Open pasture, mixed flock, LGD pup

dainerra said:

she has never chased them before because she was a baby plus supervised by mom who I'm assuming was good with the animals.
she needs to be kept separated physically when you aren't there to watch her.  she's at the age that she will quickly learn how FUN it is to chase chickens. 
Shepherds are dogs that are born to chase things.  it's their natural instinct.   you'll have to be on hand to train that drive into the proper avenues

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Beekissed said:

I don't advise to keep them separated, nor do I think she should be confined in the pen with them. She can guard around the pen and also go in the pen with you when you work in there. Early and often exposure where you can correct when she shows overt excitement when they run, flap, fight or mate one another so that she understands how you want her to behave around the chickens. I'd catch a chicken and sit down with her beside you, let her sniff it and explore it but not get excited over it and it sounds like she doesn't need the chickens pecking her so correct the chicken if it does so. She needs to know that you are over the chickens and over her, that both animals will find guidance and protection from each other from that source. I reinforced that by not allowing my chickens to raid the pup's food while he was eating and I don't let the dogs in the chicken coop while THEY are eating. Each party should have their own space and ability to keep that space when they need it. After those things are established, I then left alone together out on range and watched from a distance. One correction....that's all it took to let him know I'm watching, that even loping towards the chickens to make them scatter is not acceptable, even in play. He also followed the example of my existing chicken dog, a Lab/Border Collie cross and has learned to be calm and ignore the chickens from that source. That all has worked beautifully and I've trusted my pup with the free range chickens since the first month he's been here. He arrived at 2 mo. of age and his training started when he alighted from the truck. He's now 8 mo. of age and a great chicken dog, calm and quiet around the chickens, eager to please and quick to respond to direction. Yesterday I brought him home a whole deer to feed on from a fresh roadkill and he ate side by side with the chickens on it. He was doing the same thing when he was a new arrival here, feeding on deer offal alongside the chickens. Ben, at 2 mo. of age.

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Beekissed said:

That's a beautiful dog!!!!  I love his name and I also think your coop and run is just beautiful!   

I correct a hen much like they correct one another or an older hen corrects a younger bird.....I either peck them on the head or body with my finger tips~hard~or I'll grab her comb and hold on until she's trying to get away...then I'll let go, but not until she's frantic to be let go.  

I prefer the single peck method if I'm training in front of a pup, as they may mimic your technique of the grab and hold....I've heard these Anatolians are great mimics and I've seen that right in front of me in this pup of mine and how he mimics the older dog in many things. 

I also cull my flock for temperament, so I don't have any habitually cranky birds on hand.  It's much easier for chickens to be social and have an even temperament when they free range, so that's a factor also.  In a penned environment, I think it's easier for a single bird to gain power over the others because they cannot escape her. 

If having trouble reaching the birds to correct them in a timely fashion, you can always use a lightweight, flexible rod of some kind....a fishing pole works great, a fiberglass plant support cane works and even a thin cane of bamboo is light enough to get in a tap on the back or head of a hen without exerting too much weight or power. 

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Beekissed said:

When Ben was little I even went so far as to stand between him and the flock when he was eating and they were trying to dart in and get his food....I wanted him to feel like he was being protected by a pack leader until he could protect himself. 

He found this out a few days later when he tried to dive in and take the old dog's food from him....he got picked up by his hide and given a toss.  Twice was all it took before he realized that he was to keep his distance from Jake's food pan.  Now when I go to feed, he sits a good distance from Jake while I dish out his food, then he lies down and waits calmly while I dish out his own food and he will lie there with his head on his paws until I tell him it's okay for him to go eat.  Meanwhile, no chickens are allowed to come to his food....so he knows I've got his back, I've got Jake's back and I've also got the chicken's back and all of that was important for him to understand...there's a leader here and it ain't him. 

I think all of that was significant in his progress with these chickens.  He used to bark impatiently while I was in the coop~I feed the chickens first each morning~ and he kept trying to come in the door, but I ordered him out and then corrected him for barking at me when I was slow to come out.  Barking at me is NOT acceptable, not in that way.  If he needs me to come and investigate something, it's fine but to bark because I wasn't coming out and he couldn't come in was not.  I'll tell you how smart this pup is....he transferred the lying down and waiting with head on paws from the feeding situation to the coop situation, so now I don't hear any barking nor do I have a big dog trying to come into the coop...I now have a quiet, calm and patient dog lying down with head on paws, waiting his turn on getting fed. 

He's been a dream to work with and a true blessing from God to this homestead.  I give all glory to God for his nature and his progress on training, as I asked God for guidance on all of that and just followed what He put in my mind to do and it all worked...and it worked beautifully.  God is good!!! 

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