A 23-year-old Lawrence man was sentenced to four days in jail Friday for injuring his dog by tying its hind legs together.

Byron Anthony Snowton was sentenced in Douglas County Court Friday after being found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty in a January 29 bench trial. Snowton had been arrested Oct. 24 after animal control officers found a dog tied by its hind legs and unable to stand in a yard outside an apartment building in the 800 block of Michigan Street.

The dog had bitten Snowton, who tied the dog while he went to the hospital and received 12 stitches in his hand.

The dog’s legs were bound with plastic ties used as handcuffs by military police, which Snowton said he possessed because of his service in the Kansas National Guard. Animal control officers took the dog to a local veterinarian and then to the Lawrence Humane Society, where it remained Friday. The dog had suffered abrasions on its legs, according to court testimony by a veterinarian at the Humane Society.

Douglas County District Judge Michael Malone sentenced Snowton to four days in jail rather than the four-month maximum sentence because, he said, Snowton injured the dog through poor judgment and not malicious intent. He also ordered Snowton to pay more than $2,195 for the dog’s care at the Humane Society.

After Snowton completes a court-ordered anger management course, he can reclaim the dog, Chloe, from the Humane Society, Malone said.