Breaking an apparently high-prey dog from chasing/eating chickens

[CityChook]

You've gotten some pretty good advice here. I'm not so sure that it's going to be possible to train them, at this point, to be able to co-mingle peacefully.

When my hens were babies, their brooder was in the house, along with my lab and 3 kids. Yeah, it was chaos, but that's for another thread. Anyways, I think because they were around each other so much, my dog learned that the chickens are MINE and not for chasing. Now they exist outside in the yard together just fine. But again, I think that it's just because of they way they were raised.

And as a side note, I don't believe it's EVER a good idea to beat a dog, especially for doing something that's just plain in it's nature.

Good luck!!

 

[TheOLDNewChick]

My boxer is the SAME exact way. 4 years old, spayed, a sweetheart to the bone...but she loves to give the chickens a chase every chance she gets. She just recently got ahold of a hen (I ended up putting her down), but after punishing her, she hasn't been as apt to chase them any longer.

 

[Jameberlin]

Dogs are a constant work in progress.

My advice is acclimation to the chickens, teach the dog to IGNORE them until they become mobile lawn fixtures. Discipline bad behavior like excitement, barking, play stance etc. The dog CANNOT see the chicken as a toy/prey item at any cost.

I take the Cesar Milan approach to dogs, the guy just makes so much darn sense it makes my head hurt. He's actually rehabilitated dogs with strong prey drives...

I have not tolerated one iota of aggressive/excited behavior from my dogs toward my chicks from day one, and so far haven't had any real problems, when a chicken gets a fright and the dog goes after it, i say a firm "Hey!" (firm and LOW never high and excited or too loud, that escalates their excited state of mind) and smack my hands together loudly enough to distract the dog, and they come belly crawling up to me. If i'm close enough, i roll the dog onto his/her back, get right up in their face say "NO" sternly and sometimes i growl (yes, actually growl) a bit until i get the "You're so Alpha i can't even look at you right now" face. The goal is to get the dog to ignore the chicken completely (my cat has done this from day one, go figure).

I feel confident leaving my animals out together now... My dogs are small though, just about twice the size of my 5 week chicks, if they were bigger or more interested in killing, i would NOT leave them unattended together in the yard unless i was 100% confident they were safe.

That is just what i do, every person and every dog is different...

I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you, best of luck!

Edited to say:

Don't use their names when disciplining them, they associate it with REWARD and POSITIVE BEHAVIOR. Names are for calling and rewarding, using them during discipline with confuse them.

 

[Emzyyy]

Our dog Winston has been around chickens since he was a puppy, including chicks. Im thinking get the chickens used to him too if they didn't run I think he would be less likely to chase them, maybe let him smell one check in out up close calm his curiosity a bit, but I don't know if this will work with a grown dog we do this with new puppies.

 

[Livinzoo]

I have an anatolian that is going to live with my goats and hogs. Some of the roosters free range into that pasture as well. I have the dog in a 12 x 12 kennel until I know she can be trusted or I'm able to supervise. Somehow 2 chickens found their way into her pen and did not survive. She killed and plucked. She did not eat them. So I know it was just play behavior.

So I bought a shock collar. I put it on her and introduced a roo to her pen. When she play bowed to go after him she got shocked. After that she left him alone. I walked out of the pasture and she still ignored him. Later I let her into the pasture did great with some of the roos but one that ran from her got chased until the shock. After that she left him alone. I am just going to keep a shock coller on her when she will come in contact with chickens and shock as needed. I want her to think her behavior with the chickens is causeing the shock.

Good luck

 

[rooster0209]

I have a 5yr BC/Lab cross that I trained to leave the guinea's & chickens alone. I had to buy a shock collar. He has just enough lab in him to turn off his ears.

It only took one afternoon, two shocks and some warning beeps.

You can train your boxer. Be persistant and constant in whatever training method you use. Dogs want to please us and they need to understand what it is that WE want them to do.

 

[fasbendera]

It is kind of gross but my dad tied the dead chicken our dog killed around its neck I would have to check with him for how long. He also did that with a dog that killed one of our rabbits. All I know is that it worked.

 

[vermontgal]

I had a dog who got into the garbage, and I tied the garbage bag around his neck for a day with a sign that said "I like garbage" (which made us laugh at him all day). That did work. He was very humiliated.

With my dog and chickens, I am doing similar to what FarmerDenise said with the squirt bottle. If my dog even looks interestedly at the chickens, she gets a no. If she then ignores them, she is praised. This is like telling the dog no when she thinks about what is on the top of the kitchen table. If there is an interested look, or a sniff, that is too much interest for an area that is off limits.

If the chickens don't run, I think we will be ok. But if the chickens run, it triggers that prey drive, and that is harder. I will try to train my dog not to chase the chickens, and to train the chickens not to run from the dog .. but in the end, I'll also try to avoid leaving them alone together.