From the New York Daily News (WARNING: graphic video at the end of the article, view at your own risk): Maria Aguilar of Queens has been routinely beating her 11-month-old English bulldog with a snow shovel. Her husband has taken the pup to the vet 12 times in the past 7 months for treatment relating to “a hip fracture, a broken leg, three broken teeth and injuries to his ears,” as well as blindness in one of his eyes.

Spike sustained multiple lifelong injuries at the hands of his owner.

Aguilar was arrested for aggravated animal cruelty and possession of a weapon, and thank goodness for that. The world can be a seriously messed up place, and sometimes it seems like that’s just the way it is. War and natural disaster and hunger and on and on, it all makes me wonder if we’re not just along for some out of control rollercoaster ride. But then something like this happens.

A person takes a puppy (can you GET much cuter than a bulldog puppy?), and instead of loving and nourishing it and getting a cuddly long-term companion… She beats it. She INTENTIONALLY misuses the trust he’s placed in her as a provider and leader of the pack. She DELIBERATELY inflicts lifelong pain, potentially turning that animal from someone’s best friend into a mean, angry dog who growls and bites people because he’s in constant pain, and because the person who was supposed to love him only showed him that those things on two legs do nothing but hurt. That is nothing but pure self-made cruelty.

Puppies don’t often just fall into one’s home, and they certainly don’t stay there by accident. You have to go out and get a puppy. You have to think, “I’m gonna feed it and take it outside” at the very least. It’s sizable commitment. Oftentimes when you hear about animal cruelty cases like this one, the animal “did something” animals do: maybe it chewed through a wire or had a few accidents, and the moron owner thought a puppy was going to come housetrained and bring in the paper every morning. When they realize that’s not how puppies are, they beat it, expecting it to get the hint.

We don’t know the details of the abuse. I couldn’t find a statement from Aguilar as to why she did this. Not that anything she could have possibly said would have excused or justified her behavior, but maybe hearing something from her could provide some inspiration into ways to get people to stop thinking this is ok. Like widely available information on the nearest shelter that you can drop an unwanted animal off at any time. Or free or low-cost neighborhood puppy (and owner) training classes. Or a foster care system where people can “practice” caring for an animal for a few weeks at a time.

If nothing else, I hope Aguilar’s sentence includes some mandatory psychological counseling. Anyone who can do that to a defenseless animal needs help, and lots of it.