good dog breeds for chickens

skooltcher

Hatching
9 Years
Jul 19, 2010
4
0
7
lancaster, ca
looking for a dog. anyone know any good breeds to have around kids and chickens?
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my great pyrenees watches over my flock all day. the only time shes been even remotely snappy at any of them is when one of the pullets thought she could refuse to leave the dogs laying area where blanca(my dog) can watch over the whole yard without having to get up. she just lays there all day watching the kids, the chickens, and the cats. the best breed of dog i ever had as far as gentle protection of my kids and animals
 
In general, I'd say most herding breeds, the occasional working breed,with the very rare hunting/prey driven breeds far behind.
great pyrinese/collie/healer/old English sheep dogs are going to be your best bet, rottweilers/Pitt bulls/german shepherds and other loyalty breeds are going to depend on the temperament and training of the dog. Every great once in a while, you might find a dachshund/ terrier mix that may see the flock as its pack, but don't bet on it. Do your research on dog breeds, Raise it up with chickens, OBEDIENCE train the heck out of it, and hope for the best.

I work at a pet store as background, a lot of working with dogs in general (No, having a dachshund run loose with your ferret is not a good idea, considering they were bread to hunt badgers) and breed types hold pretty true. I have a blue healer/Australian sheppard mix, I can trust her with a $1000 parrot that can't fly in the house(they cuddled), I can trust her to not chew on anything she hasn't been told she can chew on, but can I trust her to not get on the bed when I'm in the house or not "play" with the chickens by nipping at there tail feathers and chuckle as they run away? hell no. At least she is happy when they are all in one spot and not running frantically away.

With my experience with dogs, I would probably say that my current flock protector( a puppy for my current dog to teach when she is older so I wont have a gap between dogs) will most likely be followed by a corgi, collie, bull mastiff, another heeler(even though they are known to nip(at heels)) if i had all the time/money/dog food in the world a german shepard or great pyrinese.

Hope that helps
Sadie
 
had a Bouvier Des Flandres for 13 years and he was the best dog EVER, patient, protective, calm, quiet, o but they are a flatulent breed
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we have a purebred tricolor welsh pembrooke corgi and he is the greatest. he wanders around the yard, the chickens wander around him, they couldn't care less about each other
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if you are looking for a guard type dog I would definitly say a pyr would be the way to go. we adopted houdini as a 3yo, had him for the better part of a year before getting the chickens, and he's been around them for the past several months. Yay for not being a killer!
 
I have a Komondor that is great with my chickens, He did need one training session as a puppy. Now he won't even look at the birds, let alone play with them.

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