Is this a good reason to get geese?

[Free Feather]

My female Collie x White Shepherd puppy is giving the chickens a rough time. Chasing and occasionally killing and playing with them and other such bad things. My mother suggested that if I had large geese they would attack her if she attempted to be dastardly. All supervised, of course. I have ducks already with a natural water source, and I am not clueless about their needs and behaviors. We wanted some before, but I guess this will be the excuse. Mother will get them regardless of my opinion, but I want to hear what others might think. Should I worry about them harming the other birds? Will this completely blow up in my face?
Thoughts? I have a thread going about the puppy situation if you want more information. "Puppy sees chickens as toys."

 

[Pyxis]

Just great.

Yeah, not the best situation. Perhaps tell your mother this and tell her that if she wants to get geese, she needs to build them a nice secure pen or she's risking both them and your dog getting injured? Maybe then she'll reconsider. I know I wouldn't want to get an animal knowing the chances are good it will just be injured or killed. It's awful to get attached and then lose them that way.

 

[Pyxis]

It's hard to train them to leave the poultry alone, but it can be done. When I first got my ducks, I'm sure the dog would have killed them if he could. After training him that they were to be left alone, I then got chickens, and he never seriously hurt them, but I did catch him with my bantam in his mouth once. So that had to be trained away. I just thank goodness he's part retriever and has a soft mouth or that could have easily been fatal to her. Now, he's never killed poultry, but he probably would have had I not introduced them slowly. Now his only bad behavior towards them is occasionally running at them to make them scatter, and I'm trying to train that out of him. He also knows not to go in the chicken run, and will not go in there even if it's wide open for free ranging and no one's around. So it's hard, but with patience and time, you may be able to do it. In the meantime, though, NEVER let her alone unsupervised with your poultry. It'll just give her time to reinforce her bad habits.

Thanks for the hoop coop compliment! I still love it to death. I have a second one now with legbars in it. They're great coops!

 

[Pyxis]

What I would do is have her in the house and bring a chicken in for her to see while you are holding it. Let her sniff it and see it, and if she starts to get too interested, scold her. Repeat this until she is disinterested and calm. Then reward the behavior with praise and treats. Repeat this several times until she is no longer showing any untoward interest to the chicken when you are holding it. Then, put the chicken carefully on the ground, with you very nearby to intervene if anything happens, and repeat. You'll need a really calm chicken for this. Then try again outside. Give her more and more space between you and the chicken until you think it's fine to leave her alone with them. Inside the house first because that's not the element she's used to chasing and killing them in, and that might put her in a different mindset to start with. After she's good with the chickens, move onto chicks, since this seems to be what her main problem is, and repeat the same procedure with them. The idea here is to teach her that showing too much interest in them gets her in trouble and causes bad things to happen, while ignoring them leads to good things. Then if you can really get her under control, train her to herd and get her some runner ducks I'll be doing that when I get my border collie puppy.

Anyway, this is what worked with my dog, but like I said he never actually killed a bird, so it might be a lot harder with your girl.

 

[matt44644]

Why don't you kept them separated ?

 

[Free Feather]

Keep who separated?

 

[matt44644]

The dog and chickens

 

[Free Feather]

They are when I am gone, but not when I am out. I have no way to keep them seperated when I am home unless I keep her in her pen all day. The killings first when I trusted her stupidly and second when she got loose. She does not pull shenanigans when I am around. When I let her out, she has a ton of energy and wants to play.

 

[Pyxis]

This isn't really a good reason to get geese. Now, I don't have a gander yet, so their temperament may be different, but I do have a goose. My dog doesn't hurt the chickens, but he will lunge at them playfully because he thinks it's fun to see them scatter. My goose will hiss at the dog, until he gets too close and then she just turns and runs. I had a neighbor's dog attacking my poultry, and he was killing chickens left and right. He had a go at the goose too, and I'm sure she bit him when he grabbed her and that's why he let go and she lived, but she did have a bloody wing and I debated taking her to the vet. So even though geese are bigger, a dog may still grab them, and even though they might fight back, they're really no match for a big dog if the dog is determined. I agree with just keeping the dog and poultry separated. That would be the most responsible thing to do as an owner, for the safety of your birds.

If you can't keep them apart when you're not around, then I wouldn't let her out unsupervised. Or build a pen for the birds. Mine stay in a large run when I can't be around to supervise their free range time so they're safe from predators, and they're still happy.

 

[Free Feather]

Would it matter if my puppy is small and will likely always be small? My mother will get the geese regardless because she wants some.