A woman used a filet knife to kill two pit bulls that got out of a yard while she was walking her dogs in a Southern California desert city.

Debbie Duran and a friend were walking her three German shepherds on Wednesday in Apple Valley when she said a pit bull charged them and began attacking her friend and her dog, Jodie. Another pit bull ran up seconds later.

"They had one thing in mind and that was to possibly kill me, to definitely kill my dogs," Duran said, adding that she carries the knife for protection.

But Kathy Suggs, the owner of the pit bulls, said Duran didn't have to kill her year-old dogs, Angel and JoJo.

"She's just here stabbing like a wild, mad lady," Suggs said. "I can't even reach in to get the dog because she's swinging the knife."

Suggs acknowledged that her pit bulls got loose through an open garage, but she believes Duran overreacted.

"This lady was walking around, I think, with the intent to kill the dog," Suggs said. "Who walks around with a butcher knife? We all walk our dogs around here."

Duran's dog suffered bite wounds to the back.

Sheriffs deputies and animal control officers questioned the women and allowed Duran to keep her knife because she was acting in self defense.

Suggs was fined $200 for having loose dogs.