Training/Teaching a dog about chickens

[liz barnard]

Hmmm. Ideally you need to start when the dog is a puppy and smaller than the chickens so he/she is intimidated by them. Once pecked on the nose your dog is very unlikely to chase chickens.

If the dog is older you must not let it get away with chasing the hens even once. Put it on a lead and use your 'bad boy/girl voice' if it shows the slightest interest and yank on its lead if it tries to pull you toward them. You must take it out several times a day, always on a lead, be absolutely consistent and if the dog turns away from the hens reward it immediately so that you reinforce 'good' behaviour and do not tolerate 'bad' behaviour. It may take you months, years even, if the dog has entrenched bad habits. Be absolutely consistent and do not give up. If you fail to re-inforce the desired behaviour just once you'll have lost the battle. I trained my dog to walk through a field of sheep, off the lead, this way after he thought they were playmates!

When I was a child and stayed on my uncle's farm he taught dogs to not chase sheep by tying the dog to a ram. After an hour of being dragged around the pen by a feisty ram that dog never chased a sheep again. It may sound cruel but boy, it worked. You could try the same tactic if the dog has killed a hen - tie it round the dog's neck (so it cannot eat it) and leave it there for the rest of the day. I guarantee your dog will think twice about doing it again.

Any dog will chase chickens/sheep if it is not convinced YOU ARE THE BOSS.

Good luck!

 

[Connie Winner]

Totally agree with shock collars. Not any different then horse learning to be fenced by a hot wire... they quickly learn not to go near it. The dogs will learn also, but they should have good training to key words, also so they respnd to the owner.

 

[RonB]

I've enjoyed reading all of the different posts and idea's. I tend to disagree with those of you that have said ALL dogs will chase a chicken or anything that moves fast. we got chickens when my German Shepherd was eleven years old. From day ONE my dog saw that the chickens were important to me. she always wanted to please me so I never had to tell her NO when it came to bothering the flock. In fact when the flock was free ranging my dog would lay in the pasture with them and watched for coyotes. she would bark if one came into the pasture. when the flock moved so did my dog. The chickens would even come up to her and pick dirt off her coat. So I think it has to do with the individual dog NOT a breed but each dog. I was very fortunate . I had to finally put my best friend down last year just after her 16th BD.

Best of luck to all of you who are trying to get your dogs to accept your chickens !!!

 

[marlishama]

Every dog is different, but we have all the breeds we do because people wanted dogs who were good for different jobs, and therefore bred certain traits into them. I'd love to adopt a retired greyhound but I've got no fence on my acreage and they can have higher prey drive so it's not the best choice. Some individuals might have worked out but I'll pick something more likely to fit my life.

 

[ChickEngineer]

We had two older dogs when the chicks arrived. Showed little to no interest


We now have a year old and would not take the chance with him.
Took him a while to learn not to chase the girls in the run.
The girls pay no attention now that he does not chase them.
The girls like to set on the day roost and watch him play ball.
Your dogs have prey drive so you need to be careful and never leave them
alone with the girls.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Hello: I believe that the breeding and personality of the dog is a major factor on having success with keeping a flock of chickens from harms way.
I believe that a good hardy shock collar and constant attention to the dog interacting with your flock is essential to ANY success.
Dogs are generally smart and they will chase and misbehave exactly when you are not around and the chickens are.
Repeated scoldings do not work. It just seems to give the dog more intolerance to your flock.
A good hardy shock from an unknown source usually not only gives the dog something to think about, but gives the chickens
being chased a basis for altering a dogs want to.
Some dogs just love the chase and will not at any cost stop. Some dogs love to kill and will do so at ANY given chance.
It seems to be a crap shoot.
I had a female Corgi and she would not touch, chase are even sniff a chicken. She even brought down lost chicks to the house
for us to take care of. She was such a gentle, caring animal.
The dog we have now loves to chase and WILL kill if given the chance. He is still a puppy and does get shocked on a regular
basis. If you have TWO dogs, you might as well let them feed on your flock until they are all eaten. TWO dogs, untrained will
form a pack and will destroy your flock. I know, I had a healer and a aussie and they BOTH went down the road to new
homes with out chickens.
I have destroyed MANY a stray dog and have never looked back on the deed. They were allowed ONE chance to leave
my birds alone. The next time I saw them chasing and killing they were Coyote feed.

 

[maddshaz]

I have a dog a german shepherd cross husky and she just walks round with the chickens and doesn't chase them even if they run around and swaks but to get to this stage when I first got the chickens and I let them out I made my dog just lay down beside me and not allowed to move and told her to leave them. I did this for the first week then as she was showing good behaviour I then allowed her to sit but told her to leave them. I will say she is quite good dog. Then gradually I then just let the chickens out and just didn't tell her to sit and she just walks round the garden or lays round and the chickens walk around her. But when I take her for walks she still chases any birds outside of the garden and if a pigeon lands in the garden she will chase it she just knows she is not allowed to touch the chickens they are the same as our pet cat part of the family. So it can be done but it takes time and patience and also depends on the dog and owner.

 

[nirakenna]

This may sound a bit weird, but when one of our 8 dogs killed a chicken, a friend told us to tie the dead chicken around the dogs neck for the rest of the day. It worked and she never went after a chicken again. Several others we told this to reported back that it worked for them as well.

 

[jenshenstoo]

First of all - get both your dogs spayed!! One - because it's the right thing to do. Second - because it will help with the chicken aggression.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: You're correct

One of my dogs is a "pound hound" that has never once chased a cat or a chicken since we brought him home

He did chase a Fox once, until the Fox turned around and chased him.
After about 20 minutes of barking at each other, they decided to call it a draw

Any one who says "all dogs....." is going to be wrong