Toddler, 3, left scarred and suffering nightmares after being mauled by out-of-control dog in pub garden
A DOG owner has been ordered to pay £500 after his Belgian Malinois attacked a three-year-old boy.
The toddler is now "terrified" of dogs, suffers night terrors and has been been left with scars.
Phillip Maynard, 41, had taken the dog - Beau - into a pub garden at Fenny Bridges, Devon, one lunchtime last September.
A court heard there was a fenced children's playpark in the garden, but as the boy walked by the park the nine-month-old hound lunged for him.
Prosecutor Warjinder Bains said Beau bit the boy, shook him violently and pulled him backwards along the ground.
Maynard and other people in the garden scared the dog off but the boy suffered puncture wounds to his front and back and needed hospital treatment.
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The boy's mother told the court her son was now "terrified of encountering dogs" and suffers nightmares and has scarring on his torso.
Maynard, of Crawley, Sussex, admitted being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury.
His barrister Herc Ashworth said Beau had been tethered by a rope lead but the leather handle had ripped and broken as he lunged at the child.
He said: "This is a terrible case but it was a momentary loss of control. It was an isolated incident."
Beau, who is currently in kennels, was given a contingent destruction order by the court which means he will be neutered, have behavioural training and only be allowed out in public on a muzzle and lead.
Exeter magistrates sentenced him to a 12-month-long community order with 100 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £680 costs, including £500 compensation to the injured child.