Some residents in one Wiregrass county fear for their safety, after a sheriff's office K-9 mauls two Pomeranians.

While neighbors say they want the dog gone, authorities say he poses no threat to the community.

Wednesday afternoon brought heartache to Abbeville Resident Steve Owens and his wife.

They found their beloved family pets, mauled to death.

"She had the dogs out using the bathroom,” Steve Owens said. “She left to go back into the house; and, after [she came] back out to get the dogs in, she went from door to door trying to find the puppies."

Owens says the Henry County Sheriff's Office K-9 Koda lives just one house away and attacked his Pomeranians.

The two dogs were found here in the driveway of where the K-9 is, but the debatable question is how they got there.

"My wife saw him behind Spector Care in the field,” Owens said. “The dog, when she went looking for him and our dogs, go beside our fence there to use the bathroom. We don't know if he got the puppy and went over and the daddy dog was trying to protect him."

Henry Co. Sheriff's Dept. Sheriff Will Maddox said, "It's not all our fault because the dogs did wander over into the K-9 officer’s yard."

Sheriff Maddox says Koda is trained to sniff out drugs and is not an attack dog.

He also says he is well-behaved and does not have a vicious nature. "Anyone can pet this dog, this dog is very docile," he added.

However, others in the neighborhood feel differently, saying they want the dog out of their community.

Neighbor Charolette Barron said, "I'm very uncomfortable. I have a 12 year old child who was very attached to these animals and if he had been home, he would have went over there to get the dogs and he could have gotten hurt."

Sheriff Maddox says Koda has never attacked a human or another animal before.

But, that doesn't ease the minds of the Owens’.

"Our concern here in the community, the safety of our youngens’, which the puppies were my youngins’, my wife's; it's you know, you can replace them, but that's still not replacing your family members," Owens concluded.

No action is being taken with the K-9.

Sheriff Maddox says he will personally pay for the Owens’ dogs and says he feels terrible about their loss.