Best dog breed around chickens? UPDATE post #117 Thanks all!

[mikeyb]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so please bear with me.
I'm also so new to chickens that I'm dithering over chicken coops. Yep, not one chicken yet, probably up to 8.
My big question is; I have two miniture dauchaunds nearly 4 years of age. How would you intro them to chickens and start training them to leave them alone/protect them?
Currently they like to chase the large crows out of their back yard. (about one acrea which is fenced) Any ideas, suggestions, hints?
(currently considering RI Reds)

 

[megcpat]

Quote:
That's funny, I never would have thought of beagles, but it makes sense. How's the fox situation now? I can't believe how bold the fox are around our property and wonder if smaller dogs would be threatening to them? They barely seem threatened by us!

 

[megcpat]

Welcome mikeyb!!!!!!

 

[bigstack]

Great pyranese have been used for generations to protect flocks of all kinds. From all predators even the 2 legged ones.

Good luck and God Bless!

 

[smarsh2]

I suspect it is hard to train an adult dog, especially crazy dauchaunds that are used to chasing crows. It was easy to train my pup (border collie/spaniel mix) when I was a kid. If they grow up with the animals it is a different world. I fed him raw eggs on a regular basis, but he would not break one on his own. Crazy may be a little too strong a word for the wide variety of lap dogs, but you understand what I mean.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
I had a pit and he was the best dog we ever had. A sweetheart who hated to be separated from us. Would just cry like a baby if company came over and we put him in a room. Never had chooks then but he was intimidating in appearance at 75 # and people would stay in their cars until we said it was ok to come out. Never bit anyone but backed a few to a neutral corner if I was not around and someone showed up with my wife alone. She said he always stood between anyone and her if I was not home. Ditto for my daughter. Pit bull is the most misunderstood animal in America. If size is not a bother, the Anatolian shepherd is known to be fearless and a good protector of flocks and herds, even watching for hawks.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I have a border collie and two corgis, and they're excellent with the chickens. I had a border collie before my current border collie, too, and she was also perfect with the chickens. I let my chickens free range with the dogs in the yard and standing right there, and the most they do is wag their tails at the chickens and maybe help herd them if I need to round some up. Herding dogs tend to do very well with chickens, especially if they're raised around them. Even then, though, my two corgis are adult rescues and they both got used to the chickens and learned not to chase them extremely quickly.

 

[CityChook]

I have a 4 yr. old black lab. She was 2 when the chooks came. She is wonderful with the birds and does not give them a notice. I have no reservations of having her run free in the yard even when the girls are free-ranging, whether I'm outside or not. Honestly, I think she's more worried that they are getting treats that she is not than anything else -- the ding dong has been known to beg for scratch seeds when I'm tossing them to the choocks. We have worked hard to teach her her place in the family pack (with 3 young kids) - of which she is at the bottom. If you are good with dogs and are willing to spend the time to train, I think any pup would probably be fine. Prey drive is always a consideration, but training is priority.

As for leaving a dog out in the yard all day, I can't really respond to that one. I'm in the city, so she's inside in her crate when we're not home. That said, I would think that she'd likely leave the yard if left unattended outdoors all day long.

Good luck and happy puppy-time! I just love puppies!

 

[megcpat]

Quote:
Wow. Just looked up the Anatolian Shepherd and, wow - what an awesome dog! I would love to hear from anyone here who has or has had one of these dogs with their chickens. Absolutely on the list of breeds to check out more extensively! Thanks for the great tip.
I should probably just ask my REAL question. How are Irish Wolfhounds around chickens? I have wanted one of these dogs for such a long time now but our pit would never have allowed us to have a second dog. Now, I am so tempted to spend the outrageous amount of money and buy an Irish Wolfhound........ but they ARE sight hounds so, would I just be asking for trouble? I looked this up on line and asked a few breeders of IW and mostly I just hear widely varying theories on how they thought they probably would behave, but no one I've found actually has chickens with their IW. There was one story I read about an IW who would chase chickens and just hold them under her giant paws, occasionally licking their heads. Sounds cute, but I'm sure egg production would drop significantly if my hens had to endure this sort of treatment on a regular basis.

 

[rittert3]

From my experience I would suggest a pyrenese puppy right after weaning and give it as much exposure to the chickens as possible, giving the pup the impression that the flock is it's family when using them for sheep protection it is recomend to limit human contact to daily feeding but in your case with the kids I would suggest having the kids play with the puppy while outside but not bringing the pup inside. You could most likely find a male for free and females run $200 to $300 because males tend to range away (due to their sex drive) and have a habit of getting hit by cars before theyy turn 2 also females maternal instinct helps keep them close to their "family". I wouldn't suggest a beagle as mine is very unpredictable with smaller animals but as was said before every individual is different. just my 2 cents.