WOODSTOCK – Two pit bulls who attacked a puppy last year staved off euthanasia, were returned home and will live to see another day.

And – as some neighbors in their McHenry subdivision said – live to terrorize the neighborhood.

McHenry County Animal Control asked a judge to declare the dogs vicious and to be put down.

After an afternoon-long bench trial on Thursday, McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell denied the request. Although he said he did so grudgingly, he added there wasn’t sufficient evidence to make a viciousness determination. Caldwell called himself “a person who likes dogs,” but also lambasted the breed saying: “I don’t see the sense of keeping pit bulls by anybody.”

“I would love nothing more than to put these two animals down, but it simply cannot be done,” Caldwell said.

The pit bulls, Molly and Sawyer, are owned by Lara Coler, who openly wept in court after the judge rendered his decision. Coler declined to comment as she left the courtroom.

The dogs have not been in Coler’s custody since the September 2014 attack on a neighbor’s dog. The judge ordered Coler to pay for the dogs while they were in custody – first at a local shelter and most recently at Animal Control. According to court records, it amounted to $6,990. A health department spokeswoman said Coler picked up the dogs Friday morning.

The day of the attack, Steve Cuda was walking his 6-month-old golden retriever puppy, Addie, on a leash in his Martin Woods neighborhood. Cuda, a local attorney, said the pit bulls ran across Coler's yard at 1621 Tomlinson Drive, and began mauling Addie. Coler said she has an invisible fence, but believes the collar batteries were not working that day.

Cuda tried to stop the attack and was bitten by one of the dogs, although it was unclear which of the three. His wife, Annette, heard the commotion and ran to help. Both Cudas suffered dog bite injuries to their hands, and Steve Cuda fell during the melee and sustained a shoulder injury that still causes him pain today. Addie was injured but survived.

From the witness stand, Steve Cuda described the attack in terrifying details.

“It was the most sickening sound I’ve ever heard an animal make,” he said in describing Addie squealing in pain. “She’s being mauled apart by these animals and had no way of protecting herself.”

Animal Control Administrator Dr. Lisa Lembke sought the viciousness determination. After the trial, she said the dogs were “self-mutilating” while in custody of Animal Control and were so dangerous to staff there, that the cage rarely was opened and extra precautions were taken with them. She vowed to “keep an eye” on the pit bulls.

“The dogs were essentially holding the neighborhood hostage,” Lembke said. “So many people changed their patterns because of these dogs.

A finding of viciousness can be done in two ways, Coler’s attorney William Dennison explained. The first is to prove the dogs attacked a human, without justification, and the injuries caused severe physical impairment.

At the trial, the only evidence was that the pit bulls attacked Addie, not Steve Cuda, Dennison said. And although the Cudas’ injuries required medical care, they didn’t rise to the level of severe.

A second legal standard is if the animals previously were deemed “dangerous dogs” on three separate occasions. Both Molly and Sawyer had been involved in previous incidents, but neither were ever deemed dangerous.

Before the melee with Cuda, Coler twice was cited for dogs running at large, and a neighbor said her dog was attacked by the pit bulls. Essentially, there was no paper trail indicating the dogs had been dangerous in the past, and it’s too late to create one now.

Outside the courtroom, both Steve and Annette Cuda, as well as some neighbors, expressed disappointment in the ruling. It was reported that Coler got at least one more pit bull while Molly and Sawyer were at Animal Control.

“We will not got by that house anymore,” Steve Cuda said. “I do not feel safe.”

The Cudas also filed a personal injury civil lawsuit against Coler seeking damages in excess of $50,000. That case has a pending status before Judge Caldwell on Oct. 13.