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Something terrible has happened and I feel sick and horrified. Need some kind thoughts tonight. My daughter’s 1 year old collie mix attacked her dear sweet 17 year old border collie. He was hurt so badly he died. We don’t know what to do and are shattered. Our hearts are broken. I have read this is more common than you think but is not talked about much. It’s the survival of the fittest instinct in some cases. The young dog had been acting aggressive towards him but recently was ok. This happened after my daughter and husband were at work.

I have no advice and no experience in this area. But how terribly sad and tragic, but it sounds like it was a surprise that it was so aggressive and there wouldn’t have been anything you could do. It does sound like maybe some behavioral training for the young dog is an order to make sure that the aggression gets under control

And condolences on your old pup. I’m sure he was well loved.

I'm so sorry. I can't imagine the shock and sadness you must all be feeling.

It might not be a bad idea to have the dog checked to rule out any health problems. My sibling had a young dog that was aggressive towards my dog and me. It turned out it had cancer.

My heart goes out to you and your family. Losing a beloved pet is so hard.

I’m so sorry to hear this. Several years ago this happened to my former neighbors. At the time I think they were probably in their 60’s.

He came home to absolute carnage in his house. The stronger and younger dog had killed the older, but bigger one. There was no off behavior amongst them, maybe normal don’t take my ball… type stuff. They tried for a few months to get back to normal, but his wife was quite frightened even though they had him for years and had never showed aggression towards them.

They rehomed him to a friend that had a big farm and no other animals.

How heartbreaking. I'm sorry this happened. These dogs that are bred to do a job can definitely redirect their energy in negative ways when not worked.

I have a buddy that their lab who was trained for Waterfowl was never exercised and started nipping. Last act was to bite the grandsons face. Had to get stitches. A tired worked dog is always good. An amped up dog with no way to expend energy is more likely to be unpredictable.

Watch that dog around littles is my point.

I feel so bad for you all. Wondering if they acquired him as an 8 week old, or adopted him as an older pup with unknown puppy experiences...I understand this dog fighting happens more if there are two females vying for the number 1 status in the house.

I know it's too late now, but when they noticed any sign of aggression from the young dog, that would have been the best time to limit his freedom in the house whenever he couldn't be leashed or supervised, as he is still a juvenile. Much of that young dog energy can and often does spell trouble, as tushnurse just said.

Our line of working dog German Shepherds are generally so wired up that it is not feasible to allow them freedom in the house until about 5 years old! I just learned of an owner who had to euthanize his 2 1/2 year old German Shepherd male after the dog started aggressive barking in the house for no reason they could discern and then suddenly got out of control, seriously biting his owners! This scared us, as our boy is an 85 lb. dominant 19 month old working line GSD who likes to tell us he should be number 1 in our "pack." I'm going to talk to our trainer soon about the risk of this happening in the future to us. It is a scary reality that we need to not minimize dangerous behaviors by "humanizing" our canine family members the way we often do (referring to myself) and that we do need to wear them out with activity, either physical or mental.

But how sad an ending to a beloved dog's life with them, this may take a long time to get over. I would have to rehome the dog that did that deed, I just know I'd have a hard time getting past that episode.

Thank you all. The young dog was acquired as an 8 week old female puppy and grew up with the older male dog. My daughter is contacting a behavioural specialist and her vet for advice. There were some signs but she thought they were being managed but unfortunately not. The dog will not be allowed around children. The other male is a huge Irish wolfhound and she has not gone after him other than playing. This is just awful and our hearts are broken at the loss of our beloved gentle old boy who could not defend himself.

I wonder if the old one hurt itself somehow and cried out, possibly triggering a violent response from the young one. Hurt, disabled animals bring negative attention to a pack so sometimes the younger ones will attack/kill the hurt/old one. I've seen situations when I had several dogs when one would get hurt and the others would all seemingly turn on it, or I had one that had seizures occasionally at one time, and I had one dog that would try to attack her when she seized. It's a wild response. We think our dogs are civilized members of our families, and for the most part they are, but occasionally a wild behaviour arises in certain situations. It's another good reason for crating/separation when one can't directly supervise their dogs, unfortunately.

Also wanted to add, we had a lhasa-poo growing up. She was mean as he'll. She attacked our bigger dog that's was supposed to be a lab st Bernard mutt. She looked like acted like a Mastiff. Super chill. The little dog repeatedly attacked the bigger dog one day the bigger dog had enough and she damn near killed the smaller dog. She recovered and then it happened again. She was moved to live with my Gran as he dog had passed and she was willing. Some dogs just can't be around others. A behaviorist is a definite good choice. They can work wonders. Meds can help to if it is an anxiety issue.