A MAN who kept four terriers in urine-soaked living conditions has been banned from keeping animals for two years.

The ‘appalling conditions’ left the dogs with eye conditions, badly diseased gums and scalds.

David Smith, 68, of Thorn Gardens, Bacup, admitted four offences of animal cruelty at Burnley Magistrates' Court and was also fined £250.

He pleaded guilty to failing to provide a suitable environment for four dogs, failing to protect the dogs from pain, suffering, injury and pain due to untreated periodontal disease, failing to protect them from pain, suffering, injury and disease due to urine soaked living area and failed to protect them from pain, suffering, injury and disease due to untreated conjunctivitis.

The court heard he kept the dogs in his front and back gardens strewn with dog excrement ‘for a significant amount of time’.

As a consequence of the unsanitary conditions, the dogs suffered from conjunctivitis and inflammation of the skin on their paws.

One dog had to have 29 teeth removed while another was put down after a tumour was found.

The water bowls left out for the three 13-year-old terriers and a seven-year-old terrier border collie cross were either empty or encrusted with dirt and the dog beds had no bedding and sharp edges.

Inspector Paula Hannaford, from the RSPCA, said: “The fact Mr Smith has been banned from keeping animals shows how seriously Burnley magistrates viewed the appalling conditions these dogs were being forced to live in.

“These poor dogs lived in their own faeces and urine, this has affected their behaviour. They weren’t used to laying in beds or being walked on a lead, and they are very wary of strangers. They have come on so much in the short time they have been with us but they will need very special, caring owners in the future.”