How to stop dog killing chickens

[Deerslayer901]

hi, my names hunter. My dog is a golden retriever and the first time I found out she likes chicken is when she got into my run and killed all 30 hens. I finally fixed my run and started over I currently have 25. And the other night she got in and only got 1. I really don't want to have to give her away because she's an excellent guard dog. But I can't have her trying to kill my chickens and I saw her bite one of my nigerian dwarf goats the other day! What should I do?! Is there a breed of goat or chicken that's big enough to take on a full grown golden retriever?! I heard Malay chickens are large but I don't know if it'll be able to take her on.

 

[MeepBeep]

No chicken will be able to fend off a large dog, nor will most if any goats in a practical sense...

You need to either invest a great deal of time into re-training and hope it works, re-home the dog or just accept that is your dogs personality and deal with it...

 

[mypurtychickens]

You need to spend a lot of time training her or have her on a leash in the coop and correct her when she shows aggressive behavior towards the chickens. You can do the same thing with the goats. A decent sized stick to the the butt works. Or get one of those wireless electric fence that cuts off right before the coop. They are a little expensive but worth the investment.

 

[silkieaddictIN]

You will need to keep her leashed AT ALL TIMES when around any of these animals, to start with.
Try and take her around the pens of the animals leashed, to start with.
Does she know any obedience at all?
If yes,
have her do different commands near the pen.

If she is a dog who refuses to look at you/focus on you - even with treats/toys, you would do best learning and training "focus"- which can be a little long to train, but it does wonders!! I just started my pups on "focus" and in one day they have it down well.

I also suggest teaching the command LEAVE IT. This is important to teach before trying to get your dog to leave chickens alone.
You can see videos on youtube for this, as well as focus training.

after that,
When she looks at a chicken, give her the command LEAVE IT correct her with a sharp tug of the leash. When she is not looking at the chickens, give her a treat or toy, and praise the heck out of her. Always reward her for not paying attention to the chickens, and move her away or correct her when she is interested in them.

It will take a little work, but she may be able to pull through this.

IF you want to keep her but don't want her around your chickens,
there is an article in the members pages, I think it is called "Dealing with dogs who kill chickens" I wrote it not long ago, but it tells how to contain a dog (escape proof) that kills chickens, without the you or the dog having a miserable life.
*****OR if you want her loose, add some cattle panels or horse panels, on the outside/inside of your chicken runs/goat pens/etc. She shouldn't be able to get through those and the cost is fairly cheap.



Feel free to pm me if needed. Good luck. & sorry for your loss!!!

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[Primo]

If she has already killed 31 of your hens, then I would not trust her unsupervised near them ever again. No matter how much training you do. At this point you need to secure your coop. If you want to keep her then use electric to secure. You still May be able to salvage the situation with the goats. You will need to work with her daily to correct

 

[Primo]

You know, I have read some of your posts and agree with some of what you say. But kill the dogs when you can adequately protect the coop and run? At this point I regard you as a simple troll looking for attention. Sad really

 

[gawildlife]

Not a troll, just sick and tired of the repeated bad advice given out by people who can't understand that animals are property easily replaced. Cull the bad and work with the good.

Maybe the all caps was over the top but when I deal with it daily from all sides it gets old to the point that I don't even humor my customers any more.

 

[Primo]

Not a troll, just sick and tired of the repeated bad advice given out by people who can't understand that animals are property easily replaced. Cull the bad and work with the good.

Maybe the all caps was over the top but when I deal with it daily from all sides it gets old to the point that I don't even humor my customers any more.

This is the issue that you have to come to grips with. Especially on the internet. We are not your customers. We have different life experience than yours. We also tend to believe we are right no matter what some blowhard on the net tells us. Just give your advice in a respectful thoughtful manner and maybe someone reading it will think to themselves perhaps he (or she) does have a point and I should look into it. I am not being condescending (even though it may come across that way). I completely agree with your assertion for culling. I have experience with working dogs and fowl (see my avatar I will explain no further). This is backyard chickens. Not exactly a working breed forum. Most people here are dealing with pets. And pets have their place in our society.

 

[PBright]

Hi Folks. I'm a newbe to the chicken forum but have had some bad experiences with predators (Coyote-dog mix) killing my chickens and alpaca's prior to electrifying my fence. My farm is located in central Florida In the country. There is a fairly large coyote population in the area, along with wild dogs and wolf packs. I was able to shoot and kill the predator that killed my 2 alpaca's and 6 chickens as they were free range chickens in the pasture with the alpacas. it's open season on predators when they enter our property. No problems since electrifying the fence...thank God. Protecting our animals is paramount here. We also raise Boer goats. We love all our animals and hate to lose any . Now the chickens are in the coop with a fairly large run, hopefully protected from any further attacks. Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas.

 

[1hawkeye2]

Kill it