A Bonner man who tried to bait a neighbour's dog with poison-laced meatballs because the animal "always barked" at him has avoided time behind bars.
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Frank Pavlovic, 42, pleaded guilty to laying poison for a domestic animal in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
The dog's owner saw her pet sniff at several meatballs which had been scattered throughout her Bonner backyard on the evening of July 4.
Witnesses had seen Pavlovic throw the meatballs over the fence and the owners later saw him walking up a nearby street.
When confronted by the owners, Pavlovic told them: "your dog is always barking at me, your dog is always barking at me. I want to make him sick."
The court heard Pavlovic often heard the dog bark at him through a fence during his daily walk around the northside neighbourhood.
The shift worker also often heard the dog bark during the day as he tried to sleep.
Pavlovic got the idea to bait the dog when he overheard strangers at his local shops speak about feeding dogs Ratsak poison to make them stop barking.
He was drinking and cooking some meatballs one night when he came up with the plan to lace them with Ratsak and feed them to the dog.
From the witness box, Pavlovic told the court he was aware Ratsak was used for rodent control but only intended to make the dog sick for a few days so it would stop barking.
He said there was "only a pinchful, three or four granules" in the meatball mixture.
"It was just on the spur of the moment, I wasn't thinking properly," he said.
He said he thought afterwards the poison "possibly might kill" the dog, but that wasn't his intention.
Pavlovic's defence lawyer said his client only wanted to cause the dog some discomfort.
Pavlovic, a government security guard who spent 11 years in the Navy, had been stood down from his job for several weeks.
He had a potential alcohol problem and had been treated for anxiety.
Prosecutors said the offence was serious as it could have resulted in the death of the animal.
Magistrate Peter Morrison did not accept Pavlovic had not meant to kill the dog.
Mr Morrison said Pavlovic's early guilty plea showed some remorse, but the nature of the offence called for a strong message of general deterrence.
"The behaviour was abhorrent to all reasonable people, whether animal lovers or not."
He said there was an obvious risk the poison would cause more than discomfort.
Mr Morrison said the offence didn't warrant a jail term, but he ordered Pavlovic pay a $900 fine.
