Bull mastiff dogs Diesel (4 years) and Indra (4 months) were shot by an animal control officer at a rural property on Wednesday morning.
"I don't want people to think badly of those dogs," dog owner Toni Gullen told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
The pair, valued at almost $3000, were registered, microchipped and had never been impounded.
She believed they had been untied and either stolen or deliberately let out from the Green Island property on Tuesday.
The purebreds were left tied and secured on the section, she said.
After finding the dogs were gone, she had informed the Dunedin City Council that they were missing.
"I have been on the phone constantly to the DCC, we have had fliers out, had been searching the area constantly, including the area where they were shot. We believed they were stolen."
Diesel had lived on a farm for the first two years of his life, was used to other animals, and would even allow children to ride him.
Ms Gullen said she lived just two streets away from where the dogs were shot and heard five gunshots.
"I was hanging out my washing and thought, 'I hope that is not my dogs'."
Told by a neighbour that animal control was in the area, she went to the scene with her partner and "had a mental breakdown" when she saw her beloved pets.
"They were lying in the back of a van, with a gunshot in the back of their heads," Ms Gullen said.
She said she was appalled by the decision to shoot the dogs, as she had repeatedly contacted the council looking for the missing pair, leaving her details in case they were located.
"If they had rung me I would have beaten animal control there, and had those animals in the car."
She doubted the dogs were in a reported frenzy, and questioned why they were not sedated.
"I can't say they didn't do it ... I didn't get a chance to see or hear anything ... I just don't know."
In addition to mourning the death of the dogs, the family would have to pay for the dead lamb and the disposal of the dogs' bodies.
DCC senior animal control officer Jim Pryde said the correct procedure was followed.
It did not matter if the pet owners had been contacted or not.
