A Washington state fireworks seller pleaded not guilty Thursday tocharges he killed his dog by strapping explosives to the Labradorretriever's neck and setting them off, according to the Skamania Countyprosecutor's office.Christopher Dillingham,45, pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of a bomb or explosivedevice with intent to use for an unlawful purpose, a felony in the statecarrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Dillingham also pleadednot guilty to charges that include animal cruelty, fireworks violationand reckless endangerment, prosecutors said.After his arraignment,Dillingham was returned to the Skamania County Jail, where he has beenheld on $500,000 bond since his arrest after the August 4 incident.Sheriff's deputies responding to a disorderly persons call found the dog's remains scattered on Dillingham's property.In an affidavit, DeputyJordan Ejde said the animal was decapitated. Ejde's report saidDillingham reportedly fed the animal dog treats to prevent it fromtrying to get the explosives off its neck, and Dillingham allegedly setoff the explosives from behind a wall for his own safety. He said hemade the explosive devices on his workbench out of black powder found infireworks, the deputy wrote.When deputies confrontedDillingham, he told them he blew up the 3-year-old yellow retrievernamed Cabela because his ex-girlfriend had given him the dog and she had"put the devil in it," according to Ejde's affidavit. Dillingham saidhe was preparing for "the rapture" and that "the world is going to end"because of a nuclear strike, the deputy added.Authorities did notinitially file animal cruelty charges against Dillingham because,according to Ashley Mauceri, manager of cruelty response investigationsfor the Humane Society of the United States, Washington state lawstipulates that "animal cruelty charges can be brought only if theanimal suffered."The first investigators in Washington state "didn't know if the animal suffered because death was instantaneous," Mauceri said.Mauceri said cases inwhich animals are killed or maimed with explosives or set on fire are"actually a lot more common than people think."