"but they did not hurt anyone."
The dog would beg to differ...if it could.
And it did try to at the time. But these monsters responded to that by duct-taping its mouth shut.
All the posters who want to give these two a slap on the wrist and let them go better be prepared to take responsibility a few years down the road, when one or more of their girlfriends' helpless young offspring are found dead in a squalid apartment, with their mouths duct-taped shut, and bearing evidence of dozens or hundreds of prior beatings.