Mercy for dog which left child (4) needing surgery

Mercy for dog which left child (4) needing surgery

Kate Elizabeth Barton (43) appeared before the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to ‘plead’ for the life of her dog, Bobby, who left the girl requiring surgery.

As previously reported, three people had to prise Bobby off the girl after he sprang from more than two metres away as she was sitting with her parents in a café eating breakfast on 26 August.

Last month, Russell John Barton – Miss Barton’s brother – was fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,984 in compensation after pleading guilty to being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control.

Yesterday, Bobby’s fate was determined by the Magistrate, Bridget Shaw.

She ordered that when Bobby was out in public he is muzzled and kept on a lead and that Miss Barton keeps him under proper control in any public or private place.

Mrs Shaw further ordered that Miss Barton and Bobby undertake behavioural training with an accredited animal behaviourist for two years and that she complies with any direction given by the behaviourist for Bobby’s care, treatment or training.

Opening the case for the prosecution, legal adviser Samantha Morris said that the Crown was seeking an order for Bobby to be destroyed as the conviction of Russell Barton had shown that the dog was ‘dangerous and out of control’.

‘The incident was unprovoked and without warning,’ she added.

Ms Morris said ‘no specific conclusion’ had been drawn to explain why Bobby, who has been kept at the JSPCA since the incident, reacted the way he did.

Describing the dog as having a ‘general aggressive disposition’, Ms Morris said: ‘It is very clear that from a puppy he started showing “fear aggression” which escalated. Now he requires heavy sedation at any point that he requires treatment.’

She added: ‘In terms of the report [from a clinical animal behaviourist] it is clear he shows aggression towards uniformed officers, barks at stationary cars and people who pass by Miss Barton’s address.’

However, Advocate Julian Gollop, defending, urged the court to follow the recommendations of clinical animal behaviourist Rosemary Barclay who said the dog should not be euthanised but ‘retrained’.

Advocate Gollop said Miss Barton was ‘horrified her loving family pet has bitten a child’ and added that this was the first such incident during Bobby’s five-and-a-half-year lifetime.

‘If one looks at all the available evidence the inevitable conclusion is that this is not a dog that needs to be destroyed,’ he said. ‘Things can be put in place to remove the risks of any other such incidents.’

Giving evidence, an emotional Miss Barton, who has been visiting Bobby twice a day while he stays at the Animals Shelter, said: ‘I just want to say sorry.’

She told the court that the measures recommended to keep Bobby under control were ‘most definitely’ achievable.

‘I would not let anything like this ever happen again,’ she said.

A letter which Miss Barton wrote to the victim and her family was also read to the court.

In it she expressed her ‘sincere apology’ and added: ‘The thought of losing Bobby for this one tragic incident breaks my heart. I’m pleading for my dog’s life.’

When questioned by Advocate Gollop about whether the dog was out of control, Mrs Barclay said: ‘At the moment of the incident, in that specific context he was dangerous and out of control. That was established by the court.

‘Is he a dangerous dog? I’m going to say no, not generally. He has spent five and a half years not being dangerous. I think asking if a dog is dangerous is a hard question as all dogs can be dangerous. He behaves dangerously in specific contexts, yes, but can you reduce the likelihood of him reacting this way in the future? Yes, I believe you can.’

Mrs Shaw said on the ‘balance of probabilities’ she concluded that Bobby had a dangerous disposition.

However, addressing Miss Barton, she said: ‘You have always been a responsible owner and you’ve shown considerable dedication to Bobby.

She added: ‘You are clearly very distressed. In my view you would do everything you could to make sure that nothing like this happens again.’

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