CANAAN (AP) – A 28-year-old Canaan man is in jail accused of blinding a 12-year-old yellow Labrador retriever by attacking the dog with a baseball bat.

Keith Cordice was arrested Monday and charged with violation of probation and cruelty to animals after he supposedly bragged of luring the dog into his garage and beating it. He is being held without bail at Somerset County Jail in Skowhegan.

The dog, whose name is “Bud,” wandered into some woods behind his home earlier this month.

His owner, Carl Clarke, said Bud turned up five days later – barely conscious and wandering amid trash in a gravel pit three miles from home.

Clarke said Bud is recovering from his injuries and that a veterinarian has confirmed the animal is totally blind in both eyes. The dog is taking antibiotics and other medications and adjusting to his blindness.