Topic of the Week - Dogs and Chickens

[Pavie Andel]

I just lost 2 of my 5 chickens when my German/Sheltie Shepherd scaled a small place of a 5 foot fence that was free of shrubbery. She is a bird chaser; no hope of training. I am now rebuilding to 6 feet and placing a coyote roller on top of the shrubbery free areas. Even with that, I'm not comfortable letting her run unattended while the chickens free range on the other side.

 

[nzpouter]

You have to always remember you have 3 species to train,

1. the dog not to chase... face it, it's fun.
2. The chickens not to run and squawk.
3. Yourself, you need to learn to read your dog's intentions.

 

[Blooie]

You have to always remember you have 3 species to train,

1. the dog not to chase... face it, it's fun.
2. The chickens not to run and squawk.
3. Yourself, you need to learn to read your dog's intentions.

Yep, and dogs don't see in shades of gray but in black and white. Something is either always okay or it's never okay. For example, if you allow Fluffy to jump on you when you have your grungy clothes on, you can't get mad at him for jumping up on you when you dressed to the nines.....he doesn't get it because he's getting mixed signals.

So saying, "Well, he only chases them when I tell him it's okay to help put them back in the coop for the night" means you shouldn't be stunned if he suddenly decides on his own to chase them any other time. As far as he's concerned, he's allowed. Mixed messages kill more dog/owner relationships than anything I can think of......

 

[cheep82]

We have a 1yo lab x. I don't entirely trust her with the girls. The girls pecked her as a puppy and she learnt to back off but she loves trying to catch pigeons (which she will kill if she does). We have chicks at the moment that she is interested in. She sees them supervised but being pigeon sized at the moment I'm cautious.

Our old dog was a mixed breed who brought up our older girls. She was a very gentle accepting dog but had massive anxiety issues out of the house. Our lorikeets used to climb all over her but now I'm careful having them out too.

I think personality is a big thing. Eb knows not to touch chickens but after seeing her actively kill a pigeon I wouldn't want to risk her doing that to the girls. They free range when we're home and Eb hangs outside with the kids or inside

 

[mountainrun]

Yeah honestly I wouldn't trust a dog to recognize a difference between a pigeon vs a chicken

 

[centrarchid]

Dogs can discern birds by species as well as we can. The burden on you as the trainer is getting the dog to use that information to decide what the appropriate action is. They can even discern individuals.

 

[cheep82]

Dogs can discern birds by species as well as we can. The burden on you as the trainer is getting the dog to use that information to decide what the appropriate action is. They can even discern individuals.

I can see that. She only goes for the pigeons, not the magpies live in our trees. She doesn't even give a sideways glance to our chickens but I still wouldn't trust her alone with them.

 

[countrygirl1178]

Any animal that can and would hurt/kill another animal even if trained should never be left alone with each other after all they are just animals I have a Chihuahua weighting in at 4.5 lbs. had a chicken pinned to the ground and the chicken was bigger then him

 

[centrarchid]

That is not my approach as have been doing so for a long time.

 

[nzpouter]

Any animal that can and would hurt/kill another animal even if trained should never be left alone with each other after all they are just animals I have a Chihuahua weighting in at 4.5 lbs. had a chicken pinned to the ground and the chicken was bigger then him

Not the way i look at it, this is their home and they have a job... to look after it and anything that I say belong here.

This is how they are everyday whether I'm around or not, and that goes to every fosters we have as well (about 3 a year). These dogs are fed raw by the way and sometimes whole prey.