Doggy play-date gone wrong: Australind woman cops $5000 fine after son’s dog attacks another

An Australind woman was left nearly $6000 out of pocket after her son’s dangerous dog brutally attacked another while on her watch. Janet Anne Stanley-Smith made a teary appearance in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Monday, where she was sentenced on five charges relating to the attack last year. On February 10, 2022 Stanley-Smith was looking after her son’s male bull-mastiff cross while he was at work — a dog deemed dangerous by the Shire of Harvey in 2019 for its repeated attacks on people and animals. Having recently returned home from a walk, the victim — who was walking their dog past Stanley-Smith’s home — caught the attention of the bull-mastiff causing it to run out of the property towards the victim’s small dog. Upon approaching, the bull-mastiff grabbed the victim’s dog in its teeth, shaking it side to side. The victim attempted to prevent the attack by grabbing the dog’s back legs to no effect. It was not until Stanley-Smith came out and grabbed the dog by the collar that the attacked was able to be stopped. The court was told the attack was not reported to the Shire of Harvey until February 12, two days after it took place. The court was told the victim’s dog required surgery for its injuries after the incident, including needing staples in its neck, but has since made a full recovery. Representing herself, Stanley-Smith told the court she was only looking after the dog for the day while her son was at work and that it did not live there full-time. When asked why the dog was not properly secured, she told the court she had just returned from a walk with the dog and had removed its muzzle and leash when it “took off suddenly” through the open back gate of the property. The string of charges included dog attack causing physical injury, failure to ensure a dangerous dog was muzzled and held by a leash when not confined in an enclosure and failure to notify the local government of a dangerous dog event and the change of address of where a dangerous dog is being held. Magistrate Linda Keane handed down fines of $4500 for the offences, with an additional $1432 to be paid in court costs. She said she hoped the sentence would serve as a general deterrence to dangerous dog owners and consequences involved if they did not take proper care of their animals. “If you have these sorts of dogs and don’t properly secure them and allow them to become a weapon, you will be punished,” she said. “Ensuring the dog was properly secured, all of this could’ve been avoided . . . it’s all about responsible dog ownership, try to make more sensible decisions.” The words seemed to have an effect on Stanley-Smith who was seen crying at the bar table. The bull-mastiff has since been euthanised as a result of the incident.