Dog seized after found with collar embedded in its neck

A man has been charged with animal cruelty after the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service found his dog with a prong collar embedded in its neck.

The dog was discovered when SCRAPS officers responded to a neighborhood in East Spokane for a report of a dog running loose. The dog’s owner, Miguel Lazcano-Mellado, 45, told officers that he had put the metal pronged collar on the dog because it kept escaping from the yard.

The collar had to be surgically removed but the shepherd mix is expected to recover, according to SCRAPS.