Anyone trained their dog to stay away from chickens like this?

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

This helps, if your dog is just completely untrained, you're going to have a hard time jumping straight into more complex training like how to interact with prey animals. I would start with simple training first so your dog understands what training is if you haven't done this, such as sit, lay, stay, what "NO!" means, etc.

I totally agree! I think Ranger's training background (he's a service dog, so he's had lots of training) really helped him figure it out. He isn't totally trained with them yet, but he's a lot better. Both my dogs were playing like crazy outside while the girls were free-ranging and they totally ignored the hens.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

My german shorthaired pointer (hunting dog in her blood, keep in mind!) was really bad with my chickens when she was younger. She never killed any but she was kindof attacking them. Every time she did that I would yell and yank her away very hard and that is basically how she learned. She is 5 years old now and I can leave her unsupervised with the chickies. This type of "training" will not work for all dogs. Working dogs like pointers, labs, retrievers, etc. want to please their owners so they are much easier to train. Meanwhile dogs like rottweilers, mastiffs, dobermanns, etc. have minds of their own and do whatever pleases them.

 

[CityChickins]

My dog has killed SO MANY of my chickens, and I am at my wits end. I have heard of training methods using an e-collar, which I have and he is trained on in other areas of his life, and I am wondering, has anyone used an e-collar to teach their dog not to kill chickens? In more depth, the method is this: put a chicken in the yard, and then release the dog while you hide and watch. Once the dog tries to go after the chicken, you shock him on a very high level with the e-collar. Basically he will associate chasing chickens with pain, and he wont do it anymore. Does this work? Is it "abusive" to do this to your dog? My thinking is that a moment of pain for my dog is worth it if it means the life of all my birds.

We trained our English Pointer and Bully/Pitbull to behave around our chickens with nothing more than gently assertive patience. To be fair, our pointer could have cared less about the chickens. He walks among them without a care that they're there. Our pit bull, on the other hand, was very interested. We started by taking the dogs out into the yard with sturdy harnesses and leashes while the girls were out free-ranging. My husband is the "alpha male," so he took our female pit bull's lead and told her firmly, "Those are mine! My chickens! You don't play with them!" (We talk to all of our animals like they are people, so they have extensive vocabularies and understand stuff like this). I started taking her lead after about a week. Then we switched to a light around-the-neck loop-style leash until we felt comfortable that she understood the chickens weren't something she could chase (our pit bull has an affinity for chasing furry critters). Eventually, we started letting them out without any leashes or leads. Now, she will carefully plan her route to avoid the chickens. However, she does occasionally playfully pounce at them (especially if she thinks they're doing something "bad", like digging holes in the ground), and she finds their dustbathing antics to be fascinating. We don't leave her unattended with the chickens, but we can trust that she won't chase them like prey. Patience and positive reinforcement are key! Every time I take her out with the chickens, I tell her she's a good girl and pat her head in affirmation. I hope this helps!

 

[Kelleschaos]

My dog has killed SO MANY of my chickens, and I am at my wits end. I have heard of training methods using an e-collar, which I have and he is trained on in other areas of his life, and I am wondering, has anyone used an e-collar to teach their dog not to kill chickens? In more depth, the method is this: put a chicken in the yard, and then release the dog while you hide and watch. Once the dog tries to go after the chicken, you shock him on a very high level with the e-collar. Basically he will associate chasing chickens with pain, and he wont do it anymore. Does this work? Is it "abusive" to do this to your dog? My thinking is that a moment of pain for my dog is worth it if it means the life of all my birds.

I have used e collar training for all 5 of mine, make sure you have a command like "leave it" or "no". I haven't had to use the e collar with our new birds. But we don't allow them to be unsupervised. Dogs are still predatory animals and chickies are still prey. Our cat even knows not to attack them. She will go up to them but as soon as I say no she stops. They will "play"sometimes where the chickens will lay with both the cat and the dogs. Consistently is key.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

I have been seeing some serious progress with Ranger these past few days. I have been doing little mini tests where I will hold a chicken near him and then kind of drop it so it flaps its wings, and Ranger totally ignores it. Last time I did it I used my brave girl that doesn't care at all if I bring her near the dogs - she goes up to them all by her merry self all the time. I would have her touch him, even sit on his back, and he stayed neutral. I keep these sessions very short for the sake of both animals. I really wanted to work on him being neutral around "flying" chickens because I have young nieces and nephews who love to hold the chickens, but sometimes the galls get away and flap their wings. Other than that, I pretty much let the chickens and dogs do there own things, and only intervene when necessary (which has been never lately!). I also practice playing with Ranger while the girls are out, that way he learns to ignore them even when he is excited. Luckily he loves his toy, so I have never had to correct him while playing. When Ranger is "done" training, I will tackle training our other dog too.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You're doing great!

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

I have been trying to think of a good test I can do with Ranger to really test if he is reliable around the chickens without the e-collar, and here is what I came up with - Any thoughts on it?: