kittens and older dog

You said the dog has been around cats before but has he ever been around kittens? We made the mistake of thinking our dogs would be ok with kittens because we had several cats. We woke up in the middle of the night once to a commotion. The dogs had gotten into the closet where the mom had her kittens and taken them out. I guess to play with them. It wasn't good. I won't go into detail, but I will say a few of them didn't make it. The dogs weren't attacking and being mean, just messing with them. But that was enough. The dogs were golden retrievers. So just watch them and don't leave them alone together. Good Luck