A CRUEL dog owner who allowed his Dalmation to become "severely underweight" has been banned from keeping animals.

The dog had to be put to sleep by vets as he developed aggressive behaviour after suffering for months at the hands of his owner, John Mooney.

He had developed pressure sores and cowered when he was approached.

Mooney, 37, of Mason Street in Larkhall was sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday, November 17.

He was hit with a two year ban from keeping, owning or being in charge of any animals and a 150 hour unpaid community payback order following a Scottish SPCA investigation.

Mooney pled guilty to causing Marley to suffer unnecessarily through failing to provide him with a suitable nutritional diet which led to complications in his health and wellbeing.

Heather Lawson, Scottish SPCA Inspector, said: “Marley was severely underweight with his hip bones and ribs easily visible.

"A dog of this type, sex and age should weigh in the region of 25-35kgs whereas Marley weighed only 17.6kgs.

“Marley also had pressure sores on his front feet and left hind leg and cowered away when approached too quickly.

“Sadly, as Marley started putting on weight, other problems developed. He was showing increasingly aggressive tendencies, to the point that he was no longer able to be handled by trained staff members.

“The difficult decision was made by a vet to put him to sleep as Marley would have been a serious risk to members of the public in a home environment.”

Inspector Lawson added: “Whilst we are pleased that Mooney has been dealt with by the courts we currently feel sentencing for animal abuse is very inconsistent in Scotland and we would like to see an increase in the maximum jail sentence which would provide the sheriff with a greater range of options.

“We hope Mooney will give serious consideration to his ability to care for animals in the future.”