Gotta Love Dogs that Chase Hawks

How do you keep the dogs from eating the chickens? We just got are kids chicks for easter and 2 of our 3 dogs are trying to eat them. I found my German Shorthair (bird hunting dog) munching on one and the other was MIA. They both lived. They are tough!! My wifes Pom is trying to get them also. Any Ideas?

Thanks,
Daivd

Well, not for your breed of dog too much - you are fighting too much prey drive. LGD's (livestock guardian dogs) such as Great Pyrs are bred forever, to have low prey drive AND to protect and guard, that which they've been introduced to and made to know is "theirs" ot protect.

you are totally right peaches. we use to breed pyrennes. they are the best dog for livestock. i'd give anything to find a full blooded pup right now. we only have 1 pyrennes left, our other dog is a newfoundland, the cousin to the pyrennes. she is very occupied watching the new chicks. but i can't trust her just yet.... the newfie will have to wait on introductions till the peeps are grown. but she does love to tease them, staring them down till she sneaks in her paw and nudges the fence to spook them. i hope she will be good around them if we ever decide to free-range. can't do that till strawberry and garden time is over though.

Had to share a few pics!

David,

My best bud/bird dog Apollo (a French Brittany) is an excellent pointer and gun dog. However he knows the difference between chickens and other birds. He loves to point and watch birds at the bird feeder and the birds we hunt, but I can put a chicken on his back!
It's all about discipline and reward. I am the alpha, and the chickens are mine. He wines when I work with them because I am not paying attention to him, and when I let him one to sniff he starts wagging his nub at 4000 RPM, just like he does around the cats!
Bird dogs can easily tell the difference in most birds by smell, otherwise they would point every sparrow and starling instead of phesant, grouse, and quail.

As to the hawks, I have two red sholdered hawks that have a nest just 40 yards from my coop and I don't worry about it. I have a fenced in run, but nevertheless it takes a big bird to carry off a chicken, so they prefer to catch mice and small squirels and other little critters. I've seen them on the ground with the neighbors flock, ignoring the chickens and looking for little critters in the field that they can take up to a tree to eat.

-Jason

Oh Peaches.....you dog is beautifull! Love the pics....thanks for shareing!

your dogs are so nice!!! clean to boot. my girl gets matted so bad. we don't know why. but we have her shaved every spring because of it. wish we had the ability to have her groomed regular.

Love all the pics of dogs with the chickens!
I confess to being a little nervous about how my two will be.. one has a rather high prey drive and killed a baby skunk he found somewhere a few summers back. The second is more of a chaser than an actual killer LOL. Both know I'm alpha, but they still test the rules every once in awhile. And the post about dogs knowing the difference.. glad you made that point. I hadn't thought of that. OMG I'm actually concious of NOT giving my dogs enough credit for intelligence !! That doesn't happen too often.. My girl is smarter by far, but my boy is far more clever <he's a bit of a houdini, actually>

LOL! I cracked up over those choc labs.. they could be duplicates for my two, also... right down to the white eyebrows (ok, well the white eyebrows are on my Choc Huskadore <choc lab/husky mix.. he's my own personal designer dog >!!

And the lab puppy in the puddle.. what a great picture!

-Meg

Quote:
EXACTLY!! Any dog can be good around chickens or any other small animal, with the proper training. Dogs certainly understand pack order and will respect the alpha completely. They know that everything belongs to the alpha.

Peaches- Beautiful snow picture - i'm loving it!