By the time she got to the door, the men were driving away. Martinez got a partial plate number and later learned her neighbor had gotten the full license plate.

Martinez said she is not only saddened by the incident itself, but also because the pit bull that wasn't returned likely landed in the hands of people who won't give it a good home. Her biggest fear is someone will try to breed it for dog fighting or to be mean.

"It's just really sad because the dogs get a really bad reputation as it is, and it's because of people like him," she said. "They're great dogs. They're great family pets. But it's people like him I can't understand. The wrong people get them and do the wrong things with them. I sat up all night just sick. How could somebody do that? If he doesn't care about throwing a girl to the ground, he doesn't care about the dog. It takes a lot of guts to come into someone's house and do that."

Martinez has two children, ages 3 and 7, and her 96-year-old grandmother living with her. She said her pit bulls have never been aggressive to anyone in the house.

It's not the first time the Martinez family has put a sign in front of their home to sell pit bulls. However, this is the first problem they've had and Martinez admitted people needed to be more cautious about letting strangers into their house.

Martinez's boyfriend was not home at the time of the incident, but her 3-year-old was sitting on the couch when she was knocked down.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak said detectives expected to make arrests very soon in the case. He agreed with Martinez that the incident should serve as a reminder to residents to be careful about whom they allow inside their homes.

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com