A Saskatchewan man who is facing charges related to an alleged dog attack in Ponteix is also appealing a former conviction for a similar incident in Swift Current last year.

Robert Charles Carpenter, who lives in Ponteix, was sentenced in February after being found guilty of two charges under the City of Swift Current Animal Control Bylaw for failing to ensure that his multiple dogs did not bite or chase/threaten anyone.

His dogs were deemed vicious by the judge and Carpenter was told to ensure that the animals would not bite, chase, or attack a person or animal.

The court ordered him to make sure the dogs were confined to an enclosed area or fenced yard, on a chain, with a sign warning people that the dogs were vicious. The dogs could also be inside the house but had to be under the supervision of someone over 16.

When off the property, the dogs had to be muzzled and harnessed or leashed to prevent them from biting, chasing or attacking anyone.

Carpenter was fined $1,400 and ordered to have the dogs microchipped.

Appeal set for September

After a year without incidents, Carpenter could have applied for a hearing to have a provincial judge remove the vicious dog status.

Carpenter appealed these orders to the Swift Current Court of Queen's Bench and is set to appear in court on Sept. 17 to make that case.

It seems like people are trying to kill my family economically as well as socially for what was an accident. - Robert Charles Carpenter

But Carpenter was also recently charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one charge under the Municipality Act for owning an animal that attacked a person in Ponteix last month, according to the Crown prosecutor in Swift Current.

Amber Thibault, 17, said she was riding her bike in Ponteix, about 64 kilometres south of Swift Current, on July 5, when she was attacked by three of Carpenter's dogs and bitten several times.

This image was taken shortly after Amber Thibault was bitten by multiple dogs on July 5. (Submitted by Anna Thibault)

Carpenter appeared in Swift Current provincial court this week for those charges and he said he plans to plead not guilty at his next hearing, Aug. 21.

"I've been charged with a nasty, indictable offence for what is a mistake," said Carpenter. "A small mistake, you know really, in the big scheme of things.

"It seems like people are trying to kill my family economically as well as socially for what was an accident."

Carpenter said Thibault and her mother seemed to be in good spirits before reporting the attack.

"That night they said, 'We're not interested in causing you any trouble. We certainly don't want to see any dogs put down,'" Carpenter said.

He said he told them, "I feel sick this happened."

Carpenter said he no longer has any dogs in his possession.

"They took all my dogs away," he said. "Just about broke my wife's heart. There were some beautiful dogs there who never did any harm to anyone.

"Just the one dog had a bit of a mean streak."

Past Ponteix attack and incident in Alberta

Court documents show that in 2016, five dogs he owned attacked three teenagers in Ponteix. Another dog Carpenter owned at that time was responsible for biting a person in Calgary, prior to the 2016 incident.

Carpenter was charged and found guilty of two counts of owning animals that attacked a person under the Municipality Act. He appealed the decision twice in 2017, but they were dismissed and the dogs were ordered euthanized.

"I had one incident three years ago where one of my dogs bit a girl, he bit her twice. She had two bites. And then [the judge] ordered five of my dogs to be killed," Carpenter said.

With files from Bryan Eneas