A thug who kicked and punched his dog has been allowed to keep it.
Thomas Winters battered the terrified pet during a drunken outburst at a supermarket filing station.
The 52-year-old chased the animal when it fled into bushes, the Paisley Daily Express reports.
He was in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last week where he pled guilty and was placed on an electronic tag and given mandatory supervision for the attack.
The court heard he pinned the dog down then kicked and punched it on the head and body during the outburst.
He was tanked-up when he became enraged at his dog at Morrison's petrol station in Johnstone.
The court heard he had been walking the pet when it angered him by behaving aggressively towards another person walking past.
In panic, he flipped out and hit the dog as well as chasing after it.
Winters, of High Street, Johnstone, appeared for sentencing last week after he pleaded guilty to charges of causing an animal unnecessary suffering by pinning the dog to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking the dog on its head and body on July 19.
Defence agent Charlie McCusker told how Winters, who was under the influence of alcohol, had trouble remembering the incident.
He said his client had the pet for four years prior to the outburst, but there had been no previous incidents of harm.
He said: "Two representatives from the SSPCA attended at his home and he was glad for that.
"They were checking on the welfare of the dog and wanted to see the two of them together.
"After the inspectors visited him, he was allowed to keep the dog as his pet.
"However, he was given advice regarding disciplining of the dog.
"Their biggest concern was the advice he had been given by other people.
"It was the wrong advice and what he did that day to the dog was clearly wrong.
"He has accepted that and he is embarrassed about what he did that day."
Sheriff Lindsay Kooner had deferred sentencing Winters to call for background reports, as well as obtain information from SSPCA inspectors.
She told Winters it was a "serious offence" to cause an animal, especially his pet dog, "unnecessary suffering."
She placed him on an electronic tag for 108 days, where he will have to remain indoors between 8.30pm and 7am.
She also ordered that he be subject to mandatory supervision by the local authority for six months.
After studying the report from animal welfare inspectors, she permitted Winters to keep his dog.
