Introducing the family dog to the chickens

[Baymule]

My Great Pyrenees was given to us because she killed chickens. It has taken 3 years to get her to this point. She had a bad start, she wasn't a bad dog, just a bad start. We also have a Black Lab/GreatDane that is good with the chickens and we have had a few "come to Jesus" meetings about the chickens. Just a firm word and disapproval-it kills him when he displeases me. He is learning, he's 1 1/2 years old. Puppies just want to play and chickens make the ultimate squeaky toy. My hens don't free range, the coop and run are Fort Knox to protect them from predators AND my own dogs. I let them in the run with me and they like to eat the feed and poo. As long as they ignore the chickens, it's all good. Any intrest in the chickens and feed/poo time is over and I make them get out.

Today we let the hens out for the first time ever. It went good. I am proud of my dogs.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24453

 

[Joe.G]

My Rotties and there chickens.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/646049/my-rotties-first-time-meeting-3-week-old-chicks

 

[jbeck013]

Two bits of advice. I have a 5 year old American Bulldog. When I got 4 chickens over the summer, I worked with him, every day, over about a 2 week period. The first day, I thought I made a mistake because all he wanted to do was eat them from outside their run.

Today, Duke and my chickens are best friends. On weekends I let them out of the coop to free range. Sometimes it's a battle over food between Duke and them when I put some scratch out. They'll peck at him and he'll move away. The only problem I have is that Duke likes their eggs and has been known to take them.

I use a shock collar for training. I have him trained completely. I take him into Home Depot with me while I shop. Sometimes I will even take him off leash and walk around.

I also taught him a command, "Round Them Up". When I yell that, he goes and get's them out from underneath the deck or trampoline. All he does is try to sniff them and they move. I'm trying to get him to steer them to the coop, but not having allot of luck on that.

It's more like a big circle between him and the chickens that comes from it.

Work with your dog everyday. Show your dog your in command and in charge. Dogs and chickens can get along, you just have to work at it.

Here is Duke last summer, right after I built the coop.

 

[Baymule]

and a good looking dog!

 

[NotableNancy]

I have a corgi and we trained him from a pup to not eat until given the command. The first time my mom saw him drooling and staring at his food bowl longingly she asked, "why isn't he eating? is he saying Grace before dinner?" He also won't come in the house until asked to come in and never goes out ahead of us even when super excited for a walk.
Even though he is scared of absolutely everything (except for chasing the fox out of our yard) I plan on introducing him very slowly to the chicks and watching him carefully.
Thanks for the great tips!

 

[cuties]

My hubby has a Chesapeake bay retreiver. He is a duck hunting dog. He killed one of our ba y chicks from our very first batch. It was devastating for us. Our girls are our pets...
And im a dog trainer, s o it was also a little embarrassing! It took a coiple months. He is now allowed free roam alone time out with the girls.

I started with treats. Taught him leave it; he was not allowed to eat the treat untill he completely ignored it. I gradually made him "longer and longer. Then I would set it on the floor (you would accomplish leave it best with a leash on) again he was never allowed treats untill ignored. Movedto throwing the treat right in front of him. Tip; never feed him the treat he is leaving, but a different one that comes from you.
I then put a long rope on him, left the room but could alwys see him incase he needed correction. We did this over and over and over...
Moved onto the chickies... same exact concept.
I would recommend traing this to your puppy immediately. Starting with the treats. And for older dogs to be taught before introduction to the chickies
I hope this is helpfull!!!

 

[cuties]

 

[cuties]

I now trust echo completely with the girls

 

[cuties]

Two bits of advice. I have a 5 year old American Bulldog. When I got 4 chickens over the summer, I worked with him, every day, over about a 2 week period. The first day, I thought I made a mistake because all he wanted to do was eat them from outside their run. Today, Duke and my chickens are best friends. On weekends I let them out of the coop to free range. Sometimes it's a battle over food between Duke and them when I put some scratch out. They'll peck at him and he'll move away. The only problem I have is that Duke likes their eggs and has been known to take them. I use a shock collar for training. I have him trained completely. I take him into Home Depot with me while I shop. Sometimes I will even take him off leash and walk around. I also taught him a command, "Round Them Up". When I yell that, he goes and get's them out from underneath the deck or trampoline. All he does is try to sniff them and they move. I'm trying to get him to steer them to the coop, but not having allot of luck on that.

It's more like a big circle between him and the chickens that comes from it. Work with your dog everyday. Show your dog your in command and in charge. Dogs and chickens can get along, you just have to work at it. Here is Duke last summer, right after I built the coop.

Try blowing out the eggs. Put nasty tasting pepper in them and let duke at them. Ive never tried it bit read on byc it works

 

[Jmurph]

We have two large dogs, a St Bernard and an Austrailian herding dog. The introduction to the chickens was very controlled and very systematic. Initially, we had the chickens in a run outside and the dogs were allowed near them. Then we let the chickens out. The second step was having the dogs on a leash and allowing them to get near them. (Actually we had two leashes per dog..they are BIG dogs and I wasn't sure if instinctively they would react and go after the chickens.). When every they got too excited or seemed like they wanted to go after the chickens, we gave a firm yank and said, "we don't chase chickens"...a simple "no" would have sufficed, but I like to keep it interesting. We keep letting the leash get longer and longer so we weren't always right behind them...then we let them ON the leash, but we didn't hold the other end. All the time reinforcing with, "we don't chase chickens" Finally, we let them off the leash with the same commitment. This took a few weeks to accomplished and involved some training on a daily basis. They are all friends now. OH>>>and "we don't chase kitties either"!!!
Actually, the dogs have now become pretty protective of the chickens. One day I let one of the dogs out early in the morning and he took off. It was pitch black. I waited an hour and went out with a flashlight. I found him lying near the fence under a tree looking at me. He wouldn't move and I couldn't get him to move. I got my daughter, thinking I was going to need help. She just made those little kissy noises like she does to call him and he came running. Then he went back to lie by the fence. Found out we had some unwanted predators that night. I think the pup chased them up a tree and over the fence...he was just letting them know they were not welcome.
The cats parade around the yard with the chickens. It is a weird sight. They are in no particular order...Just walking....I just look, shake my head and say, "that's not right"...This month I will add some Pekin ducks to my flock...Should be a hoot.
The key is patience and training.