A WOMAN who trained her dogs to be aggressive watched on helpless as they savaged an owner who tried to save her pet from their attack.

Emily Mace posted videos on Facebook before the attack which showed her or her partner using bite sleeves and dummies to teach the bull crosses how to jump, bite and cling on.

The two dogs were later filmed by a neighbour as they attacked and killed a greyhound in the back garden of her home in Newton Abbot. He could be heard shouting at her to get them under control.

The neighbour offered the shocking video footage to the police but they did not pursue the case. He gave up trying to contact the RSPCA when his call was met by an answering machine.

He told Exeter Crown Court he had previously seen Mace or her then boyfriend using the carcases of squirrels or some other rodents to tease the dogs and get them used to the scent of blood.

The dogs, named Conan and Honcho, were crosses between a pitbull type terrier and a shepherd and she advertised their puppies on a ‘working dogs’ website as bullherders. The adverts included a photo of a dog lunging forward with its teeth bared.

Mace had also added a comment on a Facebook posts about a woman being attacked by two retrievers. Alongside a laughing face emoji, she wrote: ‘My little whippersnapper would take down a retriever any day.’

Tan coloured Conan attacked 64-year-old dog walker Janet Collins on a field behind Long Barton, Kingsteignton, on the afternoon of August 15, 2021 and left her needing hospital treatment for a bite on her torso and several on her hands, which were mauled as she tried to protect her miniature Schnauzer Lola.

The attack started with Conan biting Lola when all three were off the leads. Mrs Collins ran to pick up Lola and Conan then jumped up and bit her as he tried to get at her dog. Honcho also jumped at her.

Mrs Collins said Honcho joined the attack but said she did not know which of the dogs bit her.  Lola needed emergency treatment at a vet’s surgery but survived.

Mace, aged 21, of Little Barton, Kingsteignton, admitted being in charge of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control. She entered a basis of plea which was rejected by Judge Anna Richardson at a fact finding hearing.

The prosecution dropped an identical charge which related to Honcho after learning that he had died since the attack.

Mace claimed she had not trained the dogs to fight and had done her utmost to stop the attack on Mrs Collins.

Judge Richardson ruled that the dogs had been trained to be aggressive. She said one of the Facebook videos showed a dog being trained to jump up and bite.

She said social media posts were: ‘Demonstrative of a complacent attitude towards the risk to humans and other dogs posed by aggressive dogs. They show photographs of extreme aggression with teeth bared.’

Referring to Mace’s comments about the retriever, the Judge said: ‘That is an entirely inappropriate response. Rather than expressing concern, her response was to boast that her dog was more violent and aggressive. I am sure that the evidence shows her tolerance towards aggression in dogs and an understanding of training dogs to become more aggressive.’

The judge also ruled that Mace had not reacted quickly enough during the attack on Mrs Collins and Lola. She noted that Mace dismissed the attack on Lola as ‘a nip’ despite the evidence showing a severe bite injury.

The judge’s ruling means that Mace’s offence falls into a sentencing guideline with a starting point of two years prison and a range of one to three. She adjourned sentence and ordered a probation pre-sentence report.

The guidelines mean that any sentence falls within a range that can be suspended.

During the short trial, Mrs Collins said she was trying to rescue her dog Lola, who weighs just ten kilograms, from the Conan and Honcho.

She said: ‘The brown dog sank her teeth into Lola, who let out a heart-rending, blood curdling cry, the like of which I have never heard and I never wish to hear again. I ran to pick her up.

‘I turned to the owner and said her *** dog had just bitten my dog and told her to get it on the lead.

‘The owner remained by the fence. She did not move. She did nothing.

‘I tried to get to the exit but the dogs jumped up to try to get at Lola and I lifted her up. One of the dogs bit me under my arm. I shouted to the owner that her dog was biting me, get it off me.’

Mrs Collins said she was knocked over and lay on top of Lola to protect her but suffered more bites to her hands before Mace succeeded in dragging her two dogs off her. She said Mace told her to stand still during the attack.

She said: ‘I’m 5’3’’ and they were big breed dogs. They were coming closer to my face. It was a vicious unrelenting attack.’

Mace gave evidence that the dog in the videos was a Patterdale terrier called Mason which she no longer had at the time of the incident. She said Conan and Honcho were both shepherd crosses.

She said both were ‘service dogs’ which were trained to respond to her anxiety attacks, during which they sat on her to calm her down. She said she had never trained them to bite and was on medication when she wrote the ‘whippersnapper’ Facebook post.

Mace denied doing anything to train any of her dogs to be aggressive.

She said she intervened as soon as she saw her dogs around Mrs Collins but had been unable to grab them because she was kicking out at them and they were jumping around to avoid her feet.

Mace said she called her mother, who was a nurse, in the hope she could help Mrs Collins and left because she was worried about being attacked by bystanders, rather than trying to get away before the police arrived.