Girlfriend's dog kills a neighbor's puppy! How would you handle that!!!?

[jicksies]

My girlfriend's dog zach killed a puppy yesterday, and, needless to say, she is very distraught over the whole thing. Apparently the neighbors next door had a litter of pups in the backyard and one crawled through into my friend's yard. Zach discovered the pup and killed it before my friend even knew what was happening. The neighbor is naturally very upset but so is my girlfriend. She can't sleep because of this tragedy and is at a loss at how to handle it. I told her I would post her story here on Boxerworld knowing there's alot of knowledgeable dog lovers on this site who may offer some comfort, advice or shared experiences. The dog Zach is a 12 yo, almost blind, mixed breed dog whom my friend has had since he was a pup. She also has two small children and has never had a problem with Zach getting along with the kids. Now she feels she can no longer trust Zach because of this incident, and is even wondering if she should put him down. I truly don't know how I would feel if one of my dogs had done that. I told my friend that I didn't think Zach did anything WRONG he was just following his instincts when this poor, tiny pup crawled into his territory. Could that be all that it is? Or should she be more concerned? As far as the neighbor goes, I told my friend that, as tragic as this is, the neighbor should have been more responsible with these pups in assuring their safety and that my friend is not to blame. It's sad all the way around, but wondered what all of you would do, or how you would feel...thanks for listening, jicksies

[Tulsa-Dan]

Wow. That's a messy situation indeed.

I think you're right. It was the neighbor's responsibility to keep the puppies out of harm's way. I can't really blame Zach for doing what he did, although I wonder if he was just playing too rough with it and killed it that way rather than in a violent way. Do you know any more details?

If Zach hasn't shown any other aggressive tendencies recently outside this incident, I wouldn't bee too concerned. I certainly wouldn't think this incident alone would be enough to warrant putting him down.

It is sad and a real tragedy that the pup died. I'm sure your girlfriend IS very distressed by it all. I certainly would be too. But it isn't her fault and she shouldn't blame herself (or Zach) for what is clearly an accident.

My opinion. I hope everyone can put this behind them and move on, as sad as it may be. These things do happen sometimes.

[Linda]

I agree with Dan. Perhaps he was playing too rough or simply stepped on the puppy.
Is Zach a large dog? How old was the puppy?
As far as they can tell, did this happen quickly? Was the puppy in the yard for some time? Perhaps it crawled off and died before Zach even noticed it.

I think if Zach hasn't shown any other aggressive tendencies, I wouldn't worry about him.

I also strongly agree that the neighbors have a responsibility to keep the puppies safe. What if the puppy had crawled into the street?

[Aimee]

My sister has 2 siberian huskies that are wonderful dogs and have never caused any harm to their 3 children (twin nieces are 2 and nephew is 4), to their chilrens friends, neighbors or even strangers however they have killed a skunk, a rabbit and a cat that have wondered into their yard. The vet suggested that this probably was caused by rough play. They have 2 cats of their own that their dogs don't bother..go figure. It was unfortunant that this poor little puppy wandered into her yard, but it happened in her yard. I think the situation would be different her dog went into the neighbors yard on a hunt so to speak. This sounds like just a tragic accident and I know how sick she must feel over it. It is a loss all the way around but I don't think this makes the dog vicous and I don't think it warrants reason to put the dog down but I do think this should alarm the neighbor that they should keep a better watch on their puppies and take care of them to keep them out of harms way.