Not all my dog: owner

The owner of Gary, the Staffordshire bull terrier put down for killing two lambs near Albert Town, says his dog is being unfairly accused of other sheep attacks.

Wanaka builder Stew Roberts says his family is still upset at the loss of their 4-year-old family pet.

"He was a family dog and it's a damn waste."

Mr Roberts is also unhappy with the attitude of police.

He told the Otago Daily Times on Saturday he, his family and Gary had only been home from town five or 10 minutes on Monday when police arrived on the doorstep. They had Gary in their vehicle but Mr Roberts said they would not let him see the dog so he could check for blood.

"When [the police officer] said no, I said that's quite rude. And he said it's people like you that give dogs a bad name."

The ODT reported on Tuesday stock manager Alistair McLeod saying he caught the dog on farmland near Albert Town "in the act" and it "killed two lambs right in front of me, only about 50 or 60m away".

Mr Roberts said he had accepted Gary was responsible and agreed to have him put down, paying the $115 cost. But since then, the number of victims being blamed on Gary had climbed to about 30, with many of those being full-grown sheep.

"I would know if he was doing it because ... you would see the blood and you would smell it."

And, he said, Gary's mouth was too small to do the damage to sheep described in other attacks.

He was waiting to see if more sheep were attacked.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

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