Like a lot of folks in this economy, I was forced to find a new job which took me away from home since this past October. Because of my instability I made arrangements for my Father to move into my home to care for my dogs and handle my affairs there. I thought I was doing the right thing by my dogs until I could get settled in the new town with an appropriate home that gave them the space they were accustomed too.

My father called me this morning and told me my 3yr old female Dutch Malinois killed our Shitzu. Both dogs were the same age by a 4 month difference and have been together since they were both puppies. We never had an aggression problem out of either one of them and I'm totally blind-sided on how to handle this.

My Malinois - "Amber" has been crate trained since I brought her home from the breeder. My father who is comfortable with my pets (and vice-versa) however broke my rule and didn't crate "Amber" while he ran out on an errand. He said he wasn't even gone an hour. My father is competent but I don't think he spends the time Amber is used too meaning I very much enjoy the hour or two in the evenings outside with her playing in the yard and I'm wondering if this caused her to do this. She's never given me a days worry before this and both dogs would play together friendly.

I take total responsibility for this but I'm very concerned now what this has done to her. A co-worker today made a comment and I'm really hoping it was un-educated moronic statement when he said "That's a shepherd for you, they all turn sooner or later.. once they get a taste for blood you might as well put her down".

After I overcame the urge to knock him on his $#(@!! It made me start to wonder on the drive home from work. My family has had Shepherds since I was a baby and I thought I was doing the best thing for the dogs by leaving them in their environment with someone they knew well until I could get settled in a big enough place for us.

Where do I go from here? I'm reading everything from Neurological to Arthritis too ???

I appreciate any advice.

First I want to say that I am so sorry this happened to you and your father. How hard for you to have something like this happen when you are not there and in control.

 Quote: drew archer

"That's a shepherd for you, they all turn sooner or later.. once they get a taste for blood you might as well put her down".

This is the most uneducated comment someone can make. Just ridiculous. Don’t let hurtful and just plain stupid comments get to you right now.

We will never know what happened; it could have been anything from prey behavior, to a pain response to a fight that got out of hand.

You and your father did the best you could in the situation you found yourselves in. I would wait until you can get Amber into a normal routine to judge her behavior before making any decisions.

In the meantime, your father should go back to crating her more (as per her normal schedual) and if he can, get her more exercise.

I am so sorry

 Quote: jessicakromer

First I want to say that I am so sorry this happened to you and your father. How hard for you to have something like this happen when you are not there and in control.

 Quote: drew archer

"That's a shepherd for you, they all turn sooner or later.. once they get a taste for blood you might as well put her down".

This is the most uneducated comment someone can make. Just ridiculous. Don’t let hurtful and just plain stupid comments get to you right now.

We will never know what happened; it could have been anything from prey behavior, to a pain response to a fight that got out of hand.

You and your father did the best you could in the situation you found yourselves in. I would wait until you can get Amber into a normal routine to judge her behavior before making any decisions.

In the meantime, your father should go back to crating her more (as per her normal schedual) and if he can, get her more exercise.

I am so sorry

You will never know; I agree. There are a dozen scenarios I can imagine.

When will you have the dog with you again? That influences the suggestions you will receive; second-hand help is not very useful and can lead to misinterpretation in a situation that requires clarity.

The co-worker is ignorant. I would not even spend the brain energy on anger. Perhaps he even meant well. If he tries to follow up, I would not engage; I would probably say that I was consulting with professionals and change the subject.

That may be a route that you will follow, anyway.

For now: What is the housing situation going to be for the near future?

All JMO.

I'm really sorry about what happened.

Your shepherd is still your shepherd.

I agree with Jessica; we, and you, don't know what happened. It is my understanding that dogs that are predatory and kill and attack successfully do build on that success with confidence - BUT - that may not be what happened here. I do think it would be appropriate to be cautious with your girl around other dogs (small ones in particular) and not allow her around other dogs unsupervised, but she's far from a monster and I wouldn't ever begin to look at her that way. I am really sorry this happened to you; I have a dog that attacked another dog predatorially, and I know how painful that was. You're in my thoughts.

I really do not have advice to give so I will just offer how sorry I am that this happened. And I will say I agree with the rest of the posters that your coworker is an idiotic moron. Some people

Drew,
All I can offer are my condolences to you and your dad. I'm very sorry this happened and know that the advice/input you receive from the more experienced members of this forum will be helpful.

Hang in there,
Barb

Drew,

I am very sorry about what happen to your dogs. I don't believe you deserve the punishment for what happen. You had to do what you can and thought you did the best by put dogs with your father. I don't believe that nonsense comment about your dog from your worker. I will bet you that he lacks education if he made a stupid comment something like that. I felt this is just a bad accident that was mishandling by your father's part.

 Quote: Drew_Archer

Where do I go from here? I'm reading everything from Neurological to Arthritis too ???

Drew, let me also say that I'm sorry about what happened.

If it will make you feel any better about it, you could take her to the vet and have them do an exam/blood work to see if there is any physical reason as to why this happened.

Barring that, as difficult as it is, I think you need to move past this. You now know that she must be crated when unsupervised, and that possibly her prey drive kicks in around smaller dogs. Or, possibly she can be dog-aggressive.

These are manageable, as many members here will tell you...

Best wishes to you and your dog...

Unfortunately I have had to deal with this with Ivan (GS in sig picture). He gets along great with a dog until he decides to kill it. As much as I like him and would like to trust him around other dogs I never can.

He wears a greyhound muzzle with a keeper when he is around other dogs. It's lightweight, comfortable, stays on without galling him, and it doesn't hurt when he bumps me or a dog. http://www.birdwellenterprises.com/

 Quote: lynne barrows

Barring that, as difficult as it is, I think you need to move past this. You now know that she must be crated when unsupervised, and that possibly her prey drive kicks in around smaller dogs. Or, possibly she can be dog-aggressive.

These are manageable, as many members here will tell you...

So sorry to hear this Drew. It sounds like you did everything you could and this was just an unforeseen accident that happened in your absence. But I agree with everyone else in that I think your Malinois is probably perfectly fine, you've just realized how critical it is that she be under control/supervised at all times when she isn't in her crate - ESPECIALLY around other dogs and animals.

I have friends who own 4 mastiff type dogs (2 female bullmastiffs, one male rott and one male mastiff mix). The dogs generally get along quite well around each other and are loose together in the house when the couple are home. When left alone, the dogs are split into 2 male/female combos and put in separate rooms (from previous lessons learned). These friends were very aware of how the dogs behaved in their presence and what to expect/avoid, but what they didn't realize was that an entirely new dynamic formed when the "alpha" of the house (the male human) was replaced by a dog sitter for a week. They thought the presence and watchful eye of another human leader would keep things stable, but apparently the dogs didn't. Within days of the couple being gone the dogs got into a 4-way fight - with the sitter there - and all had to be taken to the vet for stitches. Undoubtably, the dog sitter was not as keen in detecting the warning signs of a fight that the actual owners would have been able to see, but I think there was also a real void left when the "alpha" wasn't present, and the dogs took advantage of that. Perhaps your dogs felt a similar upset and your absence alone caused their behavior to change.

Sometimes life gives you pretty hard lessons, but you'll work through this one and I'm sure it'll help you avoid future accidents.

~Natalya