Police in New Jersey are looking for the worst dog owner we’ve seen in some time. They want to charge him with abandonment and animal cruelty, according to Heather Campione, manager of the Woodbridge Animal Shelter where the dog is being housed.

Here’s what went down: On Tuesday, a large Cane Corso wearing a pronged choke collar was discovered tied to a door at a school. Someone had abandoned the dog. Luckily, a school employee found the dog at 8 a.m., before many children had a chance to come across him.

“What an irresponsible and dangerous thing to do around young children, particularly because (the dog) was frightened and defensive,” reads a statement on the Woodbridge shelter’s Facebook.

“We’re just a mile away from where he was tied up, the animal shelter, so that would have been a safe place to bring him,” Campione said, according to CBSNewYork. “When people don’t want their dogs anymore, they do dumb things — especially tying up a dog of that size at an elementary school where a small child could have approached him.”

But that’s not the end of it. The dog had his ears cut off — “completely flush with his head,” said Campione. “It was not done by a vet.”

A home-cropping, in other words, and a bad one at that. The vet determined it had been done when the dog was a puppy.

“You can tell just by the way the ears were done that it was done in a backyard. Someone didn’t know what they were doing,” said Woodbridge Animal Control Officer Austin Clyburn.

The poor dog was also dirty; shelter staff assume he’s an outdoor dog. Fortunately, he’s in decent health (though his teeth are heavy with tartar due to poor nutrition, according to the shelter).

Nonetheless, this Cane Corso is still a happy dog.

“He loves the Frisbee, loves the ball, and he likes tug of war. We’ve learned that this morning,” said Clyburn.

“Naturally, you’ve got to feel bad for the dog,” said Matt D’Amico, who works at the shelter. “Seeing him outside now and just the past couple of days, he’s been just a big goofball, he’s just a big baby.”

So far, more than two dozen people have said they would like to adopt the dog — and one is even the police detective on the case, Ken Gallop.

The shelter has named the dog George, and he must be held seven days on a “stray hold” before they can can offer him for adoption. We wish him well.

Via CBSNewYork; photos via Woodbridge Animal Shelter’s Facebook