Magistrates chose to spare the life of a dog which attacked a man, leaving him with puncture wounds to his stomach.
The then owner of the German shepherd, Norval Cree of Lincoln Road in Brant Broughton, admitted a charge of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place.
The court was told Cree brought the dog, called “Rossi”, to the garden gate of his home to introduce it to a local farmer.
Cree, 61, was holding onto the dog by the collar but it leapt up and bit the farmer to the stomach.
Daniel Paulson, prosecuting, said the attack left the victim with puncture wounds to his stomach, arm and hand.
David Rogerson, defending, said Cree and his wife were “responsible dog owners”.
Mr Rogerson added: “It is a very humbling situation they find themselves in. They are extremely apologetic.”
Chair of magistrates Ian McDonnell said: “I can understand your motivation for getting your dog used to the neighbours. If I cast my mind back years ago to when I was a postman, the number of times people said ‘it’s never done that before’.
“Dogs are, for whatever reason, unpredictable.”
Cree was fined £325 and ordered to pay £300 in compensation as well as £85 in costs and a £15 surcharge.
Magistrates were told the dog is now living with another owner and decided not to order its destruction.
Mr McDonnell said: “We do feel you had a certain amount of control over the dog. We also feel by letting the dog off the lead it was less likely to be in attack mode. However, it has back-fired.
“I’m sure the new owners will be aware of what it has done and they will take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”