A man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for stabbing a police dog in the neck north of Christchurch in May this year.
Joshua Luke Cooper, 29, also faced a handful of other convictions, including unlawful possession of a knife.
Dog handler Constable Regan Turner says he ran past an injured Kosmo a couple of times on a callout where the dog was stabbed.
On May 31, Kosmo the police dog was airlifted to a Christchurch vet clinic and given a dog-to-dog blood transfusion which saved his life.
The dog, who was four years old at the time of the incident, has since fully recovered.
Police say the stab wound narrowly missed a major artery in his neck.
The sentencing judge told the court because of underfunding of mental health services, she had no choice but to send him to jail.
Cooper has been granted leave to apply for home detention and ordered to be assessed by Alcohol and Drugs Services.
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