A Longview man accused of neglecting and withholding food from five adopted children testified he did not force a 13-year-old boy to eat dog and goat food, make him stay outside on a porch, or leave him barefoot.

Jeffery Trebilcock testified Wednesday the boy could eat as much food as he wanted, but he liked the taste of dog food.

Trebilcock and his wife, Rebecca, both 45, are charged with criminal mistreatment in a bench trial before Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Michael Evans. Rebecca was scheduled to testify Thursday, The Daily News reported ( http://is.gd/PbSi8v).

Trebilcock testified he didn't realize the boy was malnourished because he never saw him undressed. The boy weighed only 49 pounds in March 2011 when the state took custody of him and four sisters.

Under questioning from defense attorney Kevin Blondin, Trebilcock said he and his wife never abused their children.

The boy, who testified July 16, claimed his parents hardly fed him and he was forced to eat dog and goat food. But Trebilcock said the boy ate more at dinner than anyone else in the family. Nevertheless, he would sneak into the cupboard and eat dog and goat food, Trebilcock said.

"I told him it's not for little boys," Trebilcock said. "He said he wanted to taste it. He liked the taste of it."

The boy claimed his parents fed him on the porch in a plastic potato salad container they called his "trough."

Trebilcock denied forcing the boy to eat on the porch. He said the boy ate out of an extra-large bowl because "that's what he wanted," and it was his choice to name it "the trough."

"Did he get more food if he wanted it?" Blondin asked.

"Yes," Trebilcock said. "We never told him no."

Trebilcock denied the boy's claim that the refrigerator and the pantry were locked. He said only a cabinet with prescription medication and dietary food for his wife was kept locked.

He acknowledged there were motion sensors in the house, saying he and his wife decided they were necessary because their son had been wandering into their bedroom and a sister's bedroom at night.

The boy claimed he was rarely allowed to wear shoes on the farm. Trebilcock denied this, saying he bought the boy a good pair of boots.

The boy claimed he was not allowed to use the bathroom at night, so he urinated in a cup and his parents forced him to drink it. Trebilcock said the boy was able to leave his room to use the bathroom nearby. He said there was a baby gate with a bell propped against the door of his son's bedroom so they could hear if the boy left his room, but that was not to prevent him from using the bathroom, he said.

The cup in his son's room, Trebilcock said, was a "special cup we gave him for being adopted" but he never drank from it. He said he was shocked that his son would claim he was forced to drink urine.

Trebilcock was calm during most of the questioning, but he broke down in tears when he described driving his four adopted daughters to the Hall of Justice to turn them over to Child Protective Services.

"I didn't really tell them anything," he said. "I didn't want to scare them."

When they reached the courthouse, "I told them they were going to go with this lady ... and that was it."

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Information from: The Daily News, http://www.tdn.com