How can I make peace with the dogs, which killed our guinea pigs?

Question

I came back from work at about 1PM to pick up something from our house and I had to go back to work at 2PM. During this time there came 2 little cute dogs and they walked into our back garden. I observed them but thought, why not, our guinea pigs are safe in their enclosure. When the whole family came back at 8PM my husband wanted to feed the animals and found 15 of them killed and only 2 of them survived. They jumped over the fence.
They were not hungry, they just were up for a kill. Why is it that dogs do that? Are all dogs like that? In nature most likely animals kill if they are hungry and not just for fun.
Can you look at such a happening from a philosophical point of view?

Thanks so much for your good answers.

To Doctor Watson. We are sure it was the two little dogs as they returned the next day going straight to the guinea pig cages. My husband wanted to catch them, but they run away.
I was just now coming back from work seeing a lady walking with two little dogs which looked exactly like the dogs I saw in our backyard, and I stopped my car and talking to the woman. She told me that she knows of two similar looking dogs in our street and she told me the house number so we will contact the owners. I am sure the dogs killed the animals as also the wounds looked like dog bites.

Answer 1

Dogs bite moving things. Dogs do very little self examination. My dog is provoked when you point to his food bowl, even when its empty. So I tease him sometimes in an attempt to improve his character. Now he has learned he cannot control himself so to avoid this he moves himself out of the way. He is dealing with a dog after all, and he knows he has limited control of himself.

There is no need to make peace with the dogs.

Answer 2

What puzzles me most is that they were two "cute little dogs." There are three large breeds often "trained" to kill, but normally, this isn't any dog's instinct, regardless of what anyone says.
Once a dog has killed, the probability is that they will again. Perhaps now, even a small child. For the sake of others, if you know to whom they belong, & have any measure of proof, you ought to report them--it's your responsibility.
I don't know anything about a "special" attraction to guinea pigs, & common sense tells me this is NOT a factor. NO. Not all dogs are like that! Simply "playing" wouldn't lead to killing. (Also, you didn't even say you had a dog, not that it would be relevant.) There are some conflicting answers. Dogs can't judge right or wrong, & yet, they kill for the FUN of it? Nonsense.
There's no reason to make peace with these creatures. If for whatever legal reason, you can't have them REMOVED, protect yourself as well as you can. I'm very sorry about your guinea pigs!

Answer 3

Do you know for a fact that these 'two cute little dogs' are what killed your guinea pigs? Both of you were gone. Could it possibly be that some other dog, or animal for that matter, attacked them?

Most dogs don't kill for fun, by the way. It is just as likely that they could have been killed by some little punk neighborhood boy or by a raccoon.

Answer 4

Dogs are animals that act instinctively. People breed dogs for many different reasons. Some of the breeds are hunters. Since you say these two particular dogs are "cute puppies" I doubt they killed the guinea pigs deliberately. Perhaps the play got out out of hand and the killing was accidental. The only exception is the pit bull breed. These dogs will not stop until their prey is killed. This is what these dogs are bread to do. You should monitor their movement and activity. Once they kill and animal, they most likely will kill again. Keep your pets out of their sight and reach and call your local animal control officer to report this incident. Pit bull breeds, fully grown have also been known to kill people and are outlawed in many communities. Investigate and act accordingly.

Answer 5

A lot of dogs are like that. Apparently, they don't know much difference.

We need to keep creatures such as guinea pigs well protected from creatures like dogs and cats. In fact just having cats and dogs anywhere near guinea pigs might serve to make the guinea pigs nervous.

To make peace with the dogs be kind to them. Just make a fence or walls to keep them a good distance from guinea pigs and similar creatures. "Bad Doggie!", but use a gentle tone of voice "Very Bad!". Then put up the walls and fencings. Out of sight, out of mind.....

Sometimes things happen and later it is difficult to get over it. We must work on a higher state of consciousness.

Answer 6

I'm so sorry to hear this. I don't know about those dogs. Were they part of a feral pack of dogs, who roam and hunt? Animals don't really kill other animals "for fun". Not even cats. They kill because they are predators and they have a sequences of actions hard-wired into their brains that cause them to hunt and kill other animals in a certain way. Dogs are predatory descendants of wolves, and apparently not all of those instincts were bred out of those domesticated dogs. If the dogs are roaming loose, probably you should try to find their owner and let them know, or call the animal control officer to let them know those dogs are roaming unleashed.

Answer 7

My little sister has a guinea pig, who has been attacked on a countless number of occasions.

Should we be talking about the dogs, or guinea pigs? I think guinea pigs are target prey to many animals. I know enough about guinea pigs to understand this. My sister's pet flinches and freezes at the sound of any animal, not just dogs, but the neighborhood cats, hawks, owls, squirrels in the trees, etc... Guinea pigs are just game to most animals.

Answer 8

Yes, some animals kill for fun.
Jackals and hyenas and dogs and wolves are all known to do that.
Is it morally wrong to kill for fun? Yes, well, it certainly is for a moral creature such as a human. A human has the capacity to understand right and wrong. The dog does not have the "knowledge of good and evil" that is why dogs didn't get kicked out of the Garden of Eden. They never became moral agents capable of such discernment. That is what makes people different from animals...but then, we sure screw it up more frequently than our furry friends do, don't we?

Answer 9

you cant turn blame on dogs their just dogs they don't have morals they don't have a concept of decency they do things just because they do its hard to describe but animals are just that and people are no exception we just have the ability to create ideas like morals and decency. i don't expect you do make piece with everything theres nothing wrong with disliking something its when it affects you in a significant way is that it is a concern.

Answer 10

We're having problems with loose dogs here. People can get in BIG trouble for that, especially if there is a leash law.... Do you know whose dogs they are?