Why did my 8-month-old Samoyed kill my rabbit?

It is common for a dog to fight or bite a rabbit. Dogs usually won’t challenge bigger members of their own kind, but they will attack and bite creatures smaller than themselves. The rabbit is smaller than the Samoyed and hops around cheerfully, so the dog may have treated it as prey or a toy, and excitement triggered the attack. It is also possible the 8-month Samoyed is in heat; during heat a dog’s hormones run high, making it emotional and irritable and prone to attacking other creatures.

Pet households must remember that even the gentlest dog has territorial instinct and an innate hunting drive, so keep animals of very different sizes that don’t yet know each other separated to avoid fights.