Distraught Josephine Pike, 72, was walking her three dogs when a huge Japanese Akita bounded up from behind and locked its jaws around one of her Jack Russells.
After instantly killing one pet, the savage dog turned on the other two tiny terriers and bit the widow's hands when she tried to save her beloved pets.
Her furious family claim the pensioner has been left "tortured" by the attack and is lucky to be alive after neighbours intervened.
Mrs Pike - who was treated in hospital for bite wounds - said: "I didn't even know it was there - it came running up behind me and attacked the dogs.
"It killed one of them straight out. I had two other dogs with me and I was trying to protect them. They were all on leads, so they couldn't get away.
"The dog didn't have a collar on so I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and then it bit me on the hands. I was shouting and just trying to get it off them, and one of my neighbours heard the noise and came out to help me. I must have been out there for at least 15 minutes trying to get it off them."
Mrs Pike was walking her pets - Holly, Poppy and Toby - near her home in Whitchurch, Bristol, on December 22, at around noon when she was attacked.
It is thought the Japanese Akita - a large wolf-like dog which isn't banned - had escaped from a nearby garden and was not wearing a lead.
Pets Holly and Poppy were killed, and Toby was left with severe injuries to his back and stomach but survived the 15-minute attack.
Mrs Pike had to be taken to hospital for cuts and bites which left her hands so swollen doctors had to cut her wedding ring off. Her son Adrian, said: "She is lucky the dog didn't kill her.
"Apart from the mental torture she is suffering, she got cuts and bites all over her hands. She also got scrape marks on her knees where she had been dragged along the ground by it.
"My father died in August, and she is still grieving for him. Those dogs were part of the family, it is unbearable for her.
"The mental stress she is under is enormous, and it could have been even worse. I have young children and anything could have happened.
"She watched her pets being savaged to death. It was a horrible experience for her. It isn't the dog's fault, it's the owner's. But it could have been the death of somebody."
The dog was put down the following day.
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said: "On the afternoon of December 22 a female contacted us to say she and her dogs had been attacked. Sadly her two dogs died from their injuries and she received injuries for which she required hospital treatment.
"Following a police enquiry the owner of the dog was located, and the animal - a Japanese Akita - was destroyed on December 23 by a vet under the Dangerous Dog Act.
"We are still keen to hear from anyone with information regarding the attack."
(Western Daily Press - December 30, 2014)
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