I really need some advice. I'm at a loss. I have a 6 month old chocolate lab, and earlier today we were at my sister's house my lab was playing with her 2 Chihuahuas. They were getting along great so we left them to play in their 20x20 kennel. We went to the store and was gone for about an hour. When we got back we found that both of her dogs were dead. It appears that my puppy killed both of them. He is not aggressive at all but the Chihuahuas were. We don't know what happened. Not sure if they jumped on him and he defended himself or if he was playing and it was an accident. We just don't know what happened. Since this happened my lab has been acting like a normal puppy and don't seam aggravated or anything. Does this mean that my puppy is ruined now that he has killed or can he still be trained to be a good dog. My heart is breaking any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Heart broken
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I am so sorry.
Unfortunately this is not uncommon when large dogs are left unsupervised with small dogs. It could be out-of-control play, or a fight that escalated. The larger dog may not have intended his response to be deadly - it takes very little physical force to do fatal damage to a toy sized dog. An acquaintance of mine had her large dog run over her Chi and accidentally break its back - the big dog was just running from one room to the other, not even fighting or playing. I suspect that being in an enclosure didn't help, as the dogs could not retreat from one another if the fighting/playing got too rough.
Killing your dog would be a huge overreaction. Just don't ever leave him alone with other dogs again. Personally, as a precaution, I would also limit his access to small dogs and other small animals, in case he has a strong prey drive - it really only takes one "grab and shake" to maim or kill a little animal, and that behavior is instinctive for dogs. Most dogs discriminate between other dogs, even small dogs, versus prey animals, but sometimes in the heat of the moment things can go haywire, and it only takes a second.
Unfortunately this is not uncommon when large dogs are left unsupervised with small dogs. It could be out-of-control play, or a fight that escalated. The larger dog may not have intended his response to be deadly - it takes very little physical force to do fatal damage to a toy sized dog. An acquaintance of mine had her large dog run over her Chi and accidentally break its back - the big dog was just running from one room to the other, not even fighting or playing. I suspect that being in an enclosure didn't help, as the dogs could not retreat from one another if the fighting/playing got too rough.
Killing your dog would be a huge overreaction. Just don't ever leave him alone with other dogs again. Personally, as a precaution, I would also limit his access to small dogs and other small animals, in case he has a strong prey drive - it really only takes one "grab and shake" to maim or kill a little animal, and that behavior is instinctive for dogs. Most dogs discriminate between other dogs, even small dogs, versus prey animals, but sometimes in the heat of the moment things can go haywire, and it only takes a second.
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My heart goes out to you. I agree with parus that there's no way of knowing what happened here. Maybe rough play, maybe the little guys triggered an instinctive predatory reaction from your dog, maybe it was defensive, maybe just a plain accident. Things happen so easily with such a big size difference, and toy breeds are delicate on top of it. It's a terrible thing to go through for everyone involved.
The one thing that's certain is that your puppy didn't do this out of some kind of malicious and murderous intent. You may or may not find that he's totally fine with other dogs, even toy breeds, in the future, but sadly this scenario really isn't that unusual. And definitely not indicative of your baby boy having any kind of serious behavior problem. Definitely supervise him around other dogs, especially littles, in case he is prone to getting too excited and rough, or even has some dog aggression issues, but chances are this was the result of normal dog behavior.
The one thing that's certain is that your puppy didn't do this out of some kind of malicious and murderous intent. You may or may not find that he's totally fine with other dogs, even toy breeds, in the future, but sadly this scenario really isn't that unusual. And definitely not indicative of your baby boy having any kind of serious behavior problem. Definitely supervise him around other dogs, especially littles, in case he is prone to getting too excited and rough, or even has some dog aggression issues, but chances are this was the result of normal dog behavior.
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