can you train a dog to not hurt your chickens?

[Billy C]

It really depends on how your dogs have been trained all along. A dog that is told NO when it chews an old sock and when it does chew one and is not disciplined then it is a 'just sometimes trained' dog. You can't trust the dog around your chickens.

I have had rotties for over 20 years and Airedales about the same amount of time. At present, one of each. The rottie is smart and learns from one lesson. The Airedale, not so much but once the line is established he is totally trustworthy.

I simply let the chickens out and watched the dogs. The rottie was first to check the ladies out. He went up to one, sniffed it, flipped it upside down with his nose. He was told NO. And that was it. The Airedale I had to watch for about 15 minutes. First he sniffed it, that's O.K.. Then he put his paw on one. He was told NO. Then he barked at one and it took off. He grabbed it by the tail and pulled a few feathers. I grabbed him by the scruff and shook him, like his mother would do for discipline, and I yelled NO. The next day the rottie had no interest the Airedale chased one, I repeated the routine but this time while holding his scruff I walked him on his back legs to the house and put him inside. He knew I was not happy. And that was it. The Airedale is a hunter. He has killed raccoons, squirrels, chases deer off the property along with to many black bears that show up for dinner and the two of them killed a skunk and tore it apart. We won't talk about that one.

Today the chickens were locked in their run, I was working in the garden. The rottie laying on the house deck watching me. He let out a bark, which was unusual. A few minutes later another bark. He was barking at me. When I looked over at the chicken run I had an escapee wandering around. The rottie told me I had an escapee and the Airedale went over the bank to herd the chicken back up and into the run. That, I have never trained him for.

 

[bird-brain]

3 of my dogs were raised with my chickens. A stray collie showed up with a broken hip 2 years ago and went to work taking care of them as soon as she healed from her surgery. The roosters love playing with her tail. I have a stray jack Russell that trees every squirrel she sees but leaves the chickens alone, we had a stray beagle that never bothered them the 2 months he was here (we found him a great home) but would tree bears like crazy. My dogs, or my cats don't bother my birds, my rabbits or my horses.

My hens raised a stray kitten last summer. She would sleep in nest boxes at night and they would stay circled around the kitten when she napped during the day. It was adorable. She's an inside cat now.

 

[libertree]

I had all five of my dogs around my chickens - even in the coop - with no problems. Then they flew over the fence into the dog's yard and the Dachshund got all three. The other dogs even ignored the dead chickens but the Dachshund is such a prey driven dog that when they flew in front of him without me there, he killed quickly. I am putting up electric fencing on the top to keep chickens in and on the bottom to keep Dachshund out before I replace the chickens. I will never trust a prey driven dog again.

 

[VeniceChicks]

Hello,
Our experience with dogs and chickens has been great. We have a bluetick coonhound, plott hound and a mix little pup, I think jack russel/beagle.
They all can roam with our chickens & don't bother them. When we first got our baby chicks they were inside in my bathtub, coop wasn't finished yet.
I would let my dogs in & watch them & stiff them when I was holding them. All in a very controlled environment of course.

They got used to them and when we moved them outside my bluetick was so protective, we had to get a tall chair for her to sit on so she could look in the coop & watch them through the window. It's been a couple years and she still is very attentive to them & protective.

All is good in our house with dogs & chickens. I was also dog sitting a bull dog and after a couple days, the bull dog & chickens were hanging out together no problem.
They are never left unattended together when no one is home, unless one flies out of the coop. We only let them roam freely together when we are back there with them.

Hope this helps. Krista

 

[luckylady94577]

I have had as many as 12 hens, my 3yr old Aussie/Golden mix and my 6 cats get along with them and also my four goats. I put them together every day for a short while monitoring their behavior and correcting them when necessary. Within a week everyone gets along just fine, my cats even sleep in the chicken coup. Be patient, harmony in the barnyard is a wonderful sight!

 

[nick97]

I trained my rottie and Chihuahua by electric fence around the coop and by swatting them whenever they try attack. But I also left them inside with the chickens for about an hour to learn they can cooperate. now my dogs dont bother the chickens. Actually I left my ducks out when I went to church services yesterday and when I came back they weren't harmed.

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[johnster]

as stated, absolutely with smart dog..I have two retrievers, Golden and Lab, both hunt, had no problem at all simply by strong voice NO and they backed off. The Golden is older and has a harder time restraining, especially when the chickens take to wing, but they are around em all the time, no problem at all...
Oh the other hand we had a small lap dog, peekapoo I think she called it, it could not be trained and would chase em...can you tell I am a bit prejudiced .... :

 

[Bird Legs]

Sure you can! I've trained five very different dogs to leave our chickens alone. The dog in picture was able to be left alone with the hens. All the others had to be lightly 'monitored' - - not constantly but the dogs had to know a human was somewhere nearby. So far, 3 German Shepherds, 1 terrier mix and 1 golden retriever. I would say all the dogs started with a strong prey drive. They were mostly trained by leash with a voice correction. One GSD (sort of a 'cage fighter' type of GSD) had to also be wearing a toothed collar when trained and instead of hours or days, it took us months to train him. Although he gets an occasional goodhearted chase in before we can step in, he pays no attention to our flock.

 

[rogrut1968]

We have a doberman, a blue healer, a great pirranese and a black lab...the wife took them in the pen with her when chicks were abut 6 wks old (we have 40) and told them NO if they showed interest. Now chickens free range and take turns with dogs eating dog food at dog feeding station. They even fight together for scraps when we throw them out back door...chickens win.

 

[kdbwood]

I have a 5 yr old black lab, 9 yr old beagle & 9 yr old schnauzer mix. I thought the lab would be the most difficult. Turns out the beagle (an adopted stray) had the strongest predator instinct. I repeatedly let the chickens out of their chicken yard while I worked in the backyard & supervised all the animals. All 3 dogs took some serious verbal & occasional physical discipline. I never hit them with my hand. I used a pair of work gloves and firmly popped them on the head or shoulder to get their attention. Then put them to the ground in submission to verbally discipline. It took several months before they finally accepted the chickens as part of the family. I can now let my birds free range in the fenced back yard without supervision. I live in a rural area where predators are a concern. The dogs are a definite deterrent to predators. The only negative now is the chickens want to hang out on the deck with us. They think they should be allowed since the dogs are.