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Tanya Martin and her dog, Bobo, went everywhere together. She talked to him like he was her child.

She had even purchased doggie clothes so the 6-year-old Yorkshire terrier would look just right when she took him for a walk.

But Martin, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had been off her medication for several months.

Then something inside her must have snapped, those who know her say, to make her place her beloved dog on top of a phone book, hogtie him with speaker wire and then set him on the stove to burn Sunday.

“No one has a clue why her mind took her that way when she loved her dog so dearly,” said Martin’s mother, Arleen Ornelas.

Martin, 38, is in the Jefferson County jail, charged with animal cruelty and fourth-degree arson. Bobo is in stable condition at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital with burns over half his body. Veterinarians are unsure if he will survive.

Martin had gotten Bobo about a year ago, her mother said, from the Denver Dumb Friends League. Bobo was deaf, but Martin fell in love with the dog, Ornelas said, so she took him home anyway. They played like any normal owner and pet would.

But earlier this year, Ornelas said, Martin quit taking her medication because it made her gain weight. That’s when her family and others noticed big changes in her. She would talk to herself, imagine people coming into her Lakewood apartment and stealing things and she became extremely rude.

“Something must have snapped,” said Marcie Neimes, manager of the Concordia Apartment Homes in Lakewood, where Martin lived until last month when she was forced to move because she was causing too much trouble. “That dog was her friend.”

Ornelas said she called Jefferson County Social Services for help over the past several months. Neimes also worked with the Lakewood Housing Authority to get Martin a more secure place to live with the assistance she needs.

But something failed.

“If she gets her mind clear and realizes what she did to that dog, I don’t know what’s going to happen to her,” Ornelas said.

Table Mountain Animal Center Foundation is accepting donations for the medical care of Bobo.

Those wishing to donate toward Bobo’s medical care can visit and follow the instructions to donate securely online. Donations also may be sent to Table Mountain Animal Center Foundation, P.O. Box 270587, Louisville, CO 80027.