lost. He said the dog had gotten loose from a line secured to a tree where he kept it tethered in his yard while he was at work.