The mom of a graduate student interrupted my class, in a state of shock, to
tell me that her rottie had killed a little dog at a dog park today. She
wanted to know if she had to put him to sleep.

Mack is the quintessential dog-park dog. I've seen him play, with all sizes of
dogs. He's gentle, friendly, non-dominant, non-aggressive, and has been going
to the park weekly since he was a puppy.

I was in too much of a state of shock myself to get details (like which park
and what exactly happened), but she said he chased him, picked him up and shook
him, then grabbed his brother. The other one survived.

Man. I tell my students in every class that dogs are not little people in fur
suits. They are animals. They have no morals, and don't know right from wrong
- only safe from not safe. But then prey drive rears its ugly head and really
shoves the message home.

Because I'd bet that's what happened. This little white fuzzy guy whizzed by
Mack, and his prey drive kicked in. Plain and simple. Not a bad dog, not a
dangerous dog. Just a dog. *Any* dog.

I'm beginning to think that dog parks should be divided by size. Even in my
class, if I have two puppies of vastly different sizes, I'm inches away from
them while they're playing. I'm not afraid of mouths, I'm afraid of feet - I
do paw patrol. Especially if the big dog is a boxer. :}

In the park, nobody's ever close enough to monitor well enough.

At least if two similar-sized dogs go at it, one's probably not going to kill
each other with a mere shake. But it's so *easy* for a big dog to kill a
little dog.

What do you guys think? I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

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Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m.