Lab doesnt like the little people....

Question
We now have two Labs, one black one chocolate. Both were rescued from different homes. They get along great, and both get along with all other dogs except my black one hates any animal smaller than she is. Birds, squirrels, bunny's...and worst of all any cat or DOG who is smaller than her. She is the most gentle animal. We have 6 kids, all small who climb on her an d wrestle with her and shes wonderful. But if she sees a a smaller dog on a walk she goes nuts.... shows her teeth and acts like given the chance she would kill it. We rescued a very tiny kitten a few months back and tried for 5 hours to intrduce the two and she tried all she could do to attack the little thing. It's like she turns into a different dog. But then a stange large breed will be introduced to her and she acts like they have been friends forever. This is getting to be quite a problem since we cant take her out much. If she spots something smaller she is almost too much to even handle. She is fully trained and resonds to all given commands except when she goes into ATTACK mode...then she does;nt even here us. I am terrified she will hurt something someday.Please help...
Teri

Answer
I have put off answering this hoping to come up with a good idea.  Nobody knows everything.  This may relate to some sort of a bad experience in her past, or just a very strong prey drive.  Has she ever encountered a puppy young enough to still have the distinctive, protective puppy breath?  That might be one way for her to learn that some smaller things are dogs, fun to play with if she still likes biting games.  If you try that, be very protective of the puppy.  My other idea would be to slowly work down on sizes of dogs, just a little smaller, smaller, etc.  Perhaps not easy to find a series of smaller dogs.  

The head collar is a great tool for controlling a dog under the worst conditions.  The leading brands are Promise,  Haltie, and Gentle Leader.  They have a strap going around the dogs nose looking something like a muzzle.  They work by pulling the dogs head around.  No other way gives you such great control with so little force.  With them, never use the snap other collars require.  It should at least allow you to walk her in public places.  The prong collar is now a dangerous relic of value only for its macho looks.  Do not consider using one without hands on instruction from somebody with plenty of experience with them.