An attack waiting to happen. Stupid dog!

[birdman55]

yep there actually called "american staffordshire terrior" i have a breeder that has a female tigerstripe bengal that is a show dogand has won granchamp three years in a row now and they wanna breed with my dog...all have papers...i just never had the time to drive the three hours to introduce the dogs..and if i did i would have to muzzle for these dogs are trained and not dog friendly.....however...this one time someone i knew had a weiner mix lab and pit....small little thing and the dogs actually let her into the house and played with them all the time but have tried to introduce new dogs and that was a no go...there was a german shep mix boxer and lets just say that didnt end up pretty..i had to get in the middle of it and break it up and i ended up getting bit by my male...he didnt bite so to speak me he was pushing with his back legs as i was pulling on the collar and i pushed the other male dog away at the same time put my arm in the "no fly zone" and he connected on my arm but let go right away....even a trained dog like you said can have a bad day or the handler is in the wrong place at the wrong time....i ended up having to go to the hospital...im just thankful he let go...it could have been real bad if he locked his jaw on my arm with the other dog right there...

 

[Noodlez]

I appreciate everybody's suggestions and all of this feed back. I really do. Thanks guys.

Found something interesting. It's jealousy and him having too much energy. I have two chickens in a sick pen inside the back room and the other six running around in the big pen outside. Riley and I have been playing fetch, which he's really bad at on land, hasn't gone near the pen once. I'm realizing that when I'm focused on him in a positive play state and not reprimanding him, he remembers every command he's ever been taught. I'm impressed.

Now if I can get him to "leave it" automatically. Obviously not fixed, but now I know it's insecurity and that he isn't being played with enough for his liking. I gave him a softball and he's so pooped already he isn't even chewing it..... so I guess I should walk him by the chickens in the sick pen to see if he even looks at them in passing.

 

[birdman55]

sounds like your on the right path just keep up the hard work and everything will fall into place...best of luck....now remember when hes activley not seeking the birds you can free range the birds if u feel comfortable and just keep him on a leash and walk him around...and keep him attention on u..remember distractions are what prevokes a dog to do the no part of the command...just keep him focused on u walk him by and make sure he knows its ok for the birds tto be there...and u will do great...labs are quick learners....

 

[chooks4life]

yep there actually called "american staffordshire terrior" i have a breeder that has a female tigerstripe bengal that is a show dogand has won granchamp three years in a row now and they wanna breed with my dog...all have papers..

Sounds interesting, I did a search and didn't find any images of this 'tigerstripe bengal' though. New strain maybe?

@Noodlez Hope it works out for you. Sounds like maybe he was just reacting to people more than chooks (?). Best wishes.

 

[Just sayin]

I've had a lot of bird dogs in my life, and I never tried to have chickens at the same time. That's just fighting a lot of genetics breeders have worked hard to perfect, over the years.

Our current dog is a herding mix, and his focus is just completely different. He's perfectly safe with the chickens, and guards them.

It's all in the job the dog was bred to do.

 

[birdman55]

brendal..sorry sometimes i type to quick and dont proofread...my bad...i believe there is another type as well that is not very common..the body of the dog is actually spotted..not sure what the kind is called...some people think that it is a bad trait and people are breeding it together because they think its a new kind...i believe it is a defect in the dogs purity prolly from interbreeding..that would be my belief...ill see if i can find more info on the dog and post later about it...

 

[chooks4life]

I've had a lot of bird dogs in my life, and I never tried to have chickens at the same time. That's just fighting a lot of genetics breeders have worked hard to perfect, over the years.

Our current dog is a herding mix, and his focus is just completely different. He's perfectly safe with the chickens, and guards them.

It's all in the job the dog was bred to do.

Interesting, the most problematic dogs I've seen, with a complete mental 'bent' about chooks, are herding dogs, of a few breeds (Kelpie, Collie, Aus. Heelers etc). Many breeders are resigned to the fact that their dogs are useful with some livestock and very dangerous with others, they chain them between jobs as a rule. All herding dogs I've known are literally obsessed with all birds, from faraway specks in the sky to chickens they've been trained to leave alone (usually with very limited success).

 

[Just sayin]

Well, I guess the bottom line is that chickens are a fairly tempting noisy flappy target for dogs, aren't they?

We worried about our dog, of course, when the chicks were little, because he was so intently interested in them... but it became clear early on that he was just intensely worried about them, particularly if they weren't all together or were someplace he didn't think they were supposed to be. We could tell, he wasn't trying to kill them, he was trying to herd them around and manage them. I let him do this as long as he's not being too aggressive about it. They're his chickens, and he should watch over them.



(yes we were playing with the peepers in our living room!) They were just babies!

 

[Noodlez]

Well, it finally happened a few weeks ago.

​

Not even sure how it happened. I was getting the leaves up before the snow and I look over, and he somehow got ahold of Lolth, my incredibly friendly EE, and killed her in the garden. I saw him run over out of the corner of my eye, that's why I looked over. It was so instantaneous, but at least she didn't suffer. My pen is completely covered, surrounded by rocks and railroad ties around the bottom--completely covered on three sides for the winter. Like I said, it was just so random.

I don't let him out in the yard without a muzzle anymore during the day when the chickens are out in the pen. He's so lucky I didn't beat him. He realized instantly that he did something wrong and went and hid his face in a corner for the next few hours. Stupid.

He was doing so much better, but I guess there's no amount of training that can root out instinct and stupidity.

 

[chooks4life]

Well, it finally happened a few weeks ago.

​

Not even sure how it happened. I was getting the leaves up before the snow and I look over, and he somehow got ahold of Lolth, my incredibly friendly EE, and killed her in the garden. I saw him run over out of the corner of my eye, that's why I looked over. It was so instantaneous, but at least she didn't suffer. My pen is completely covered, surrounded by rocks and railroad ties around the bottom--completely covered on three sides for the winter. Like I said, it was just so random.

I don't let him out in the yard without a muzzle anymore during the day when the chickens are out in the pen. He's so lucky I didn't beat him. He realized instantly that he did something wrong and went and hid his face in a corner for the next few hours. Stupid.

He was doing so much better, but I guess there's no amount of training that can root out instinct and stupidity.

R.I.P. to your chook. Sorry to hear it, been in that position myself more than once. All you can do is try, and you did. At least the chook died quickly.

As for training being able to root out instinct, of course it can; but the animal must be willing and intelligent enough, and when instinct is combined with stupidity (or just sheer obstinacy), there is very little you can do, well, while remaining humane in your methods anyway.

Beating him, I'm sure you know, would have almost certainly taught him nothing useful. There's always lots of people who claim a beating made their dog a permanent non-chook-killer for life after its first victim, but there's a far greater majority of dogs that it simply does not work for. Most farmers with dogs that I've known have all tried the old beating the dog trick and it just hasn't worked. They end up choosing between dog or chooks. With a dog like that, you can beat it to death without changing anything. Best not to ever resort to trying that method since it doesn't work for most, which leaves a lot of pointlessly abused animals and it's naturally not something that will ever leave a normal human feeling okay, despite what anger and grief may inspire in the heat of the moment.

Hope you have better success in future.

Best wishes.