Former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s dog attacked a woman’s small Chihuahua-mix named Buddy at a Potrero Hill dog park earlier this year, and San Francisco officials now must decide what steps to take with the aggressive animal.

Marty Cobb testified about the March 29 episode at a hearing Thursday before the San Francisco Vicious and Dangerous Dog Unit at City Hall, describing the bloody ordeal that she said nearly killed her 4-year-old pet.

“I saw my baby getting ripped up,” Cobb said. “I saw his face flap open, and I just cried.”

The incident began around 7 p.m. that evening as Cobb, a retired city resident, and Buddy visited the dog park at the Potrero Hill Recreation Center at 801 Arkansas St.

Buddy was at her feet, and Mirkarimi’s dog, a brindled boxer named Kira, ran toward them and began biting her pet, she said.

She described the chaotic moments during which she said she fought, kicked and wrestled with the larger dog as it repeatedly bit Buddy.

Mirkarimi then came over and got his dog away from Buddy, she said, but rather than offering any help Mirkarimi told her the dogs were “just playing” and that she should “put some peroxide on it.”

Cobb instead took Buddy to a pet hospital, where veterinarians cleaned and stitched wounds on his face, back and leg.

Cobb didn’t know Mirkarimi is a former sheriff and gave him her phone number. He called her four days after the incident and reimbursed her for the $800 she spent on her dog’s medical care, she said.

Mirkarimi was not present at Thursday’s hearing and did not immediately return phone calls. His wife, Eliana Lopez, who was not present during the attack, spoke on behalf of the family.

“I really don’t want this to happen again,” she said. “I’m been working with (Kira). She’s smart, and she learns very well. Nobody wants to go though this. I’m very, very sorry this happened.”

Cobb was miffed that Mirkarimi was a no-show Thursday.

“I don’t know why he’s not here today,” she said. “That really bothers me. He’s the one that was there and saw everything. I’m really pissed.”

The Vicious and Dangerous Dog Unit will make a decision on what to do with Mirkarimi’s dog within 10 days. The consequences range from ordering training and a mandatory muzzle when the dog is in public to having it euthanized.

The March episode returns the spotlight to Mirkarimi — now a private citizen — after years as a city official that were occasionally marked by controversy.

He was famously involved in a political firestorm in 2012, when he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment after being charged with abusing his wife on their way to get pizza on Dec. 31, 2011.

Mayor Ed Lee suspended him and demanded he be fired, but Mirkarimi was reinstated as sheriff after getting support from his political allies on the Board of Supervisors, including current mayoral candidate Jane Kim and former Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos and Christina Olague.

Lopez, who defended her husband during the ordeal, wrote and performed a one-woman show influenced by the saga.

Mirkarimi was again embroiled in controversy after the July 2015 killing of Kate Steinle by Jose Ines Garcia Zarate on Pier 14.

Before the shooting, Mirkarimi’s Sheriff’s Department had asked that Garcia Zarate be brought to San Francisco to face a decades-old marijuana charge, instead of allowing him to be deported after he was released from federal prison.

The drug charge was immediately dropped, and the department released Garcia Zarate onto the streets of San Francisco while ignoring a request by federal immigration authorities to notify them upon his release.

When Garcia Zarate fired the shot that killed Steinle weeks later, the case and San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy catapulted into the national spotlight. Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump used the episode as a talking point in his campaign while calling for stricter immigration enforcement.

In November of that year, Mirkarimi lost his bid for re-election in a landslide to current Sheriff Vicki Hennessy.

Garcia Zarate was acquitted on the homicide charges last year after his defense successfully argued the shooting was an accident.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky