Our 2 GSDs, male 2 yr, female 3 yr, 1 yr old Golden Retriever and year old Samoyed (yes, a pack) where loose in our home last evening. Our daughter came over with her 5 pound Chihuahua/Pom on leash and walked in. (Our dogs know both her and her little dog). The 2 GSDs immediately went into high prey mode chasing him and overtook him. It was extremely hard to control. I had no idea how hard it can be. Had to pry the little dog out of both of their mouths. It was utter chaos and so very tragic to watch.

Little dog, died of a fractured spine and punctured thoracic injuries. We are all devasted . I am feeling so very responsible, as I should.

I really don't want chastising, as I have gone over it a hundred times of all the things I "should" have done, and the things that I did wrong.

The dogs were all placed in their crates and there they have stayed. I don't want to even let them out, ever again.

What I am asking the forum for is advice on what now, to do with the GSDs. At this point I want all dogs to leave my house and maybe get a goldfish in a bowl.

I obviously do not have control over the dogs. We are choosing to send the male GSD away (it was a co-own situation), to reduce our pack. In the meantime, any advice on what to do with our 3 yr old female?

Right now, I don't want to have anything to do with any of them. I think I need time to heal, but at this point, I wonder how long it is going to take.

P.S. We also have cats. We have to keep them locked up in a separate room, or they would all be dead as well. I am wondering if there is any way we can all live peaceable in our home.

Kind advice would be appreciated. I am doing enough self-criticize on my own.

http://leerburg.com/pdf/packstructure.pdf

Start with the above free e-book.

As tough as it will be, you do have a responsibility to your own dogs. Rehoming the male answers that part, but you really do need to come up with a plan for the other 3.

If it was me Mary Ann, I wouldnt allow guests to bring strange dogs into my home. If you're going to allow it, put your dogs away. I think this was a case of poor management where the dogs were in a situation that was asking for something bad, and thats the way it went.

With three dogs, I wouldnt give them free run of the house. I don't with mine. Everything is structured so that its always under control. They don't form their own "pack". Its not anything bad, they're not punished or living a deprived life, they just learn the rules by you being consistant.

My only criticism is the way you're feeling about the current dogs in your care. It was a mistake, a bad mistake, a fatal mistake that cost a dog his life.

Dogs are opportunistic and will adjust to the excitement of the moment, especially when there's a pack involved. They're all cuing off each other. For all we know, it may have been your young Golden that sparked it. Just because the Chihuahua ended up in the mouths of your Shepherds doesn't mean they started the chain of events.

 Quote: MaryAnnChristens

The dogs were all placed in their crates and there they have stayed. I don't want to even let them out, ever again.

By placing your dogs in their crates and not exercising them, you're providing an abysmal existence for them. They did what came relatively natural given a highly charged, uncontrolled situation.

You can't bring the Chihuahua back. Your existing dogs are past the event and need to move on with their lives.

They need a knowledgeable leader that's going to exercise and manage them. Control their actions so that these types of things don't happen. A lot can be done by gaining some knowledge as well as training and desensitization work.

What kind of exercise and training are these dogs getting?

An unfortunate situation, I’m sorry to read about your loss.

I am sorry for loss. It is indeed very sad, but don't place blames on the dogs. It is what dogs do- ingrained in some of them and it's our job to manage that aspect of their tendancies. Not chastising here, but punishing them by lack of excercise, social time and training is not fair. It was a training and management issue.
My advice would be leashes on all dogs that are out of their crates, rotating so there is one dog out at a time until there is solid OB on any dogs out together (still leashed) and NO other dogs in your home without proper warning so you can put yours far away and safely locked up. Lock your doors well so noone can enter with a dog while you are unprepared. The OB is the MOST necessary though because irresposible owners anywhere could let their dogs run up to you and having management tools are so important to all owners (to protect their dogs from a situation where they feel the need to act instead of listen to you- who will take care of the problem for them) It has to be so difficult trying to figure out what went wrong, but this is your opportunity to fix this before it ends up being someone who is going to demand the execution of your dogs or sue the pants off you. The fair option would be to work really hard and provide all of you with a safer, calmer lifestyle through management and OB. Your dog has shown you he is prey driven, so use that to your advantage during training- Get the Micheal Ellis "Marker Training" and "How to Play Tug.." Videos or on-demand and you will not regret it. Again, so sorry for your loss and good luck in helping your dogs become the best they can be.

I'm so sorry for what has happened. I can imagine how devistating it must be.

I would also point out that the dogs may have done nothing different with the Chi than they've done with each other, but the huge difference in size made it deadly for the little dog.

You have to move past the blame right now - for both yourself and the dogs you have - and work on a solution so it never happens again. OB training, crating, good exercise like the other posters have outlined.

Do not fret over it and move on. Your dogs do not know that they have been bad. So if you carry that negative energy towards them they will be confused.

Work on prevention and control of environment. And an Absolutely reliable (compulsion enforced if need be) recall is important.

"Your dogs do not know that they have been bad. "


Because they haven't. They have been dogs.

Negativity toward them is misplaced, IMO, as Ram says.

There's good strong advice in this thread, MaryAnn. Learning and changing is what lets the tragedy have some good come out of it.

I'm sorry this happened MaryAnn. It had to be horrifying and heartbreaking.

I have a cat with high prey drive dogs and I have a pack. My cat is perfectly safe in my house due to a lot of work and diligence on my part.

If my cat got outside with a couple of dogs out I don't think it would end up too good for him....

In addition to the advice given above I would work on having one dog out at a time with one on one time with you, this helps them look to you as the leader. I would also work on a strong "leave it" command perhaps with the help of someone that knows how to use an e collar properly.

Again, I'm so sorry this happened. I hope when things calm down a little you can come to peace with it, realize that your dogs were not being evil, and most importantly that you can ensure that it won't happen again.

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.

I realize that the dogs were just being dogs and the environment was a set-up for the tradegy.

Thank you so much for all your sound advice.