A woman whose illegal dangerous dog savaged three other pets posted a picture of it lying in its basket next to a young child – to prove it was harmless.

Nicole Wallace snapped her pit bull-style terrier, named Floyd, lying on his bed next to the toddler, just days after it attacked a tiny shih tzu.

The following month the ferocious terrier attacked two other dogs as they were walked by their owners in separate incidents.

The shih tzu, named Cooper, was being walked by a teenage girl in Ardrossan last October when Floyd launched his attack, holding it in its jaws and thrashing it around.

Even when he was pulled off by a passer-by, Floyd kept biting at Cooper, who needed emergency medical treatement, while the teenager cradled him in her arms.

One witness said: “I heard the noise and looked out to see big, dark dog attacking the wee white one.

“The dark dog had a hold of the little white dog in its jaws and started thrashing it about from side to side.

“A guy tried to drag the big dog off but it was frenzied, out of control. It’s teeth were clamped in the wee dog.

“He eventually kicked it off but it kept going, baying for blood. It was like a wild animal, terrifying.”

Wallace finally appeared on the scene and took Floyd away, saying he had escaped from her back garden.

Cooper was left with extensive injuries, and needed stitches, an anaesthetic and a tube was inserted into his neck.

After the attack Wallace, 21, denied Floyd was responsible, posting on her Facebook page: “It was a Rottweiler, not my Floyd.”

But in a later post she admitted: “It was my dog, he escaped out the back gate and got a hold of the wee dog. If anyone’s got a problem message me.”

She then posted a picture of the toddler in the dog basket next to Floyd, making light of the attack by captioning it “dangerous dog” and boasting Floyd was her “bodyguard”.

She also sent a threatening Facebook message to the teenage dog owner saying: “Don’t think I won’t do you just because you’re a wee lassie.”

At the time, the teenager said: “This dog is clearly dangerous and the owner obviously doesn’t care and hasn’t trained it properly.

“This could have been another dog or even a small child.

“Anyone who has met Cooper knows he is completely harmless and would never attack anyone or anything and so he didn’t fight the other dog back.”

In a hearing at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court in February, Wallace admitted being in possession of a pit bull terrier-type dog, which is banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act, at her home in Ardrossan between October 25 and November 25, 2017.

The Dangerous Dogs Act makes it illegal to own a pit bull terrier without specific exemption from a court. The dogs have to be registered, muzzled and kept on a lead in public.

Wallace also admitted she was the owner of a dog that was dangerously out of control on October 25 when it attacked Cooper, and on November 3 when it ran aggressively towards a woman and her Labrador, snarled at the Labrador, jumped on it and bit it on the body. Once separated from the Labrador, and with the woman standing between the dogs to try and prevent further attacks, Floyd continued to act aggressively and repeatedly tried to bite the Labrador.

And on November 25 in the town, Floyd struck again, being dangerously out of control and running aggressively towards a man and two dogs – a shih tzu and a Yorkshire terrier.

Floyd grabbed the shih tzu, repeatedly bit it on the head and body, clamped its teeth in to the pet and continued to act aggressively and tried to bite the Yorkshire terrier once separated – before biting its owner on the body.

Wallace will be sentenced on Wednesday. The court will also decide if Floyd should be destroyed.