The woman is devastated by this. She says she's not too shaken up because she was mugged; instead, she's heartbroken that her attacker brutally killed her dog Roxie, a 12-year-old Pekinese.
She agreed to talk to ABC7 News on the condition we conceal her identify because she's worried for her safety.
The woman says she couldn't find her phone while driving so she pulled over to look for it. She stopped on Leavenworth near Golden Gate in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.
When she got out of her car to look on the passenger side when a man walked up to her, demanded money, then took five dollars from her pocket.
When he noticed Roxie barking inside the car he threatened to kill the dog, and snatched her out of the driver side door.
"He put Roxie over his head," said the robbery victim. "And ah, threw her towards incoming traffic."
Roxie didn't die from the impact of being thumped on the street. She survived a rushed drive to an emergency veterinarian hospital, but eventually had to be put down because she suffered too many injuries.
A reward is being offered by a couple of good Samaritans who helped the victim after the mugging.
Police are examining images from a number of surveillance cameras in the neighborhood. The suspect is only described as a black man in his 30s.
Anyone who witnessed the robbery is asked to call police at (415) 575-4444 or send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" in the message.
(Bay City News contributed to this report)
