Advice needed! How to properly discipline a dog.

[Chick-N-Fun]

Some dogs’ instincts cannot be eliminated no matter how much training......we own 2 bird dogs that my husband hunts with. They are super sweet and very well trained, but their instinct and innate need to point, and hunt for birds is what they are bred for. When I decided to own chickens, I knew that I could not free range my flock with our dogs outside. Living in the wooded country is predator heavy anyway, and I made the responsible decision to free range only under close supervision. My flock is healthy and happy. My dogs are healthy and happy.....Win, Win!

 

[Conan]

Honestly, your initial reaction is exactly how I dealt with my Dobie when we first moved into our house. He was around 4 or 5 years old at the time, and instantly ran at the chickens. He'd never seen them before. I grabbed him, smacked his nose, told him NO, and threw him on his back. I held him down, loosely by his throat until he relaxed. He never did it again. The chickens walk underneath him, the ducks noodle at his feet and tail when he's outside and he doesn't even look at them.
Lou is well trained and very responsive to discipline. I almost never have to tell him twice. That being said, not every dog responds well to training.
My dad loves German Shepherds. One was a fancy German import. Physically, she was gorgeous, mentally, she was completely insane. She would only listen to him and attacked our goats. The second time, she nearly killed them. My mom dropped her off at the vet and told them to put her down. Not a soul missed that awful animal.
Every dog is different. I can tell you one thing, though, if a dog of mine ever attacked a child, unprovoked, it would be a dead dog.

 

[chickens really]

Wow...Pretty harsh punishment for an untrained Dog.

 

[Cyprus]

Wow...Pretty harsh punishment for an untrained Dog.

What? I said I wasn't thinking.
I was moving faster than my thought process -pure adrenaline just trying to save my bird!

 

[Conan]

I have a similar problem with my two pit bulls, they were fine for years around all of my animals and my nephew. Then within one week, I had one dog maul one of my chihuahuas, and the other one nipped my nephew and killed one of my hens. Both of these dogs have extensive training, but out of the blue, it just happened. Now they have their own runs/kennels in the yard and they are happy as ever from what I can see. I would have rather rehomed them (since they don't get to come in and thus don't get nearly as much affection in a day) but it's hard to find anyone around here that will take a pitbull, let alone one with aggressions towards children on record. Anyone who wants one tends to want to use it for dog fighting.

I feel ya, here! I had my pittie for about a year and half before she turned aggressive. Got her as bitty little puppy at the pound. She was a doll. Loved everyone and everything. Extremely well socialized with both people and other animals. One day, she growled at a guy at the pet store. I brushed it off. We had a running weekly poker night and one night, she attacked someone. She knew this person. She also grew to HATE other female dogs. All of them, even those that she was raised around. She wanted to murder them.
From that point on, she was kenneled around everyone other than a few people that were in her trusted circle. Like a typical bully, she sensed when people were uncomfortable around her and she exploited that. All her privileges were revoked. She was given her daily walk, and a very strict routine. She did improve, but I never trusted her again.
She went into organ failure right before Christmas and she went to sleep in front of the fire, at home. She was 13. I loved her so much, but I will never own another pit.

 

[MinniesMomma]

My husky has always been a chicken killer. Lately she was getting better about leaving the chickens alone.

Today she bypassed me in my house and ran into my ICU room and started trying to attack/kill my chicken through the wire.

Not really thinking about discipline, just trying to save my chicken, I grabbed her muzzle -closing it- and bodyslammed her to the ground. It stopped her, as it should, and she is a big dog so she could take it. But doing so I accidentally cut her nose. I cleaned that up and had a good long minute with her by the chicken firmly repeating NO to her and not letting her look at the chicken. I just averted her gaze and gave another firm NO.

I dragged her out -she was really resistant- and put her in her kennel. Now she's doing the guilty dog look.

Room is now closed off with a board (room was open access).

How do I further teach her that attacking chickens is NOT OKAY. She was fine until she wasn't. We really need help because we are thinking of rehoming her since she likes to kill literally everything smaller than her that isn't another dog or human. Cats included. She tried to kill him for years.

Cyprus

I haven't read any of the other replies, but my thought is that your chickens will never be safe with her. It seems that dogs either have the high prey drive or not, and it's not something you can train out of them.

 

[Rammy]

 

[chickens really]

I haven't read any of the other replies, but my thought is that your chickens will never be safe with her. It seems that dogs either have the high prey drive or not, and it's not something you can train out of them.

Definitely not true. It takes a good trainer..
I for one was successful.

 

[MinniesMomma]

Definitely not true. It takes a good trainer..
I for one was successful.

That is great! I'm happy for you. I am just speaking from my own personal experience. I had a dog who was absolutely the smartest and best dog I have ever owned. I could not get her to leave the chickens alone, and therefore she had to be rehomed.

 

[chickens really]

That is great! I'm happy for you. I am just speaking from my own personal experience. I had a dog who was absolutely the smartest and best dog I have ever owned. I could not get her to leave the chickens alone, and therefore she had to be rehomed.

I guess it all comes down to what's more important to a person...