The man who admitted stabbing four-year-old police dog Kosmo will serve jail time.
Joshua Luke Cooper, 29, was sentenced to 18 months in the Christchurch District Court for injuring the police dog.
Kosmo received a life-saving blood transfusion from a fellow K9 dog after he was stabbed while responding to a family harm incident in the Canterbury town of Kaiapoi on May 31.
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He sustained a 4cm-long cut to the throat that fortunately just missed his carotid artery, and was flown to the 24-hour vet where he was monitored.
On Tuesday, the court heard how Cooper's partner called police on the night of the incident, worried about his safety as he was threatening to harm himself.
Once police arrived, Dog handler Constable Regan Turner told Cooper to stop but he ignored him, that's when Kosmo was deployed.
He caught Cooper, latching onto his arm, which is when he inflicted the potentially fatal wound to Kosmo's neck.
Cooper earlier pleaded guilty to injuring Kosmo and possessing a knife in a public place.
Kosmo went back to front line work in June.
Constable Turner told Newshub Kosmo has made a full recovery and has even apprehended a burglar in his first week back on the beat.
Kosmo is spending the week in Tekapo practicing deploying from helicopters.
Cooper has also been granted leave to apply for home detention.
Newshub.
