Dog bites man, cop threatens to shoot dog

A PRIMROSE Sands disability pensioner has been fined more than $1000 after her german shepherd bit a man twice and acted aggressively towards police officers.

In the Hobart Magistrates Court yesterday, the woman pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to ensure a dog is not at large and one count each of keeping a dog over the age of six months which is unregistered, failing to confine a bitch on heat away from a public place, dog attacking a person, being the owner of a dog which attacks a person and failing to notify the council within 24 hours after a dog attacks a person.

The court heard the white, female german shepherd had acted aggressively and chased another dog into a ditch on August 20, 2019, near the owner’s then Kettering home.

Three days later — in what was described as a serious attack — a man was near the dog owner’s car when the dog rushed up to him.

The owner called out “the dog won’t bite”, but it bit him on the ankle before coming back a second time and biting him near the buttocks, leaving puncture wounds both times.

The court heard, despite the man being experienced with dogs, the encounter was “scary and he yelled and waved his arms about” before the dog bit him.

On September 2, police visited the owner to speak about the earlier incidents. When they came to the door, the dog approached “barking, growling and in a menacing manner” towards the officers.

One of the officers told the owner to “call the dog off or I’ll shoot it”.

The owner told the court she had since desexed the dog, kept it muzzled in public and had been taking it to a dog trainer.

“I’ve done everything in my power to restrain her,” she said.

Chief Magistrate Catherine Geason said the woman had taken responsible steps to ensure incidents like these would not occur again. She ordered the dog must be muzzled at all times when in public.

The owner was convicted on all counts, fined a total of $1100, and ordered to pay Kingborough Council’s court costs.