A Bridge of Earn woman has been banned from keeping dogs for three years after her pet Staffie savagely attacked her neighbour.
Pauline Reid, 32, sobbed as she was banned from owning a dog and was told her pet, Ollie, would be destroyed as a result of the attack.
Reid, of Newbigging Farm Cottages, Balmanno, had been the owner of the Staffordshire/labrador cross for just six months when it leapt a garden fence and bit Margaret McLeod on the hip and arm.
The retired property developer broke down in the witness box when she recalled how she was left in a pool of blood when Reid’s pet jumped the 3ft fence and attacked her.
She told Perth Sheriff Court: “All the while I was shouting, screaming and crying” as the powerful dog spent more than two minutes with its teeth locked on to her flesh, trying to drag her to the ground.
Health studies student Reid was found guilty of allowing her dog to be dangerously out of control at an address in Douglas Court, Perth, on June 16 last year.
Ms McLeod said the “strong and sturdy” dog attacked her as she began unlocking a gate at her property.
She said: “I was just reaching up to unlock the snib when I saw the dog just fly over the fence at me.
“It caught my hip in its jaws. I tried to lift my leg to ward it off but I couldn’t so I swung my bag at it, but it tore that away from me.
“I don’t know how long it was until he let go but then he went to the other side and latched on to my left arm.
“He was pulling me round but I had the sense to realise that if he pulled me to the ground I would have been very vulnerable. I was terrified.”
She said the attack only ended when Reid and her mother, Sandra Milne, climbed the fence and pulled the dog off her.
In finding the accused guilty, Sheriff Fiona Tait told Reid: “In assessing the evidence I found Ms McLeod to be an impressive witness.
“She had been fearful of the dog on previous occasions when it was in the garden.
“While in your care, the dog escaped and carried out an attack of some length.”
Reid was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work when sentenced at Perth Sheriff Court.
Reid declined to comment on the verdict when contacted by The Courier.