Anyone have luck training a dog not to chase chickens?

[lcatty]

Hi all.

My friend's 9 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia and they just came home today after having been in the hospital for the past two weeks. I have been caring for her two dogs. Due to the son's compromised immune system, dogs must be re-homed. One (a Yorkie) is going to my friend's mother's, but her mother doesn't want the other. His name is Shadow- a cute little black mutt with one ear up and one ear flopped over, kind of wire-y short hair. He was a pound puppy to begin with and is a little less than a year old, we think. He's a dear and great with me and my kids, but- here's the whole point- he chases my chickens and my cats. I like to free range my birds on weekends and weekday evenings when I am home and it is breaking my heart to keep them in the coop these past two weeks. I don't trust the dog around them. As for the cats, he's traumatized them with his chasing behavior but they take a swipe and he backs off.

So my question is, has anyone had any luck training a young dog to leave their birds alone? I really might like to keep this dog, but not at the expense of the welfare of chickens and cats. They were here first, after all.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Baggagolers]

I have two dogs, and they are fine with the chickens. It's more about training the dog then just training him to stay away from the chickens. They need to have all the basic training to be a well behaved dog. If the dog doesn't listen or behave under everyday conditions it will never behave around the chickens. So I would start working on teaching the dog to listen and behave around you and the cats and then work with him around the chicken. I hope it all works out for everyone.

 

[nzpouter]

all my dogs always live with other animals in the property... we just adopt a year old pit from the pound and she's in full on training mode now. Leash, a lot of NO!!, LEAVE IT!! and constant watch. She's ok when we're around, but will be months before we can leave her alone.

.... and another thing people often forgot, the other animals need to get use to the dog as well.

 

[centrarchid]

Goal: Training Dog Not to Chase Chickens

It is not luck generally. I have kept dogs around chickens for almost 40 years. Interactions between dogs and chickens were dynamic giving dogs all sorts of stimulation. Most of the dogs have been hunting dogs such as black and tan coonhounds, Dalmatians (companion and hunting use), Irish setters, beagles, border collie and German Short-haired pointer. Some of the hounds where used to hunt foxes. We generally had several adult dogs often in excess of ten. Dog breed is not considered an issue. Our farm also had often all at once cattle, hogs, horses and sheep in addition to chickens. Chickens where used for meat, eggs and as games. The meat birds where free ranged as juveniles sometimes in groups pushing 200 individuals. Game chickens where present year round under a variety of husbandry situations and at locations that would be considered by some to be different farms. Some of the dogs were allowed to roam at all times and patrolled components of farm that where nearly a mile away. A couple also went wherever farm truck went and got out to interact with livestock at each stop. We could not have done this without dogs. Some dogs killed a chicken or two but habit eventually broken in all. Most of the dogs we raised often from our own adults so that made this easier. Here is what I think made this work.

Objective 1: You must have control over dog. It must respond to commands that indicate stop a given behavior.

Objective 2: Frequent and repeated exposure to chickens.

Objective 3: Dog not hyper, wear dog out with vigerous walk / play session. I take mine hunting. Feed dog before session.

Objective 4: Calm chickens. Adult rooster is my first choice.

Objective 5: Calm trainer. Dog and chickens will rile you at times. I like to read a book during majority of a given training session. Dog will see chicken is not your primary interest and chicken does not excite you. Your being excited will excite dog.

Objective 6: Restraint of dog and sometimes chicken during training sessions (initially). Dog on leash and target chicken in pen.

Objective 7: Alternative activities for dog around chickens. Give dog new stimuli; new toys or bones during session. We hunt rats or stalk squirrels. Play fetch.

Objective 8: Rapid and clear reprimand when dog attempts improper activity towards chicken. Praise for proper activities. Do not want praise behavior concentrated on chickens.

Objective 9: Patience! Very seldom will dog be trained with a single session. Process will take many sessions and supervision needed for sometime even after neither party is restrained. Sometimes dog back slides. Dog may even kill a bird but do not give up. Use dead bird as training tool.

Objective 10: If dog to be a livestock guardian dog (LGD), then it is expected for dog to be with flock / cats at all times. At some point you will have to get to point where interactions can be unsupervised. Do this initially so dog does not know you are watching. LGD is my desired endpoint with all my dogs even though in reality most dogs are restrained most of time.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've owned dozens of dogs. Sight hounds, working gun dogs, German Shepherds, Dobermann, Schipperker, and Papillons. Not one of them has ever chased poultry because I trained them to leave the poultry alone.

So yes, it is possible to train a dog to leave the chickens alone.

 

[highpointfarm]

Goal: Training Dog Not to Chase Chickens

It is not luck generally. I have kept dogs around chickens for almost 40 years. Interactions between dogs and chickens were dynamic giving dogs all sorts of stimulation. Most of the dogs have been hunting dogs such as black and tan coonhounds, Dalmatians (companion and hunting use), Irish setters, beagles, border collie and German Short-haired pointer. Some of the hounds where used to hunt foxes. We generally had several adult dogs often in excess of ten. Dog breed is not considered an issue. Our farm also had often all at once cattle, hogs, horses and sheep in addition to chickens. Chickens where used for meat, eggs and as games. The meat birds where free ranged as juveniles sometimes in groups pushing 200 individuals. Game chickens where present year round under a variety of husbandry situations and at locations that would be considered by some to be different farms. Some of the dogs were allowed to roam at all times and patrolled components of farm that where nearly a mile away. A couple also went wherever farm truck went and got out to interact with livestock at each stop. We could not have done this without dogs. Some dogs killed a chicken or two but habit eventually broken in all. Most of the dogs we raised often from our own adults so that made this easier. Here is what I think made this work.

Objective 1: You must have control over dog. It must respond to commands that indicate stop a given behavior.

Objective 2: Frequent and repeated exposure to chickens.

Objective 3: Dog not hyper, wear dog out with vigerous walk / play session. I take mine hunting. Feed dog before session.

Objective 4: Calm chickens. Adult rooster is my first choice.

Objective 5: Calm trainer. Dog and chickens will rile you at times. I like to read a book during majority of a given training session. Dog will see chicken is not your primary interest and chicken does not excite you. Your being excited will excite dog.

Objective 6: Restraint of dog and sometimes chicken during training sessions (initially). Dog on leash and target chicken in pen.

Objective 7: Alternative activities for dog around chickens. Give dog new stimuli; new toys or bones during session. We hunt rats or stalk squirrels. Play fetch.

Objective 8: Rapid and clear reprimand when dog attempts improper activity towards chicken. Praise for proper activities. Do not want praise behavior concentrated on chickens.

Objective 9: Patience! Very seldom will dog be trained with a single session. Process will take many sessions and supervision needed for sometime even after neither party is restrained. Sometimes dog back slides. Dog may even kill a bird but do not give up. Use dead bird as training tool.