A PENSIONER who needed surgery after being attacked by a dog is angry that the animal was not put down.

William Ronan, aged 66, was bitten on the wrist by the German Shepherd as he returned to his flat in Blackrod, Bolton Crown Court heard.

The owner of the dog, 63-year-old Robert Wood, was sentenced to a conditional discharge after admitting owning a dog that was dangerously out of control. The court was told that the dog would not be put down.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Ronan said: “This incident put me in hospital for four days and needing a three-hour operation, it is a dangerous dog at the end of the day and I think it should be put down so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“The attack has affected my daily life, I won’t walk around the area where it happened and when I am out and see dogs bounding towards me I am always worried.”

The dog, named Bruce, was kept by in a compound behind Wood's home in Manchester Road, Blackrod.

But Steven Wild, prosecuting, said that on May 30, after Wood had fed his pet at 4.30pm, he failed to close the gate properly and the dog walked out, up a back lane towards the house.

At the time neighbour Mr Ronan was returning to his flat and Bruce calmly walked up to him and sank his teeth into the pensioner’s right wrist. As Mr Ronan shouted, the animal let go but then grabbed his left forearm and wrist.

Injured, Mr Ronan drove himself to hospital, where he stayed for three days after needing surgery to repair nerve damage.

Colin Buckle, defending, said the attack was an “extremely unfortunate” isolated incident and Wood has written a letter of apology to his neighbour.

He added that Wood ran a scaffolding company until he was injured in a fall, was of previous good character and the dog has never escaped or shown aggression before.

Sentencing Wood to a conditional discharge for two years, Judge Timothy Stead told him: “I am very sorry to see you in the dock of a crown court at the age of 63.

“What we have here is a dog without a known history. Ordinarily it is kept in such a way that it wouldn’t come into contact with members of the public.

“This was a negligent incident which, many a time, would have led to nothing – but on this occasion it did.”

He added that, as the dog had no history of aggression or dangerousness, he was not going to order that it be destroyed.

Wood was also told he must pay his victim £500 compensation, which Judge Stead stated was the most he could afford to pay.

Mr Ronan said he will give the compensation money to his daughter and grandchild.