Dog Breed Experience Poll/Database

[scbatz33]

Boxer - chased and killed chickens, never leave them alone!
Mastiff - would chase if you let him, but will leave them alone if you tell him
Rotti - never chases, wants to lick the chicks but couldn't care less about grown ones
Chow/golden mix - no interest what so ever in chickens, ducks or turkeys. Squirrels, however, never escaped!

 

[Joy Irwin]

I really believe that (and I have a herd of dogs) the breed of dog only plays a small part of how they will interact with your chickens-but that said I wouldn't put an Irish Setter, or a pointer type or any other kind of bird dog in with the flock without supervision, genetics will win out.
But the way your dogs interacts and reacts to poultry will be determined mostly by his training. JOY

 

[imthedude]

labrador retriever for us - female chocolate to be exact. she's a friend/guardian. she was definitely curious at first, but now she could care less. not sure she is quite to the guardian level, but she definitely wouldn't harm them.

 

[SpringChickens]

I have a lab X german shepard cross and she's a definite guardian for our chickens. I also have a red heeler (also called australian cattle dog or queensland heeler) who is not quite as good as our labX but is still what I would consider a guardian.

Our neighbors have two boxers and they are both definitely chicken killers.

 

[Coral]

I used to give my Rhodesian Ridgeback chicken feet for treats on an almost daily basis, plus raw eggs sometimes and raw chicken. When I got married and my husband proposed the idea of having our own backyard chickens, I was a little worried how it would go with our RR. We got all of our 6 chickens as chicks. At first he would lick his lips and really seemed like he wanted to eat them, and if they moved too fast he'd dart after them. RR's are sight-hounds so that was to be expected. After awhile he'd sit still but whine, letting me know he really wanted to go after them, but he'd stay still. Then after awhile he sort of got bored by them, and they were getting older and bolder and weren't afraid of him, so they'd peck him and even try to snuggle with him. He wasn't having that. He'd just run away. But, finally, he just got used to them being around and seemed not to even notice them anymore. My husband built a nice big coop in our backyard, but I really wanted to let them roam sometimes, and we haven't had any problems when I let them out with the dog back there. Actually, there are a lot of cats, and I'm more worried about the chickens when the dog's NOT out there, that one of the cats will get them, the Silkie especially. The dog just follows them around and eats their poop, which is great, because then it's not all over the place.

Wish the chickens would eat his poop.
Anyway, one day I went to give our dog some raw chicken and he sniffed it and walked away. He will not eat raw chicken anymore. He'll still eat eggs, but seems disgusted by raw chicken.
I 100% trust him with our chickens now. I leave him in the backyard all day with them unsupervised and he's never ever even chased them or anything.
I would say he's chicken-safe. Just takes some time training them to resist their urge and then to get bored of seeing them. We just got a kitty though who I have to keep in the house if the chickens are out. I tried my best to get them to be friends, but he's just too predatorial I guess.

 

[Q9]

Mutt named Hannah, as best we can tell she's mostly husky and chow, although my sis claims that she has German Shepherd in her. She killed our first batch of chickens, and when we reinforced the run with the second batch, she obsessively watched them for several weeks. Hungrily.

 

[centrarchid]

I have had black and tan hounds, dalmatians and beagles (multiples of each) with chickens. Dogs kenneled without interaction with poultry as pups were prone to killing birds when dogs got out. Those exposed to birds as pups were reliable guardians of poultry. A couple that were proven chicken killers were broken of habit and one (black and tan) was trained to help catch specific birds from free ranging game flock without damaging feathers. Breed proving most difficult to work with around poultry were beagles. Lack of interest in poultry had little to do with how dogs handled in feild in respect to quarry they were directed to catch.

Dogs are more than intinct driving and most breeds had ancestors that were expected to be multi-purpose.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 3 mini dachshunds, they pretty much ignore the chickens but I don't feel comfortable leaving them unattended with them. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I also have a mix breed beagle and jack russell [supposedly] we got her from the shelter. She is about like the dachshunds they are all around the chickens and ducks everyday but would not let them be together unsupervised. My little bantams I'm most concerned about.

 

[Debbi]

Any given breed of dog, on any given day, may become a chicken killer. Point is, don't leave the dogs in with the chickens unless they are trained, AND supervised! That is the only way to prevent a potential disaster...period.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

german shepherd- chicken killer
siberian husky- chicken killer
alaskan malamute- chicken killer
chow chow- chicken killer


english mastiff- chicken guardian



That's all I've had.