Scottish court orders dog owner to pay £400 compensation to cyclist bitten twice by German Shepherd

A cyclist in Scotland has received £400 in compensation after he was twice bitten by a German Shepherd dog while out for a ride.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that the rider received puncture wounds to his left leg with a “significant amount of blood coming from them” following the incident which happened at around 10.30am on 30 May this year, reports the Evening Express.

The cyclist was riding past Hatton Farm, Laurencekirk, which lies on the main road from Aberdeen to Dundee, when he spotted the dog heading towards him, said depute fiscal Katy Begg, prosecuting the dog’s owner, Robert Weir, aged 66.

“He stopped to pet the dog and noticed the accused standing approximately 100 metres down the road,” she said.

“He began to cycle away and felt a sharp pain in his left calf and saw the dog had bitten his leg.”

The cyclist said to Weir, “Your dog has just bitten me” and was riding towards him when the dog bit him for a second time.

It tried to bite him on a third occasion but was restrained by its owner.

According to defence agent Liam McAllister, Weir, who had pleaded guilty to having a dangerously out of control dog, had investigated getting a muzzle so there would be no similar incident in the future.

He added that the dog had been rescued and had suffered abuse as a puppy, adding: “It’s thought there might have been an incident with a cyclist in the past.”

Weir was told to pay the rider £400 in compensation by Sheriff Ian Wallace.