Topic of the Week - Dogs and Chickens

[Little Fuzzy]

My Great Dane loves her chickens. She free ranges with them all day long. When our local Hawk swopes over the yard she chases that Hawk right away.

 

[sdelgado19]

I have two dogs. One is a boarder collie, who is green broke to sheep. Being actually trained to herd means we squashed his pray drive. He will herd up all the chickens one by one when I need to put them up. I have never had to worry about him around my birds...other than if I am working in the yard he will start to bring them to me. Doesn't bother the girls though they are used to him.

Now my other dog was a different story. He's an aussie/healer/shepard mix and has a very high pray drive. HE helped me degopher the yard and is a huge rodent hunter. He never killed a chicken but boy he wanted to. We tried all sorts of training techniques but all to no avail. In the end we used shock avoidance. It only took two shocks and he won't even look at my birds. The training was so effective that I can let him out with my birds and he acts like they are not even there. I trust him 100%.

I know that many people may think this was harsh but it's the same way we trained him to avoid rattlesnakes. IT doesn't take a hard shock. Just enough for them to realize going near that is no good. Now my birds and dogs live happily together.

 

[islandgirl82]

I have a Newfoundland (Landseer) who was 2 years old before I started keeping a poultry and had no training beyond basic obedience. I started with eight 1-day old ducklings and four 3-week old pullets. The ducklings were brooded in the house and from the first night, he slept curled up in front of the brooder and when they were moved outside, would follow him around everywhere, share his water and go for swims together. The chicks were started elsewhere and he took a little longer to warm up to them but never went after them.


This hen would search for him every day so she could take her mid-morning nap near him even if it meant she had to sneak into the house




I trust him 100% with my flock. Not only has he protected them from other domestic dogs who weren't chicken friendly and fox but he also responded to the distress calls of my flock when a crow had one of my hens pinned to the ground. He chased off the crow and stayed with the flock for the rest of that day. He was a wonderful guide in teaching our adopted West Highland Terrier (extremely high prey drive) who was friend and who was foe.

We had that Westie for only 5 months before losing him to cancer over a year ago but despite is love of hunting squirrels, mice, voles, etc, and keeping all other dogs out of our yard, when he first saw the flock, one hen flapped her wings and it scared him so badly he ran back to the house an hid on the front porch. He grew more comfortable being around them but he never went after them either.



Just this summer we decided to adopt another Westie and though he was well behaved when he leashed around the flock, I never trusted him to be outside alone with them and he was always kept on a leash. Aside from being untrustworthy around the flock, he had severe aggression issues that led to him biting not just me but also my children so he is no longer here.

We now have a 4 month old mix (along with the Newfie); her mother was a lab/border collie cross and her father was a Catahoula Leopard Dog/Husky cross. Given 2 out of three of those breeds were bred for hunting and a third has an extremely high prey drive, I was very unsure of how she would be around my flock. We got her at 10 weeks, she met a friend's flock before we brought her home and she was immediately flogged by several of those hens. I've had her accompany me during all the chicken chores to allow she and the flock time to get to know each other and have only had to correct her once, the very first time I let them out to free range and she gave chase.

She will pace along the outside of their run if I go into it without her but as soon as I let her in, she lays down just to watch them. She's a very submissive puppy and will even belly crawl to other animals to try to get near them.

No commands had been given to the pup in the video

I feel very strongly that it depends on the individual dog and the relationship said dog has to their human, the level of respect, how well the dog is trained and socialized and also how well the human is trained in handling their dog. That said, some dogs just aren't trustworthy around other animals, albeit considered livestock or other pets or wild animals. Patience and consistency are two of the most important aspects of keeping dogs and chickens and knowing your dog and your flock.

 

[46hillbilly]

LGD?? Alphabet soup in the dog kennel again. I knew a dog that would heard a lady's cats onto her porch; and make them stay there till she got home.

 

[islandgirl82]

LGD?? Alphabet soup in the dog kennel again. I knew a dog that would heard a lady's cats onto her porch; and make them stay there till she got home.

LGD is for Livestock Guardian Dog.

 

[chickybabe01]

I have a maremma lgd. I put him with the chickens when he was a pup and yes he did chase them as a pup, as pups love to play as its their nature we did have to watch him and tell him no , but he is now 12 months old and doesn't bother them now we have never lost a chicken to a fox since we got him..

 

[Sherrylynn59]

We have 4 "larger breed" dogs, none of which are "chicken-friendly". In fact, the day after we put our young chicks in their new home, the yellow lab found a way into the attached pen and had a barred rock for a "chicken nugget". Not long after, one of our Americaunas decided to sneak out of the coop, and the black lab/pit mix shortened her life. Since then, the chickens have adapted to the dogs' presence, but they are ALWAYS separated. The dogs, of course, have good fun chasing the chickens from their pens into the coop. Eye roll....

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I totally agree with the method as long as the collar is used correctly and does not burn the dog. I'v e seen untrained people burn dogs with those collars. I used one of those collars to train my Great Dane. She was a runner as a pup and was always running away. down my busy street. I had a proffesional trainer train her with the Electronic collar and totally cured her bad behavior. He never had to "shock" her though, just train her to the vibration/ distraction setting. Now I'm very involved with that training method and have seen many aggressive dogs turned around and become good pets.

 

[5acresandadream]

My dog is an elkhound/border collie. She hasn't touched any of my free ranch chickens, or my rabbits. Only my poor cat whom she thinks is her best friend lol! I raised her around small animals from the start, and she has no curiosity now that she is almost a year old. She's only 31 lbs, but she makes a great dog for my little homestead.

 

[Coykoi]

I love reading all of the great success stories with introducing chickens and dogs. My challenging pack of Schnauzers are learning but I still cant trust them. The girl is showing the most progress, she just stares at the birds, but there wasn't a fence between them it could result in disaster. When the chickens are free ranging in the back yard the dogs are only allowed out on leash. My dogs were all rescued as adults so I have realistic expectations that the dogs may never adapt to a peaceful existence with a flock. Schnauzers are very smart but very stubborn. They know what "Leave It" and "Come" means, they just choose to ignore me when its not what they want to do. A water bottle helps, coupled with a string "No". I'm hoping that as the chickens get bigger and the pecks to the nose get stronger, that they'll learn to leave the birds alone.