A YORK vet told magistrates that the coat of a German Shepherd he examined was the worst he had ever seen.

Mark Goodman told Selby Magistrates' Court that the dog's fur was severely matted, wet in places and caked with dog faeces and mud.

He said it was causing the eight-year-old black and tan bitch, called Sapphire, discomfort. He was "astounded" by the feel of her coat, and would have been surprised if she had been groomed in the last month.

Mr Goodman then visited the home of owners Timothy and Janice Whelan, in Barley Horn Road, Ulleskelf, near Tadcaster.

He said one of the two wire-framed pens was on concrete and the other on bare mud, and the whole area was littered with faeces. He could not see any bedding at all, and believed it was not fair for a dog to spend its life in such appalling conditions.

Amanda McKenna, an animal care assistant at the RSPCA home, in Landing Lane, York, said it took her a week to get the dog's coat right.

She said the coat was wet and soiled with faeces and urine, and the dog had a heavy chain round its neck.

Peter Tetlow, prosecuting for the RSPCA, produced a polythene bag full of matted fur which had been cut from the dog. He said it weighed 0.7 kilograms.

Timothy Whelan - who also keeps two mongrels in the outside pens - said he had done everything the RSPCA had asked him to do, including putting in a concrete floor, and bathing Sapphire after the inspector's second visit.

He usually cleaned out the pens once a week and walked the dogs once a week on a Sunday. The majority of Sapphire's coat looked fine.

He said: "She was still jumping around and playful, and wasn't in any pain."

Janice Whelan said she (Sapphire) only needed a wash and brush.

It was just "bad luck" the RSPCA called at that time.

She denied Mr Tetlow's claim that the dog was stinking with urine and covered with solid clumps of faeces.

David Crossling, mitigating, said there was no evidence that the dog had been caused suffering.

The Whelans, who denied the offence, were found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering. They were each fined £100 and ordered to pay costs totalling £2,100.

Magistrates also ruled that Sapphire be forfeited by the couple, so that the RSPCA could find her a new home.

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