Are Dogs and Chickens OK together?

[Rock Home Isle]

Our little Blondie goes by the name, "Sophy". She's pretty good around the chickens, but she gets mad when they steal her snacks that she takes out into the yard to eat.



Missy is a Lab-Cross and has grown up around our chickens. In her eyes she is their protector...there have never been any issues with Missy.



Missy is a great guard dog. She watches over the flock during the day when we are at work.

Sadie, on the other hand, is my daughter's dog...the one next to Missy in this photo.

Sadie has killed several of our chickens and I do not trust her to be home with the chickens when we are gone. She hasn't killed one of the birds in over a year, but I still don't trust her alone with them. In her defense, I'd almost say that Sadie is just a "Special" dog...she just doesn't get it.

 

[Snaggy]

My Portuguese Water Dog grew up with pullets ranging on the lawn. When I throw out scratch, the dog likes to eat it and the hens are head to head with him, pecking as fast as they can to get their share. It's really funny, especially with mealworms, because they all love them. My dog is lovey-dovey though, and all he cares about is people, food and stuffed animals.

We've had other dogs in the lawn from time to time and the chickens KNOW the safe ones from the wolves. They retreat to the henhouse at first sight if a dog looks at them sideways. We've had small dogs over that they just keep an eye on.

 

[Therese 11]

Some dogs are good like german shepards can hold a chick in their mouth and if you have any problems with neighbor dogs they would keep them off your property. Therese

 

[Kolinka]

I thought I would share this since I am new with chickens and learned a terrible lesson today. I've got 2 older dogs and have been very careful to keep them out of the chicken pen. I didn't know I needed to be just as careful not to let the chickens escape. The rooster darted past me out the gate this morning into the backyard with the dogs. One of my dogs just chased him and probably wouldn't have hurt him, but the other one wasted no time in pinning him to the ground and killing him.

 

[mclanea]

First full day with the chicks in their run and the dogs just stare and stare. Our cockapoo will at least get bored and wander off. But the larger dog, just turned 1, just can't seem to look away.

Hoping that soon they'll just get bored and realize they can't break in, so just go back to their normal dog stuff. (My office is also in the backyard, so I am keeping an eye on them for now.)

 

[Rock Home Isle]

You may want to work with the dogs and teach them that the chickens are part of the family.

They do look really curious...cool

 

[abqferreira]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned yet that a flock of hens can be dangerous for your dog! I had a 10 lb chihuahua who made it into the run looking for food scraps. I heard him yelping and ran out to find that the flock of 15 was attacking him. I think he could have been injured or even killed if I hadn't intervened when I did.

I would be very cautious leaving dogs and chickens unsupervised together. I have certainly lost hens to dogs over the years, and like I experienced, a flock of hens can certainly defend themselves when needed.

 

[mclanea]

You may want to work with the dogs and teach them that the chickens are part of the family.

They do look really curious...cool

Yeah, I'm going over there pretty regularly to praise them for "just looking." And they get a pretty stern "no" when they scratch the hardware cloth. So far pretty pleased that they can't seem to dent it or tear it... though I'm guessing that'd change if they really went after it?

Also glad we dug underneath a bit to bury the hardware cloth. That was a good tip.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

When I trained both my dogs, I used a check-cord.

Work with one dog at a time. Hook the check-cord to the collar and give the dog a nice amount of slack. Let a couple chickens out.

If the dog ignores the chickens, awesome!!!!

If the dog goes after the chickens, tell the dog "no" and set the cord. The sudden shocking jerk on the cord will serve two things. It will give you great control of the dog, protecting your chickens & it will reinforce the "no" command.

After a couple times, the dogs will understand to leave the chickens alone.

When the dogs ignore the chickens, AWESOME!!!!!

 

[country girl44]

We have 3 dogs too. The one that somewhat worries me is my big dog as he walks back and fourth as the chickens are out in their coop. Once the girls have more time outside I am going to introduce my big dog to the chickens while having him on a leash, just in case. I rather be safe then sorry. As for my other two dogs, I already put them in the coop with the chickens and my little girl Doggies are scared. I'm sure in time that will change.