Jeffrey Hurring (19), a supermarket shelf-filler, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for killing an 18-month-old male Jack Russell dog in Dunedin on February 2.
He was also barred from owning an animal for 10 years.
Hurring admitted killing the dog, named Diesel and owned by a friend, by first attempting to strangle it using a chain, his hands and his feet.
When the dog did not die after 30 minutes, he poured petrol down its throat, stuffed a pillow-case down its throat and finally hit the dog on the head with a spade. The impact broke the dog's back and jaw, killing it.
The SPCA hailed the sentence as the one it has been waiting for, after years of fighting for harsher sentences for people found guilty of extreme cruelty to animals.
Tears ran down Hurring's mother's face as she and his father left the court after the sentencing.
Judge Stephen O'Driscoll told the court the attack on the dog was at the higher end of the scale in terms of seriousness and gravity.
The maximum previous sentence handed down in New Zealand for cruelty to an animal was nine months' jail, but the particular cruelty of this case was a significant aggravating factor in sentencing.
That, and the vulnerability of the dog, the premeditation and the deliberate conduct over a period of time in which Hurring used a variety of tools and methods to kill the dog, meant he must take a starting point of 18 months' imprisonment.
He took six months off for Hurring's age, his early guilty plea, his remorse, his acceptance of responsibility for the dog's suffering, his lack of previous convictions and his naivety and immaturity, which, in the judge's view, diminished culpability.
He also ordered Hurring to pay $1178.50 reparation to the SPCA, to continue counselling for his drinking and other issues related to his offending for at least six months after his release from prison.
A pre-sentence report indicated Hurring had little insight into his offending. He had been assessed as having a propensity for violence and frequently verbally abused others. There was moderate risk he would reoffend, Judge O'Driscoll said.
In general, there was a need to educate people in urban areas it was inappropriate to put down animals themselves, he said.
SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger said the SPCA was "absolutely delighted" with the sentence.
"It gives significant recognition to what we have been saying for a very long time that this sort of violence is unacceptable and inextricably linked with violence to humans.
"This sends a very clear message."
This was just one case of many in a disturbing trend of young men committing extreme and prolonged violence against animals this year.
Dunedin SPCA inspector and lead investigator on the case Steph Saunders said it was a pleasing result. An investigation and postmortem on the dog had contributed greatly to the outcome, she said.
SPCA officers were now better trained in investigation and forensics and could present better evidence in court.
"We've got better tools and better skills. Let it be a lesson to people that if an animal dies like this and we hear about it, we will get them."
The judge's order for Hurring to have counselling for his alcohol and other issues was also "crucial", she said.
Counselling could help him realise what he had done and, hopefully, prevent him from doing it again.
"We are about animal welfare, but we do care about people. We can't bring the dog back, but if we can modify Jeffrey's behaviour, it hasn't been in vain."
