A man has been banned from keeping dogs for life after Staffordshire Bull Terrier attacked two dogs and one of their owners.
The dog which was under the control of Sean Kinder, 29, attacked the others in separate incidents in his home town of Johnstone, Renfrewshire.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard that the dog, first struck in October, attacking a man and his dog leaving them both injured. Then, last September, the animal attacked a labradoodle.
Kinder's dog Andy was the subject of a dog control notice meaning he should have been muzzled at all times in public or communal areas.
The court heard that the second victim was walking with his dog, when the other bit its shoulder. He tried to separate the dogs.
When he appeared in court for sentencing last week, it emerged that Kinder, 29, had been looking after the dog for his girlfriend who had been in jail at the time. The animal had since been given back to her, the court heard.
"He is ashamed and saddened and takes responsibility for that - for having a dog which was out on control, said Karen Railton, defending.
Kinder had earlier pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 by twice being the owner that was so dangerously out of control it attacked another dog and one of their owners.
He had also admitted breaking Section 5(1) of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 by not having a lead or a muzzle on the pet which had since died.
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew fined Kinder £600 for the offences, banned him from keeping dogs "for an indefinite period" and gave him a Community Payback Order as a direct alternative to custody, telling him to carry out 240 hours' unpaid work over the next 12 months.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article