Can Dog People Raise Chicks/Chickens Successfully?

[chicktwins]

I have an Aussie/Lab mix who is 15 yrs old. She has always been the "momma" to everything I have ever brought home to her. I was a vet tech for 9 yrs so you can only imagine the kittens, puppies, baby squirrels, etc that have come into the house. Anyway she does just fine with the chickens. Says Hi and then lays down or walks away totally uninterested with them. I also have a 5 yr old Terrier Daschund mix who is well......a terrier!! She would love nothing more than to rip them to shreds and then brag about it. I know this about her so I always have her in a kennel when I must bring a chicken into the house. She has escaped from the house due to a door being left open and where did she go? Well considering I was in the coop, she ran out, storming the coop and chased them all around. Luckily she did no damage to any of the chickens other than scaring them half to death. Point is that dogs can be kept while you are keeping chickens but as you have already stated, they are not to be trusted. You should treat them like you would when bringing a baby into the house. The baby is never left unattended with any dog, ever. Not necessarily because the dog may do something malicious but you never know when the baby or child may do something to the dog resulting in an "accident". Its not hard to do, so enjoy those dogs and get some chickens stat!! You will love it.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I 'introduce' the chicks to my dogs, and puppies, let them sniff and touch,while I am holding them, to take the mystery out of it, it also gives me opportunity to issue the 'no' word if a mouth opens to bite(licking is ok) They have supervised visits very often at first. I would expect the shepard to want to quard and protect, the terrier might want more action, and the chihauhau will grow bored with them, maybe snappy if not the center of attention. I don't force this interaction, I only invite the dog to inspect the chick.
You'll see the warning and the reassuring signs as they happen...just don't keep them absolutely separate or when they do get together - disaster. If your dogs are well behaved and want to please you they won't bother them, of course, if the rooster thinks he can walk up and pluck a dog in the face he'd better think again - so far, he has...come close, but reevaluated his position.
and like you said, aboveall, don't let them eat them.

I do have to say, I didn't trust my shepard/chow 100% until he brought me a young bird that had fallen out of the nest, completely unharmed, except for some spit, and layed it on the ground at my feet....the chicks used to climb around on him and scratch, and then nest in his big fluffy tail. So yeah, some dogs are amazing, some aren't.
I think it's important to the dog that you outline its role in chicken raising as guard and protect and tolerate and seriously, the dog is to come first and not slighted in your attention to it, include it in your activities, always praising and always first on the totem pole. (then it won;t feel the need to eliminate the competition)
You sound as though you have common sense, feel free to use it. My dogs, the shepard/ chow and 3 shepard/mastif puppies all free range happily together. The biggest problem I have had is keeping the puppies out of the coop and the layer hen feed (it must taste really yummy) they are finally getting it. With dogs that large I won't tolerate any aggression to members of our 'family' and those that belong to us. They must obey me..

 

[cajun Rabbit]

Quote:
Only if your prepared yourself with the worst thing that could happen. Me I don't say friend I have said NO and AWAY and do not let there paths cross. I just lock my Rhodesian and Lab in the house when working with the chicks or have let them out. Sorry I do not agree. It works until 1 day it does not and then there usually is a tragedy unfortunately. Live and learn. JMHO for me

True it may turn out bad. But a big part of training a dog with a 'job' (from hunting to search rescue to drug search to attack dog) the dog must know who the master is. and in the eyes of a dog in training or being trained life can be simple. By that I mean a dog can see 'any friend of Master is a friend of mine'. Picture if you will a well trained attack police dog, while the handler interacts with a stranger while everything is 'calm' with Master, all is calm with the dog. Yet if Master is stressed (dogs can just 'feel it') then the subject is not a friend and the dog will act on those vibes.

Dogs can be trained and are intelligent, but like humans..... not ALL are equal.

 

[wbruder17]

I trust my dogs. I have 3...a German shepherd/lab, a pitbull/dalmation, and a jack russel/chihahua. I've had chickens for 2 years and the dogs couldn't care less. The chickies run around with the dogs and jumpp on them and the dogs doont care. The jack-chi likes to chase the wild ducks and chickens cuz he likes to watch them fly up away from him. He could have caught them millions of times, and just likes the chase. I've also let my pet mice run arond with him and he doesn't hurt them either.

That being said, my dogs are the only ones I would trust, as I feel I know their personalities exceptionally well....we've had them for 9, 10 and 12 years and none of them have ever so much as hurt a fly.

 

[NovaAman]

I have one who doesn't mess with the chickens, and one that will tear a chicken up if he gets one. I am very very careful. Constantly finding places in the dog run that might be weak to keep them in and away from my chickens and the neighbors chickens. The chickens free range, the dogs do not.
Just make sure your dogs can not get to your birds at all. SO, yes, you can have chickens and dogs as long as you take the necessary steps to insure their safety.

 

[smkchick]

I have one small froofroo dog and am new to chickens. I held my first chicken in my arms and let the dog sniff at it. I also let the dog look into the brooder box with close supervision. She shows little interest in the chickens. In fact my older pullet stared her down one day (it was hysterical) and the dog backed off and ran away. But she chased my newer pullet because the pullet ran when she saw the dog. Lesson learned. I never let the dog into the yard unsupervised when the chickens are out. I keep her away from the area where the chickens are and only let the dog out alone when the chickens are locked up for the night. First thing in the morning, the dog gets to go out and have free time in the yard before I release the hens. After that, I have to be right there with her, and I won't even do that now until the new pullet learns not to be afraid of the dog and vice versa. They can all enjoy their time in the yard, just not simultaneously. I trust my dog, but the risk is simply to high. It's easy enough to keep them apart. Why take chances?

JMHO

 

[verlaj]

I'm with wbruder17 - we have 3 dogs and there is no problem with the chickens. Once the dogs were trained, they hardly pay any attention at all to the chickens. Breeds: Golden Retriever, "Florida Brown Dog," and Jack Russell. I free range the chickens all day long and the dogs are outside with them. I wouldn't trust anyone else's dog, though.

There's an article in a recent Backyard Poultry magazine about training dogs to leave chickens alone.

 

[pdbantam]

I have a Yorkie. She is all of 7 pounds - about 6 inches tall. She'll catch a chicken in a heartbeat. She goes nuts around chickens! So, we have a VERY secure home for the chicks. Saydee runs around it again and again...always looking for the weak spot in the fence. You can have dogs and chickens. Just make sure the coop and run are secure.

 

[Ohhhdear]

We have 3 really different dogs in our family. Ours is a very laid-back 8 year old Rottweiler who completely ignores the chickens. One got into her area... she looked up, then went back to sleep. My daughter in law has an Australian blue-heeler. He herds the chickens into a corner of their pasture, then sits and expects praise. Otherwise, he shows no interest.
HOWEVER.... my husband's parents have a miniature Dachshund, whose nickname is the "chickenator". She has a very strong prey instinct and has made it her personal mission to kill and destroy any chicken she can reach. She's fast, aggressive, and very smart. Fortunately she can't jump the fence, but we never leave her alone off leash with the girls.

In other words, breeds with strong varmint-killing instincts like terriers, dachshunds, beagles, many hunting dogs, and hounds are more apt to be chicken killers. You really can't trust any dog with your chickens. You never know when the lightbulb goes off in that dog's mind and the weird feathered moving ground bird turns into a toy to catch and kill and then eat.

 

[flspnr]

I've always had at least one dog in my life, and right now I have 3 - a chihuahua, a miniature daushund, and a shiba inu mix. I would recommend never leaving the dogs and chickens together when you are not supervising, and be extremely careful when you are. My chihuahua could care less about the things, but then, he's never played with toys. My shiba inu mix would love to get ahold of the new toys I got. She's not allowed near the chickens. My daushund is allowed near them when I'm watching because she has come to an understanding with them. She loves all other animals - she was dying to play with the kittens when they were born and when allowed would go nudge them a bit and get them to play. She was never rough. She nudged my bantam one day, and got a light peck on the top of the head. Since then, she's left them alone and they leave her alone, but she will sun bath next to them, and they don't mind at all. She even cuddled on my lap with one of my bantams (the one that pecked her!) one morning while I was watching chicken TV! Since then, she's the only dog allowed to be outside when I free range the chickens. When I have the chickens inside, either my big dog is in the room with my husband still asleep (that's my time to bring them inside without him knowing!), or the chickens are in the second bedroom where to big dog can't get. I have 3 baby chicks in a brooder in there, and my rooster goes in there at night so he can't wake the neighbors. When we're outside, my shiba loves to watch the chickens and will jump at the coop, but she is never outside unsupervised (we don't have a fenced in yard), so she doesn't try and can't get in to the coop. She does love watching them when she jumps and they scatter! Sometimes she'll just sit and watch chicken TV with me - I think she's trying to figure them out.

Be careful. I have only had chickens since June, but I haven't had anything go wrong between my dogs and the chickens (knock on wood!). It can be done. Just take all the precautions you can to make sure the dogs can't get to the chickens.

Good luck!

PS, Ohhhdear, my miniature daushund is the only one we trust with the chickens. I wonder if it's because yours is smart and mine is dumber than a box of rocks? Seriously, she's dumb. She's a rescue, and 3 years old, and my husband got so excited about 2 days ago, because she finally layed down the first time he said it, and we've been working on that since we got her last January....We've rescued probably 50 dogs, and have never had this much trouble training one! Mine's definitly a dumb sweetheart.

Good luck keeping yours out of trouble, they're great dogs, but I know my aunt's two were very very smart! And would get into trouble! I'm glad mine is dumb and sweet, lol.