Brand New and looking for advice

[danegirl88]

Awww, they're cute! Poodles? Cooper also has a buddy, my 7 year old Great Dane, Naomi. She is more interested in sniffing the chickens so when the gal above got out yesterday (we were trying to move the gals into a temporary run so they could enjoy some grass while we were working outside and she snuck past my dad), she just quietly followed behind trying to get a good sniff. Cooper took two hands to hold back and I barely kept him contained at that!

 

[GitaBooks]

We have allergies, so we decided to get goldendoodles. The two larger ones are standard and the two smaller ones are miniatures. They're awesome. We lost Arby to what we think was cancer, but the others are doing well in their older age.

Our dogs have learned to except the chickens, but they love to chase wild birds like blue herons, ducks, robins, baby birds, and they do catch them (thankfully never a heron)! That is why we are careful when they are around the chickens, reminding them that they may be part bird-dog but they can't catch our birds.

However, the dog we pet-sit hasn't gotten that fact into his head, and in catching my rooster he plucked out his tail feathers. Poor boy looked so silly.

 

[danegirl88]

Oh my goodness, I can imagine! I've gotten him calmer around the coop so far and at least he's not actively trying to dig into it anymore, but loose dog + loose chicken was not a fun scenario. Naomi caught and brought me a still kicking baby rabbit a few weeks ago. Too late to save it, unfortunately. Luckily, neither has killed a bird (to my knowledge). I'm gonna do some more training with Cooper but as he is easily intimidated, I'm going to wait until the girls are much larger and less tempting (hopefully...).

EDIT: Sorry about Arby - cancer sucks

 

[GitaBooks]

We have a little dog, nick-named Kitty, who acts just like a terrier (even though she's really part Maltese and part poodle). The funny thing is, when she finally cornered our pet rabbit she was too scared to do anything besides bark at it!

Silly dog.
But its true, that rabbit was scary! She ruled the world. LOL

 

[danegirl88]

My friend had a rabbit that ruled the world, named Pounce. Meanest rabbit I've ever met! They can be terrors sometimes.