Police in North Strabane Township are investigating a case of animal abuse, as a man tried to kill two dogs at his house with a hammer.

On Sept. 4, Daniel McCullough, 73, allegedly struck two of the four dogs living in his trailer with a ball-peen hammer.

Those dogs, Rawhide and Tiny, were owned by Carol Shrader, who shared the trailer with McCullough.

In an affidavit obtained by KDKA-TV, Shrader claims that McCullough struck both of her dogs while she was sleeping and then put the corpses in a box for trash pickup. 

Police say that McCullough admitted to all of this when they questioned him, and McCullough told them that he was justified in killing because the trailer park had recently passed a new rule saying residents could only possess two dogs on their property, not four.

Rawhide's body, sadly, has been lost in the trash.

Tiny, miraculously, was able to pull herself out of the trash and make her way down the block and into the arms of Charles Burnsworth.

"We woke up Saturday morning, went out on the patio, and she was underneath the chair, soaking wet," Burnsworth recalled.

Burnsworth got Tiny to the Washington Area Humane Society, and after treating the dog, she was released into his care. Now he says she has a forever home with him.

"She is happy, she is healthy, she is in a better home," Burnsworth said.

The two remaining dogs have been removed from McCullough's trailer, and he now faces two felony and misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals.