Norristown Man Accused Of Breaking Dog's Ribs Sentenced To Prison

A Montgomery County man will serve up to two years in prison for what a Bucks County judge called “unconscionable” abuse of his then-girlfriend’s dog, including breaking most of the animal’s ribs.

Christopher George, 44, of Norristown has been sentenced to serve one day less than a year to one day less than two years in the Bucks County Correctional Facility, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office said.

Rocky has “largely recovered” from his injuries, according to his owner, who has since ended her relationship with George. He was sentenced last week after pleading no contest to charges of animal cruelty for the abuse officials say he imposed on the dog, a boxer named Rocky.

The woman lived with George for three months in Falls Township before she realized Rocky was being abused while she and her children weren’t home, the District Attorney’s office said.

Rocky’s owner said on Christmas Eve in 2014, she found her dog “soaking wet and covered in blood” outside her home. She took him to the veterinarian, who said the animal had more than 20 fractures in its ribs that were in various stages of healing, indicating ongoing abuse.

The owner had noticed a “series of unexplained injuries” along with weight loss and a change in demeanor. She even had the dog tested for cancer because he had become lethargic and withdrawn.

A month before she discovered the abuse, Rocky had gone missing and later turned up fiive miles from home.

George told his then-girlfriend that the dog had escaped from the couple’s fenced-in yard. Rocky eventually was found close to a rail yard where George usually parks his truck at the end of each work day. After that incident, the veterinarian located subcutaneous emphysema and a deep puncture wound in his head, but no abrasions on his paws that would indicate a five-mile run from home, the District Attorney’s office said.

George had been previously convicted of animal cruelty for fatally kicking three puppies belonging to another girlfriend.

“I guess in the end, Rocky saved us,” the dog’s owner said in court. “He took the beatings that were meant for us.”