AN appeal court panel has ruled that a dog owner was rightly convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to his pet.

Stephen Cooper, 37, failed in a bid to have an earlier court decision overturned on Wednesday.

Cooper had been given a 12-month community rehabilitation order by Teesside magistrates in February after they heard his doberman had been discovered by animal welfare officers drastically underweight.

He claimed the dog had been in the care of his sister-in-law for several weeks and had been in good health when he left it with her at her home in Wimbledon Close, Darlington.

His barrister, Philip Lancaster, cross-examined vet Michaela Wright on Tuesday and claimed her estimate that the dog should have weighed between 45 and 50kgs was 'wildly excessive'.

The dog weighed just 25kgs when it was rescued by RSPCA officers and was said to have had protruding ribs and spine, with a thin waist and sunken eyes.

When interviewed about the matter, Cooper said his other pets were well looked after and had been calling his sister-in-law every day to check on the dog's welfare. He said he moved it to Darlington while another of his pets was in season, but had planned to have it returned. He told officers: "If I knew the dog was going to be mistreated, it would not stay there more than two minutes."

But Recorder Felicity Davies, sitting with two magistrates at Teesside Combined Court, ruled that Cooper should have been aware of the conditions in which he was leaving the dog, and what effect they might have on it.

Cooper, of West Terrace, New Marske, did not have his sentence increased, and no order was made banning him from owning or caring for animals. He was, however, ordered to pay £500 towards the cost of the appeal.

Miss Davies described the conditions in the yard of the house in Darlington as 'highly unsatisfactory' and the doberman's state as 'pitiful'