An Adelaide Hills man who beat his neighbour's dog with a whip and fed it sausages filled with lead and glass will spend a month in prison after being sentenced in court on Friday.

Peter Kevin Kelliher, 65, caused his Strathalbyn neighbour's female golden retriever 'Mia' serious injuries when he whipped it, and long-term health problems from lead poisoning.

The court heard Kelliher left sausages containing lead filings and shards of glass in his neighbour's yard on multiple occasions.

He pleaded guilty to 14 counts of ill-treating an animal in the Mount Barker Magistrates Court after the RSPCA launched legal proceedings earlier this year.

On Friday, magistrate Brian Nitschke sentenced Kelliher to three months in prison.

He ordered him to serve one month immediately in jail but suspended the other two on a three-year good behaviour bond.

The sausages contained shards of glass and lead filings and were left in a Strathalbyn yard. ( Supplied: RSPCA )

Kelliher was ordered to pay Mia's owners $10,885 in compensation, $1,258 in vet fees and $3,380 to a victims of crime levy.

He was also banned from having care of an animal for 12 months.

RSPCA chief inspector Andrea Lewis welcomed the prison sentence.

"This deliberate and deceptive act of cruelty has been met with shock by the community," she said.

"An immediate prison sentence sends a strong message that animal cruelty is a very serious matter that will not be tolerated."