Heather, who does not wished to be named, was walking her golden retriever Daisy in November last year, when a dog called Angus broke free from his leash and attacked.
Heather said it took a long time to pry Daisy free of Angus and described the attack as her worst nightmare.
"The owner tried to grab his dog but it was in attack mode," she said.
"A man came from a house with a cricket bat but was reluctant to get involved. At this stage I thought it was surely going to kill Daisy."
Heather said adrenaline kicked in and she grabbed the cricket bat from the man.
"I stood behind the dog and decided I would bash the dog until it let go or I killed it," she said.
"That in itself is a very disturbing action but one I knew I had to do to save my dog."
Heather said the owner managed to pry the Angus' mouth from Daisy and yelled at her to run.
She said the owner had adopted the dog, about 12 months ago, from the Bendigo Animal Welfare and Community Services for $400.
Heather said the owner was so distressed by what had happened he returned the dog to the service before City of Greater Bendigo seized the animal.
Council declared the dog dangerous after they were satisfied it no longer posed a risk to the community.
Heather said she was angry at the service for adopting Angus out without knowing his full background.
"Why was this dog re-homed to a family when they did not have a fully history of this animal's life or prior behaviour," she said.
"A dog of this size and nature should never be allowed to be re-homed into a family or community.
"They are an extremely powerful dog which must be properly trained from a pup - no exceptions. Lets hope there are changes in the organisation because they made a extremely serious judgement."
Bendigo Animal Welfare Centre Service president Debbie Edwards said Angus was assessed by an animal behaviorist and took part in training sessions to gauge his temperament before he was adopted.
"BAWCS would never knowingly adopt a dog out that we felt was unsafe and we were very surprised about this incident," she said.
"It is our reputation on the line after all and in all the time we have been doing adoptions, since 2003, we have never had a dog we have adopted out attack another."
Ms Edwards said she was sorry about the incident but said any dog had the ability to attack another dog or animal.
"It is up to all dog owners to ensure responsible management of our pets at all times and of course we will be ensuring Angus is managed responsibly from here on in as with any of the dogs we handle," she said.
"We would never adopt a dog out that we thought was a danger to other animals and of course people."
Heather was also upset a Facebook fundraising page had been set up for Angus to cover the costs of court and impoundment fees.
She believed the organisation had not fully disclosed the reason why Angus had been declared a dangerous dog.
But Ms Edwards said the organisation clearly explained the circumstances of the fundraising, advising Angus had been involved in a dog attack and the funds were to save his life.
"We did not however go into detail about what was meant to have happened as we weren't there ourselves and did not want to post what might not be true," she said.
"It was up to individuals to decide if they wanted to donate or not. No one that donated asked for extra information about the circumstances, they were happy to be saving this dog's life."
[Why doesn't Ms. Edwards and this organization set up a fund to pay the medical bills for this woman whose poor dog was almost killed?!]
(Bendigo Advertiser - March 3, 2014)
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