There’s really no words are there? I don’t blame you for not wanting to go home, it’s a sad and heartbreaking situation. I’m sorry they (and you) are going through this.

That is a very sad....and upsetting........recitation. I'm sure it happened very quickly, hopefully not anticipated (the GSD not having shown any aggression previously) and not anything anyone could have done to change the outcome. I am sure both dog owners are equally devastated - I was pretty broken up just reading about it. I am very sorry for all concerned, including you.

While I am making no connection with your GSD owner, some owners of big dogs (and with big reputations) seem to think their dogs are entitled to be bullies. I remember a number of years back taking my dogs to a dog park, including the Yorkie I inherited after my mom passed. The entire point of a dog park is to allow dogs - of any size - to play and socialize off-leash with the premise being that all dogs should be trained well enough that aggressive behavior towards other dogs is not present nor allowed. There are even rules posted to that effect. I recall walking along one of the trails away from the open play area....the Yorkie at my side......when a young man with some sort of large mixed breed dog passed. As they passed, his dog made a lunge for the Yorkie. She skittered around to my other side and I immediately picked her up and politely told the young man that he needed to restrain his dog. And he proceeded to tell me back that I "had no business bringing a tiny little dog that was just a 'snack' for a dog like his to the park"! WTF??

Omg how terrible and devastating for everyone including you and your family. A stable and horses is a dangerous place for a tiny dog breed even without other dogs involved. I don't think I would put my tiny dog in that type of situation. Some large dogs aren't familiar with tiny dogs and actually don't know what they are. So sad.

OMG how sad! :(

Bob I'm so sorry for all involved, what a tragedy.

Bob, that is just awful. I feel so sorry for everyone involved. How sad.

Wow, that is sad all around. My sympathies to all involved.

So, so tragic! Each one a beloved member of the family and now they're both gone. When one's dog never showed signs of this kind of behavior, how is one suppose to know? Maybe the female GS thought her baby was in danger. Who Knows. I feel terrible for all involved. So glad you weren't there to witness it. Just knowing about it is bad enough

I'm so sorry that happened. The outcome is so sad.

What a sad and horrifying story for those involved. I’m glad you weren’t there.

Such a sad incident!

I can't even imagine what all of the different parties involved are going through.

Oh, I'm so sorry to be reading this. What an awful thing to have happened - for everyone. My sis has two GS, a brother and sister. People pleasing and easy to train, but no ones dogs come with guarantees and in the right circumstances, who could guess what event might trigger an unfortunate response. My sympathies to all.

What an awful thing to have happened to all involved. I'm thinking by boarders you are talking about people boarding horses? If so, why do they bring their dogs to a horse barn? One of my friends has a large horse farm where people board and I've never seen anyone bring their dogs over or have them around the horses.

Sad.

So sorry Bob-I can't understand WHY anyone needs to being their dogs,big or small to the horse barn....

so so sad for all involved :(

How horrific!! Both were family pets, and their lives changed in an instant, including re-living the incident.

Just tragic- I am so sorry for all involved.

I am at a loss for words beyond I am so so so sorry for everyone involved.

What a terrible thing to happen. Really sorry for all involved.

What a terrible tragedy - but why was this even allowed in the first place? I agree that these people should not be bringing their dogs to a place with horses, this is an awful accident just waiting to happen. Mainly because dangerous things happen around horses. Allowing others to bring their dogs onto the horse property is simply
dangerous. Not only for the horses but for the dogs, and any humans that
might get in the way of a sudden altercation. Horses don't mean to harm
people but when they go ballistic a person's reaction might not be
quick enough to dodge the animal's fright, speed and size.

My dog has tons of love and affection for humans but not so much for other dogs. I am always alert and ready for quick action whenever she is around other dogs, especially small ones. She has a huge predatory/chase instinct and I had to put a stop to the neighbor's little dog slipping under the gate to play with her. Although she didn't actually hurt the dog, she was acting dominant to it and I was afraid that she would eventually take advantage. I had to put rocks under the gaps under the gate to keep the little dog from coming in. I had asked the owner to try to keep the dog on their property but you know how that goes. I warned them that if my dog did hurt their dog on our property after them being warned that I wouldn't not be responsible for any vet bills but they didn't listen. But if the dog had been hurt or even killed by my dog I would have felt just awful. On the other hand, she is infatuated with horses but doesn't understand that not all horses are friendly to dogs. The woman behind us has 2 enormous show horses that are very friendly to our dog, they touch noses through the fence. But they temporarily boarded an appaloosa for someone and I happened to notice that it moved it's rear-end towards the fence when my dog went up to it. I was trying to call her away (I was about 30 feet away) and thankfully one of the friendly horses nosed in between the appaloosa and the fence and I am sure that it was to protect my dog from a kick in the head through the fence, I am convinced that was what that horse intended to do. I knew it, the friendly horse knew it, but my dog didn't.

My sister’s dog was kicked by a horse and died instantly.

Sorry to hear about this, Bob.

This is one of my worst nightmares. I'm so sorry for all involved.

I have "little" dogs - they weigh ~18#. I do everything in my power to keep them safe. They are always on a leash and we never approach other dogs unless I know them and/or I'm fairly confident of the other dog.

Other than never leaving my house, what I don't know how to do is keep them safe from people who let their big dogs run free. It's a problem for all sorts of reasons.

That is just so sad all the way around.

That happened to my mother's dog too, socks. It happened in an instant and it was such a very sad day. My sister and I were just talking about that incident yesterday before I saw this thread.

I think we all get that horses and dogs can be a bad mix, but there were no horses involved in what happened in this case other than it happened at a horse barn. This is more of an example of why dogs should be on leash when out in public. No matter how well trained, they can still be unpredictable.

I'm not completely clear on whether or not this took place on Bob's property, but Bob obviously feels terrible about it. If it did take place on his property, perhaps he will implement a "no dogs at the horse barns" rule.

I understand that this is an upsetting story for all of us who love animals, but piling on the guilt isn't really helpful at this point. While I can't speak for Bob, I imagine it's just making him feel worse than he already does..

I certainly wouldn't blame Bob for people bringing their dogs - that's on the dog owners.

Horrible, and so sad to hear for all involved parties. There are a lot of hurting people today

This is a terrible situation, Bob. I am so sorry for both of these dog owners and for Bob, whose heart is also hurting.

I'm confused about those who keep mentioning the horse interaction in this event. This was a dog attack on another dog. We don't even know if there were any horses present at the time.

Regardless, I cannot imagine how Bob must feel.

That is a very sad and tragic thing that happened and of course Bob has no responsibility for it and I'm sure he is devastated that it happened.

I had a horse and you would not believe how stupid people can be when bringing their own dogs to the farm. For one thing there are already resident dogs, including german shepherds, there that instantly see visiting dogs as a threat though they are responsive enough to the farm owners who will call them off if things start getting tense. My own niece who had a horse there as well would bring her miniature dachshund to the farm and even took her out with her into the pasture when she was getting her own horse to bring in. Well the other horses in that pasture did not like that little dog coming into their territory and several of them tried to go after that little dog who then ran for her life, zigzagging, trying to keep away from the charging horses!! I was terrified that was going to be the end of her little pup. Thankfully she got away but my niece was very irresponsible in allowing that to happen.

Knowing that when I would go to the farm I would be away from home (and my dogs) for usually about six hours, people would say "why don't you bring your dogs to the farm?" Well, I don't want them rolling in horse poop and horses are nervous around dogs and anything can happen. Plus I would spend my day worrying about the dogs. And they were fine at home.

I'm so sorry this happened at Bob's place, but not surprised. And even though no horses were involved, you just don't know what dogs will do either. I agree that dogs should always be leashed when off their personal property.

A terrible, unforeseen and tragic event!

Bob, do you think that you'll post a notice that dogs are not welcome at the barn -- or anywhere on your property? You could modify this to 'unleashed dogs'. Doing so might save you from possible legal liability as well as preventing another such incident.

We were told to post a No Trespassing sign where our property extends to the middle of a creek. Neighborhood kids would play under the bridge there. We didn't post, but have let natural vegetation grow thick and head-high, making the area less attractive for play. When a bad thing happens, some people look for someone else to blame.

I still don't have the entire story, but apparently the female GSD did bite the Yorkie before, months ago when they first met. The GSD's owner downplayed it as playing too rough, and said her dogs are extremely well-trained and go to work with her (at a school) and are therapy dogs. The Yorkie's owner specifically looked for the truck of the GSD's owner as she approached the barn, and didn't see it and so thought the GSDs would not be there.

We had the Yorkie's owner over for dinner last night and midway through dinner she suddenly burst into tears when she realized she was reflexively setting a few pieces of chicken aside to give to Sally.

Oh, Bob, this just makes my heart ache. You just never know what even the sweetest dogs can do. morz8 was right with "...but no ones dogs come with guarantees and in the right circumstances, who could guess what event might trigger an unfortunate response."

There was a story in our news here recently about another Yorkie. An older woman's home was burglarized when she was out. The creep(s) also took her 14-yr-old Yorkie. Now all she can do is grieve and wonder what happened to the dog (who needed meds 2x daily). I keep hoping there might be a happy ending, but months have gone by now. The never knowing can be tough, too.

Dogs are what they are, it's up to the involved people to manage every situation. Because dogs are not little people.

The creep(s) also took her 14-yr-old Yorkie

I don't want to spell it out but unfortunately the interest "creeps" often have in getting hold of toy dogs involves bull terriers. Otherwise just maybe in this instance - not realizing how old it was - they thought it was a fancy breed they could sell for eventual placement with a new owner, for breeding, pet or show use.

Oh I'm so sorry for all. My sympathies to the pet owners and to you as well bob,

"...they thought it was a fancy breed they could sell for eventual placement with a new owner, for breeding, pet or show use."

That was my first thought. Who knows...it sounded like the dog wouldn't last too long w/o the meds. The poor woman was frantic thinking/hoping the dog was just hiding somewhere. These stories are all sad. :-(

I thought I posted a response an hour ago, but don’t see it. Anyway....

Wow, Bob, your recent comment changes things a bit regarding the GSD owner. Why would she bring the dogs back, not knowing if another dog would be there, especially if her dog had bitten one previously? Therapy dog? I am speechless.

Bob this is so very sad for all involved. I'm impressed that the owner of the GSD made the very painful decision to put her own dog down. We think we know our dogs but then they go and act like an animal. A fast moving little dog isn't so different from a squirrel or rabbit.

A farmer in my neighborhood currently has his sheep in our fields and I try to keep a close eye on my dogs because I want them to stay uninvolved. Our invisible fence is only a certain level of deterrent.

How very tragic. I am so sorry that this has happened.

I didn't think that, ritaweeda. It's like everything else. It's always OK until it isn't. It's just sometimes you pay a very high price to learn that lesson.