A Moray dog named after one half of the most famous gangster couple in history will not be destroyed despite biting a teenage cyclist on the bottom.
The fate of collie cross-breed, Clyde, lay in the hands of Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov at Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday following the attack in Speyside last year.
Elizabeth Young had been walking the six-year-old family pet along with his mother, Bonnie, near their home when the incident occurred on July 8.
As Connor Hannah, 17, cycled past them on the A939 Tomintoul to Auchbrek, Clyde – who was not on a lead – gave chase and sank his teeth into the cyclist’s left buttock.
Young, 40, of 1 Conglass Lane, Tomintoul, admitted to being in charge of the “dangerously out of control” dog at a court hearing last month.
But a decision on Clyde’s fate was delayed until yesterday for Moray Council’s dog warden to prepare background reports on the pooch.
Seven letters in total were submitted from the warden and local residents.
The court heard from a Mr Thompson, who said that the Young family “have a talent for turning perfectly pleasant young dogs into out of control nuisances”.
The warden confirmed that he had been called to the family home on four occasions in 2014.
However, Clyde specifically had never been involved in any incidents before or since biting Mr Hannah.
Yesterday, defence counsel Brent Lockie gave an impassioned 40-minute plea for Clyde’s life and “one absolute last chance”.
He said: “The offence was 16 months ago now. The court can remove the risk to the public as far as it can be removed by imposing an order that the dog is controlled at all times whilst outside.”
Sheriff Pasportnikov gave both Young and Clyde a final reprieve under strict conditions.
“A dog is a wild animal,” she said.
“On the one hand, it is fortunate in this instance it was a teenage boy’s buttock. The next time it could be a small child’s face.
“I have only just been persuaded the public can be sufficiently protected if the dog is muzzled and on a lead at all times he is out of the house, even in the garden.
“If there is any failure to do so, the dog shall be destroyed.
“It is also in the court’s power to stop you from keeping dogs.”
Young, who currently owns three dogs, was fined £200.
