Sylvester, thank you so much for the information, advice and words of encouragement. I did not know that about the SLW. My friend that has them has a very large area they free range and they are sweet. She has livestock guard dogs, so she does not have too many losses during the day and the chickens are locked in at night. However I have 2 little lap dogs that are still thinking the chickens are great toys to chase. We are working on it. If I can convince them to co-exist, the chickens can be out while I am out with the dogs. Don't think they would last long at all if they were out all day, too many 4 legged creatures out even during the day.
How nice that you get to free range your chickens all day, I am sure that they love it!
It's difficult to have dogs around chickens. The only breeds I know that are really good around poultry are the guardian dogs - not bird dogs or herding dogs, but guardian breeds. Guardian breeds unfortunately are all giant breeds but they do wonderfully to accept their responsibility in a flock of poultry or other livestock by staying within the flock - unlike the herding or bird dogs that leave the flock unprotected to chase a predator in the vicinity. Guardians have the tendency to stay with their flock to protect it and wait for a predator to approach before pouncing on it. Herding dogs itch to herd bird flocks around the yard instead of just sitting in the middle of the flock to protect them. I've heard some positive feedback about Labs around poultry but the average family pet is almost impossible to trust around chickens. A story posted on BYC of owners who had a family dog and cat accustomed to their chickens for 7 years and then came home one day to find the dog AND the cat had broken into the chicken pen and killed the entire flock - so sad! We had Rotties that were obedience trained on commands but we never could break them of chasing and killing the Mourning Doves unless we were present to issue a halt. Friends we know use Sarplininac, Malinois, and Ovcharka guardians. Maremma guardians are used in the Antarctic in an experiment protecting Penguins of all things! Many ranchers prefer the Pyrennes, Anatolians, or the Caucasian guardians. We have such a small yard that a large guardian breed just wouldn't get enough exercise to be happy so we opted not to get any other dog breed at all. We haven't missed a dog or cat since the chickens have been such fun and entertaining as pets and utility. If we still had our 25 acre farm I'd get a guardian breed in a heartbeat to let the chickens free-range but back in the old days with my folks it was standard to make large poultry pens to house chickens and ducks and using guard dogs was considered a nuisance expense. How things have changed over the decades!
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