Originally Posted by CDSmith

Yet I hear about a large dog tearing up a smaller dog quite often. Strange.

My sister's dog, a small spaniel, many years ago, was off-leash and ran afoul of a large pair of dobermans. They tore the little fella up bad, but in that instance he survived. I can think of several other instances with other small dogs-vs-big dogs where the small dog didn't fare as well. But just do a quick google search of small dogs killed by large dogs and you'll see just how often it happens.

I have an elderly couple living next door to me, they have a small (and sometimes yappy) poodle/shnauser type dog. I can tell you they wouldn't DREAM of letting that dog near a larger dog, and when they walk him or take him out of the home anywhere he is always leashed and within reach of picking him up should another dog come too near.

I guess my best advice, other than avoiding having a small dog in the first place, is to keep them away from larger dogs completely, at least until you know the situation between them is safe and friendly.


I think the OP has a good case for having that large dog euthanized. It obviously hasn't been trained properly by it's owners and has anger issues, has now killed, thus is dangerous. One has to wonder if someone's baby had crawled up and touched it's rump would we be here morning the loss of a child?