How do I keep my dog from chasing my chickens?

[lil chicklets]

Maybe they're not as much fun.

The last dog we had used to go "chicken bowling". He'd wait until they were all kind of in a bunch, out scratching and pecking and doing other chickeny things, then RUN right through the middle of them, scattering them everywhere. Never touched them. Then he'd turn around and look like, "Huh - I wonder how that happened?"

Lily sort-of does the same thing. When our chickens are together she shoots through them (making them explode everywhere in every direction.) and then starts chasing the nearest
one to her. She hasn't caught any of them yet and I don't think that she would or could, but if she did I highly doubt that she
would do any thing to it. What did you do to stop your dog from chasing your chickens?
Thanks so much!

 

[saulsx]

Thank you so much for the comment!
I'm pretty sure that Lily (my dog) doesn't have that much of a prey drive, but she sure loves to chase the them.
She doesn't lock up of start licking, but she gets very excited and starts barking or growling. I still don't get why Lily isn't bothered by the ducks but maybe I'll never know.
Thanks a bunch for the info! Have a great rest of the day.

You're welcome! Our dog may actually be a labrador retriever hound mix, not a lab-pit. The chickens are like bouncing squeaky toys to him at the moment. We've kept him separated for the most part this past week, let him sniff around their area some, re-directing him with treats like a toddler and trying to get him to understand they're ours.

I would wanna stop the barking and growling. Has she had any obedience training? Understand "leave it", "sit", "no"? Find the style/method that works best for you, make sure you stick with it, and give it some time. Maybe try to find somebody that can help you get her trained.

 

[lil chicklets]

You're welcome! Our dog may actually be a labrador retriever hound mix, not a lab-pit. The chickens are like bouncing squeaky toys to him at the moment. We've kept him separated for the most part this past week, let him sniff around their area some, re-directing him with treats like a toddler and trying to get him to understand they're ours.

I would wanna stop the barking and growling. Has she had any obedience training? Understand "leave it", "sit", "no"? Find the style/method that works best for you, make sure you stick with it, and give it some time. Maybe try to find somebody that can help you get her trained.

Hello!
I have taught Lily sit, no, and stay is pretty much learned. Recently, Lily got off her leash and chased our chickens. This time, she caught one of them.
She didn't do anything to it, but came to her sense's when we got close to her and were kind of shouting. I believe in the positive reinforcement training, so we use a time out because she is very much of a people dog. Usually, 5min out on our deck will have her understand that what she did was wrong.
What do you do to punish your dog?
I can't wait for your reply!
Thanks!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

We have two dogs and my daughter has a dog. The dogs have been trained to be around the chickens and not harm them.

Our big dog is named Missy, she has grown up around the chickens and she has become a very efficient flock protector. If the birds make any stress or alarm noises, she's immediately out the dog door to check that all is well. She is part lab and collie, so all the right instincts were there, she just needed to be guided and trained. It took awhile, but I am pleased with the final results.

At one point we had a young Cooper's a Hawk picking doves off the bird feeder. This would cause a lot of distress to the chickens, they really seem to fear flying predators...there is a sound that they make only when owls, Hawks and other large birds are in our yard.

When the chickens started making noise, alerting that a large bird was about, Missy stayed outside in the yard.

Missy has shown that she is very good around both chicks & very young birds. When I had my replacement pullets first outside at about 4 or 5 weeks, occasionally one would get separated from the flock and start making distress peeps. Missy wluld herd these little lost birds back to the main flock. Those collie instincts really have a place in a dog that protects the flock.

The other 2 dogs ignore the chickens, and I'm happy with that...

Hi,
In the past month my family and I have adopted a medium dog mix from the pound.
We introduced her to our fowl when she got settled. 
We have six week old ducks and chickens free ranging in the day time around our yard.
My dog (Lily) is just fine with the ducks and only watches them but the chickens just drive her crazy.
I don't know why she likes the chickens so much but one day she got off her leash and ran to the chickens and
chased them all over the yard. She didn't hurt any of them, just really enjoyed chasing them. 
I would really appreciate if you could give me a few pointers on this subject.
                       Thanks a bunch!
                                lil chicklets

Dog's have a pack mentality, creatures that are not members of the pack are fair game. So you need to teach the dog...in no uncertain terms...that these birds are members of the pack.

Here's a post copied from My Coop Project, this is how I taught the dogs that the chickens were not to be chased, they were to be watched...ONLY. As yet I have not posted any of the other training...

Training Man's Best Friend...About Chickens!!

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!!!!!

 

[saulsx]

Hello!
I have taught Lily sit, no, and stay is pretty much learned. Recently, Lily got off her leash and chased our chickens. This time, she caught one of them.
She didn't do anything to it, but came to her sense's when we got close to her and were kind of shouting. I believe in the positive reinforcement training, so we use a time out because she is very much of a people dog. Usually, 5min out on our deck will have her understand that what she did was wrong.
What do you do to punish your dog?
I can't wait for your reply!
Thanks!

Sounds like she might have been playing? I would work on curbing the urge to chase the chickens using whatever method you find works best. In our situation, our dog wasn't just chasing or playing. He locked down and wasn't letting go til he'd made a meal out of that chick. Somehow, he dropped it and my wife pulled him away, but it was too late. Oh, and if you have her on a leash, I'd be mindful of those collars with the plastic clips. When our dog pulled going after the chicks, the plastic clip part broke, so we put him in a harness.

We're continuing with reinforcement for good and bad behavior, now working on teaching him "leave it". We first had to teach him not to snatch food out of hands, or off a plate, or to basically go anywhere near people food. He has his own food. My basic method for teaching him "leave it" is showing him that I have bacon, his favorite treat, and setting it down. If he goes for it, I'll snap my fingers and give him a "NO" to let him him know it's mine. As soon as he leaves it, I'll pet him and tell him "good boy". Seems to be working well so far.

Punishment? A firm "NO" usually works, depending on the situation. Sometimes, I'll give him the command and then just start walking in another direction holding firm to the leash. He usually follows and I don't have to struggle to pull him along. That was one of the first things we started with - leash training and minding his manners. If he doesn't get it, back inside he goes. He gets removed from the situation. I have given him a swat on the backside with the bristle end of a broom, or a rolled up newspaper, a couple of times for making an egregious mistake.

I make him wait to start eating his food til after I've poured it into the dish, stepped out of the way, and said "OK". When we first got him, he would already be eating as I was pouring it out of the bag. I also make him wait til I step outside first, then he follows, and I go back in first and he follows, when we go out for walks.

I probably won't ever trust him to be out on his own and off the leash, though, and not free roaming out with the chickens. Certainly not unsupervised. Too many issues since we've had him with chasing and running off, and he got away from me one to day to run off and harass the neighbor's donkey. Can't have that. I do, however, intend to teach him that the chickens are ours and he has to leave them. He absolutely can't chase any more, so we're working on reinforcing that.

That's about the best advice I can give.

 

[saulsx]

You absolutely, positively, must remove all opportunity for your dog to chase the birds, on leash or off, until you have established behavior modification. You must make it clear in her mind that chasing chickens does not offer positive stimulation....or quite honestly, you are sunk and your dog will continue to look for opportunities to chase chickens.

I highly, highly recommend training your dog to be reliable with chickens, as much as possible, so that if a dog does get out, it won't go for the chickens the second it hits the backyard off leash.

As you like to focus on positive reward (which is very good), then load up on food treats...her absolute favorite, over the top, I would crawl on my belly over hot coals to get that kind of treat. Break them into small pieces as you will be giving a lot of them quickly and you want her to receive a full boost of flavor the moment the treat hits her mouth.

Good luck with her.
LofMc

Oh yeah, we went through a lot of treats early on, and I learned quickly that I had to break them into little pieces or I'd go through a million of them.

Great post! Actually helped me a bit

 

[TalkALittle]

@Lady of McCamley that's actually not what negative reinforcement is. Your training method is sound, but your terminology is off.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

How is my terminology off?

Negative reinforcement is negative consequence you create for behavior you do not want typically in the form of physical correction (leash or shock collar or spray bottle).

Positive reinforcement is positive consequence ypu create for good behavior you do want typically in the form of food treats, praise, toy or play rewards, etc.

Different systems define and use positive and negative tools differently, but the basic concepts run along the general principles I gave...at least in Guide Dogs, Dog 4H, and Agility courses I have done over the years...and it was used as such in my daughter's Vet Tech program with the home stay dogs used in the program.

The method I suggested to the OP combines both positive and negative which I have found highly effective for most, but not all, dogs.

I use very, very little negative with my rescue Rattie as he is a sensitive dog and had been neglected such that he was originally fearful of human interaction. Like my Sheltie before him, I focus heavily on positive reinforcement....which I now point out to the OP....sensitive dogs require a light touch and lots of positive reward. Only use enough force to interrupt the prey drive which can be so focused and intense that usually some negative is required.

More intense breeds, and those especially goofy good natured but oft somewhat dense, like labs, can benefit more easily from negative reinforcement if never harsh but well timed to meet the behavior.

There is no one size fits all program for any dog as you must always tailor the positive and negative for the dog and the situation and the relationship you have built with the animal.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

What you're calling negative reinforcement is really called positive punishment.

Positive reinforcement=add a pleasant consequence when the dog performs a desired behavior to increase the occurrence of that behavior.

Positive punishment=add an unpleasant consequence when the dog performs an undesired behavior to decrease the occurrence of that behavior.

Negative reinforcement=remove an unpleasant stimulus when a dog performs a desired behavior to increase the occurrence of that behavior.

Negative punishment=remove a pleasant stimulus when a dog performs an undesired behavior to decrease the occurrence of that behavior.

Trainers and behaviorists use these definitions. Most everyone gets positive reinforcement right since It pretty much means the same thing in layman's terms. The others can be confusing since positive and negative don't mean "good" or "bad".


You sound like you're pretty knowledgeable about training. Take a look at operent conditioning and learning theory. You'll probably find the topics quite interesting.

I looked up your terms and can see why GDB, Youth 4H, and sport agility programs massage the terms. You can't use "punishment" terminology when dealing with the general public so the terms are used in training programs for those organizations as I gave them.

As a GDB raiser, you had to really address the public's perceptions of what you were doing, what the dog was doing, and there was a lot of politics going on to help the public perceive the training as always something positive for the animal. (I occasionally had people chastise me for leash corrections in public during the program...one reason the program has shifted within recent years to heavily focused positive reinforcement and what you would term negative reinforcement with almost never positive punishment...leash correction...any more).

Thanks for the terminology check.
LofMc

 

[TalkALittle]

The dog training industry has seen a huge shift toward more "dog friendly" methods which I see as generally a good thing. However, I don't think trainers should be villified for judicious use of positive punishment, nor ridiculed or berated for preferring not to, provided the result is a happy, motivated and reliably obedient dog.