MILWAUKIE, Ore. - For an animal lover, finding a dog stabbed and skinned was horrific and something that Doug Oberst can't get out of his mind.

"I was sick to my stomach," he said. "Absolutely sick."

Oberst found the dog on school grounds Monday morning.  The dog, a 5-year-old Boston Terrier named Bandit, had been stabbed in the neck and its coat had been cut from its body after it was killed.

The dog belonged to Barbara and Willard Marr, who live within 1,500 feet of the school.  They told investigators they let Bandit out in their backyard around 10 p.m. Sunday before they went to bed and became concerned when they checked on him 20 minutes later and he was gone.  They spent hours looking for him.

Oberst, who has two birds and a dog of his own, said it's hard to fathom why someone would do something like this.

"I just can't imagine somebody doing that," he said.  "And then seeing your report online and seeing that the dog was stabbed repeatedly and then butchered, I mean how sadistic can you get?  I mean this person definitely mutilated this dog with a knife.  If they're that unstable, what's the next step?"

"We think this is a violent individual who committed this crime and it's really important to find them," said David Lytle with the Oregon Humane Society. "They attacked a defenseless animal and brutalized the animal. And unfortunately, these kinds of crimes often lead to crimes against people."

Forensic veterinarians with the Oregon Humane Society are studying the wounds to see what kind of weapon was used and an investigator is following up on hotline tips, counting on a $1,000 reward to entice people to step forward.

"Are there apparently a group of people who hang out at that spot? That's what we want to find out - who was there and if they can talk to us and share anything that might have been going on that evening," said Lytle.

"I'm just glad that I didn't catch somebody in the act or maybe we would have had a more serious problem with the person because I don't know if I would have been as kind as other people might have been," said Oberst.  "I mean, I'm a dog lover and I'm going to defend a dog as much as I would a person."

The story is so upsetting to so many people, especially those who own Boston Terriers.  The Boston Terrier clubs of Portland and Southwest Washington are taking donations and pooling their own money to boost the reward and perhaps get a new Boston Terrier for the family, if and when they decide they are ready.