A man who admitted to hitting his dog with a baseball bat for eating clothes and shoes has been sentenced.
He had pleaded guilty to ill-treating his dog Boy after the incident in January 2022.
A witness had seen the man hitting Boy with a baseball bat at "medium force".
Boy was hit a total of six times, twice when he was trying to run away.
"After being hit for the fourth time, Boy ran from the defendant towards a gap between the garage and fence line, but the defendant followed and continued to hit the dog with the bat twice," the SPCA said in a statement.
"Boy was witnessed vocalising in distress and running inside the house."
When Boy went back outside to try and hide in his kennel, the man forcefully poked him with the end of the bat.
The witness caught the incident on camera, with SPCA inspectors alerted to it. Soon after a search warrant was executed, with Boy and the baseball bat seized.
When speaking to inspectors, the man said he was frustrated with the dog because he had been "eating his clothes and jandals and had been digging holes in the lawn".
The man said he'd "had enough and was angry". He would usually use a rolled-up newspaper to hit Boy, but used the bat "because he wanted to hurt him".
A vet who viewed the footage of Boy's beating said it would have caused the dog "significant trauma to his body, resulting in immediate pain".
The vet said: "Even if the bat didn't strike Boy every time, the threat of such harm could cause the dog unreasonable and unnecessary psychological distress."
In the Hutt Valley District Court the man was sentenced to 50 hours of community work and has been disqualified from owning dogs for five years.
He has also been ordered to pay reparations of $664 and court costs of $750 to the SPCA.
SPCA chief executive Robyn Kiddle called the beating "unnecessary and brutal treatment".
"There are plenty of things the defendant could have done to address this, but beating his dog is certainly not one of them," Kiddle said.
"It is unacceptable under any circumstances. This experience would have caused immense distress to Boy, not only to his physical state but his mental well-being as well."
She went on to praise the witness who caught the act on camera, calling it an "act of bravery".
"Too often, we see this lack of compassion and terrible behaviour from people who're meant to be the animal's family. It is heartbreaking. We are particularly grateful to the member of the public who captured the footage and came forward to SPCA. If it wasn't for this act of bravery, Boy could still be suffering today."
Boy has since been rehomed, with his new owners describing him as a "happy and playful dog".
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