METRO VANCOUVER — When a family pet goes missing, one's mind often imagines the worst-case scenario.

One Surrey family found themselves living a nightmare over the weekend as they learned their lost dog had been tortured. What he endured was so brutal they never could have imagined it.

He was stabbed repeatedly with either a knife or scissors, had a wedding ring shoved into one eye, while the other eyelid was been punctured with earrings. Lighters, pendants and other jewelry had been forcefully shoved down his throat, leaving cuts in his mouth.

"It's a horrible experience. Everybody's saying, 'Why did you move to Surrey?' But it's actually a very nice area, a lot of kids and people with animals," said the dog's owner, Ryan Westaway. "I never thought this would've happened to us."

Westaway and his family moved to Surrey's Chimney Hill area on Feb. 1 from south Langley, where they lived on an acreage. In their large fenced yard, he said their friendly two-year-old black Labrador Ryder would run freely.

Their three-year-old son Ethan was used to unlocking the door and letting him out - a task he's been able to undertake since he was just one year old.

Last Saturday around 1 p.m., Ethan did what he used to do in their old home - he let Ryder out. Except this time, he let him out the front door into their residential neighbourhood, and the pup was lost.

Later that afternoon, Westaway got a "strange" message on his answering machine from a private number. It was a woman saying she had seen his dog at Chimney Hill Elementary. She didn't leave any contact information.

Later, shortly after midnight, police responded to a call.

A 24-year-old Surrey woman covered in blood had approached her landlord saying a dog had attacked her. She lived in a basement suite just a few blocks away from Westaway's home.

Police say it was quickly clear the dog had not attacked her and the woman was arrested under the Mental Health Act and sent for a psych assessment. She has not yet been named.

Her four-year-old daughter was with her at the time, who was taken into custody of the ministry.

Westaway recalled the events of Sunday morning. He contacted the Surrey pound and learned there was a dog matching Ryder's description there. They wouldn't release any information until he called police, he said.

"I was devastated that I had to call the pound in the morning . . . I had to do it on my own and find out my dog was tortured."

When he was reunited with Ryder, his eyes were still shut.

"He ran right up to me and put his head right on my lap," he said. "He had something in his eye. He was blinking, he was rubbing his eye, it was agitated. He looked down blinking, and something fell out of his eye. It was a wedding ring."

Westaway later took Ryder to their vet, Dr. Baljit Mrar with Avon Animal Hospital.