Topic of the Week - Dogs and Chickens

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ChickyWhicky said:
I have a german shorthair pointer who has never touched a chicken. These are the safest chickens on the country block! Thanks to him, we have full time pest control on site 24/7. He actively pheasant and rabbit hunts with my husband but has always been respectful of our birds. We introduced him when we first got chicks. We allowed him to see them in the brooder. The first few times, he got excited but we reinforced the "leave it" command and he backed down. We did this for many days (although after the first 3 days, he showed no more interest in them). Eventually they moved out of the brooder and into the coop, at this point he was still no longer interested. We did supervised interactions for many days (with virtually no interaction from him, as he showed no interest) until we felt confident. It was so easy with him and I think we got lucky as he is very smart and loyal. He now lives side by side with the flock and I trust him completely, best "bird dog" around! 😉

On the flip side, we had to rehome a bloodhound as we could not break him of killing chickens. Very sad situation and we tried many things but nothing seemed to deter him. It was to the point that either he had to be confined or the birds had to be confined and that just doesnt work for us. He has an awsome life now, living as a bachelor in a chicken free home so a good ending for him.

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oh my gosh, does your dog have a little horse blanket? :love
 
I never had to train my cocker spaniel to be good to the chickens. She loved them from the beginning, though she never saw one till she was two. Here she is with the latest additions.
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Now our eighteen-week-old lab puppy, she likes them too - as toys that can move and squawk. She stays on a lead when not being supervised, but she's learning. Honestly she shows more interest in the chickens' droppings than in the hens themselves!
 
My dog is a boxer, and he has unfortunately killed a couple chickens in his time. He was socialized with them when they were chicks, allowed to watch them and sniff them if he was calm. Admittedly, he probably should have been (and probably should be) trained better.
Up until recently the flock was always fenced off in their own little area, so a killing would only happen when one escaped and nobody was watching. The last time being a little over a year ago.

He turned 4 this last December, though. I'm not sure if his age has something to do with it, but his interest in them has drastically decreased. I can now have them in the yard together without problems, and while I still keep a close eye nothing has happened yet. He doesn't even look at them! Just trots right on past them to get where he's going.

My only other idea is maybe the newer, feistier members of the flock scared him off. One of them did attack him a few months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if that was what did it.

Has anyone else had a change like this happen?
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sumi said:

Most chicken owners have a dog or two in addition to their flock. Some keep and train their dogs as livestock guardians or flock watchers, while others find they can't trust their dogs with their birds. Keeping these two species together can be done very successfully though. I would like to hear from all you dog and chicken owners what advice you have and what your experiences were when it comes to keeping dogs and chickens together, or at least in harmony. Specifically:

- How do you/did you train your dog(s) not to kill or mess with your chickens?
- What is the best/most effective way to deal with/retrain a dog that killed birds already? (No cruel or inappropriate suggestions, please… Let's keep this thread friendly and informative)
- Tell me about livestock guardian dogs (LGD's)
- Are some dog breeds more or less prone to be a problem around the flock?

For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive
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We were successful in training our two grown labs to co exist (when the birds are out) with our flock. At first though we tied our dogs onto a tie out and let the birds out to fly around and get close to see what the dogs would do.

This also gave everyone the chance to not be too reactive to each other, because the dogs couldn't give chase really but they could slightly invade space etc. Also the chickens could realize "oh they can't/aren't going to eat me so I don't need to run" <----this is a con if other dogs enter the property and your dogs don't run them off. (Ask me how I know lol)!

We did start off with very obedient labs who are no longer in the puppy stage (think 6+) ... so that helped. However, our female was bred to be a hunting dog and very much so will catch and eat something if she can. (rabbit, baby dear, mole, rat)

The obedience and exposure were the two keys factors for us. :) They now lounge around together. ***The only thing I wouldn't allow around them without supervision is baby chick. - There's a reason dog toys squeak lol. That would likely be too enticing to pass up.
 
I have two dogs, a Shiba Inu mix (10) and a Husky mix (18 mo.) and both are respectful of my chickens. The shiba was very interested in the birds at first and I was worried that his small-animal prey drive would be an issue, but I allowed him to be on leash when the chicks were out grazing. Soon he stared to realize that they were friends not food, he's super smart and it only took three supervised gatherings until he stopped wanting to smell chicken butt or even bother them at all. Now the chickens scratch and walk all around him and he will move out of their way.

The Husky is a new addition to the family and she's a shelter dog. She was also introduced to the birds on leash at first, but being in her leash she thought "it's time for a walk!" and she was crazy and excited. I took her off leash to calm her down and put myself between her and the chickens and warned her off with a firm "No". She did start toward one chicken once with a look like she might try and chase, and she got a very harsh reprimand for that. She's been very good with them after that.

My cat is the only one I absolutely don't trust around the chickens, she has not proven even slightly that she can overcome her prey drive enough to not get locked up when the birds come out.
 

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