Best dog breed to protect chickens

[Awestruck]

Having a dog around may deter a hawk from attacking, but I think it would be difficult for a dog to catch a hawk, even if it is on the ground. The hawk will see the dog coming and fly away.

Are your chickens locked in a coop at night? How big of an area do you want a dog to guard?

Many dogs can be trained not to chase chickens but run off or kill other animals.

Here are a couple of threads about dogs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/628452/what-kind-of-livestock-guard-dog

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/696876/best-chicken-guard-dog

My mom had 2 dogs. One was a tiny Maltese and the other was a mixture of German Shepherd and it looks like black lab. The dogs were outside and she saw what happened. A hawk came down to pick up the Maltese, but the black dog intervened and was able to prevent the hawk from taking the dog away.

Hawks are nasty. We had a woman who lives in our proximity who was attacked by a hawk. Hawks are out from early morning until the sun goes down. Raccoons are out during the night.

I don't know if the black dog would have killed the hawk or not. But he was able to save the Maltese from being taken away or killed.

 

[mEGGieS]

We have a Great Pyrenees X Maremma X mixed Mastiff X Pitbull (1 year old) and a German Shepherd X Red Heeler (10 years old) that keep coyotes, foxes and other predators out of our yard. We just brought the chickens to the yard from our other farm yard and are beginning training the dogs. So far the GP X does much better with the chickens than the GSD X. Although the they both do well with other young animals, I don't trust that they won't eat the chickens yet... Anyone have any training ideas that have worked well for you? I do use the GSD X for working our cattle so I don't expect her to guard the chickens, but not to attack them. I realize this will all take time, patience, and training I am just looking for what you have found does and doesn't work. Thank you!