POWDER SPRINGS - The last week has been a nightmare for Bill Katin. On Sunday morning, he arrived home and found his three dogs mauled to death by two pit bulls on the loose.

The attacks happened in the back yard of his home, in an older subdivision off of Macedonia Road, just outside the city limits of Powder Springs. A Cobb County Police officer shot and killed one of the pit bulls when it lunged at an Animal Control officer. No one has claimed the other dog, and it remains at the Cobb County Animal Shelter.

Years ago, Katin lost a young daughter. And mourning his three beloved dogs - Sandy, a 14-year-old golden retriever mix; Leo, a 9-year-old Jack Russell terrier; and Gio, a 5-year-old Chihuahua - isn't much easier, he said.

"I have been experiencing so many of those same feelings as I did when I lost my daughter," said Katin, who is retired from the Navy. "That's how close those dogs were to me."

Based on several witnesses' statements as to who owned the pit bulls, Animal Control issued six citations to Tiffany Dangerfield, who lives on Westview Cove, though she denied owning the dogs. She received two citations each for vicious animal, control of animal and no rabies vaccinations, and is to appear in Cobb Magistrate Court at 9 a.m. on Nov. 12 to answer the charges.

No one answered the door at the home on Friday morning, and a phone number for Dangerfield could not be found by press time.

The maximum punishment for each ordinance violation is 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. But the violations do not go on a person's criminal history, said Aurieanne Sneed, who has been a prosecutor in the Solicitor General's office for 20 years.

The owner of the pit bull could take the dog home from the shelter this weekend, though that is unlikely because of the inherent responsibility for the citations and civil liability, officials said.

"We don't have a mechanism to hold the animal," said Cobb Police Capt. Jeff Patellis, who oversees Animal Control. "Even that day, if the person were there and said, 'Yes, that's my animal,' we would have had to release the animal at that time."

Stray animals that are not claimed within seven days are then evaluated to see if they can be adopted out. Animal Control workers look at its history of aggression toward humans, as well as toward animals, Patellis said.

"We're not interested in putting animals back into the community that could be a danger," he said.

"There is a community perception that pit bulls are a bad breed, but there are many, many, many (pit bulls) that are perfectly fine house pets," he said.

And even Katin does not want to stereotype the breed, though he says he's amazed at how many people in his area own pit bulls.

"What I find disturbing is that had it been that same time Monday morning, there would have been school kids outside, because the bus stop is right by my house," Katin said. He thinks owners of aggressive-breed dogs should have to register the animals, and notify authorities if the animals get loose.

"Why wait for a first incident?" he asked. "What if that first incident is a child?"

And in fact, after an identical incident earlier this year, the county Board of Commissioners asked Public Safety officials to review the animal-control laws, Chairman Sam Olens said. Proposed changes could be brought to the board in January, a month when commissioners usually review a slate of such changes. The board could increase the penalties or enact other changes, such as requiring registration.

"There is a feeling that we do need to revise the ordinance to cover dogs that have been aggressive and injured other animals," Olens said.