Can I rehabilitate my chicken killing puppy?

[Peck Johnson]

No way............the diff is your dog didn't Kill one of your chickens, she just went for/attempted to go for them, maybe she wasn't even going to kill one. My collie who wouldn't hurt a flea went for my chickens when we first got them and I said NO don't touch and he never has been a threat since, there is a Huge difference. Im sure mine wasn't even going to hurt one anyway, he was excited and didn't know how to react.....When a dog kills and you know it is in their blood so to speak there is no rehabilitating that dog....I don't care what anyone says...that dog if given the chance will do it again and again.....So your Ghost( which sounded like a nice dog) was not a killer, a stern warning and she knew the deal, a dog that has done it will take that warning at that moment and 5 mins/a day/ a week will go on a rampage again

In the beginning, she absolutely would have killed chickens given the chance. And we know she was a killer from all the carcasses around of other animals and from the fact that she would chase and pounce on anything else that moved. She once took down a small deer that ended up all over the place. Disgusting.

Also, I didn't want to imply that all it took was one warning and she was fine. It took months of quick corrections when she showed any questionable interest, and, a lot of supervision with the chickens together in the yard.

I know that I am not the only one who has been successful. But I also understand that it is not an easy task. In most cases, confinement or separation is best. But we should not rule anything out - especially when talking about a dog that is still puppy.​

 

[centrarchid]

I have trained about a dozen dogs successfully to be poultry livestock guarding dogs. None were / are breeds presently recognized for livestock guarding abilities. Breeds used were black and tan coonhounds, dalmations, Boston terrier, border collie and presenly a German short-haired pointer. Latter will be repeated to have two dogs on duty to contend with coyotes. It takes patience and consistent effort. On more than one occasion some birds were lost during early stages, including one chick with ongoing effort. In most instances training started with pups reared next to poultry pen. A couple dogs were acquired as feral adults, one being a border collie of about 5 years of age. We did not use shocker collars. Dogs, once determined to be imprinted on barnyard, were allowed to roam. Most stayed in yard, at least during daylight hours. Their daylight activities were generally adequate to keep nocturnal predators out. Poultry breeds in all instances involved American games with strong escape abilities although this round dominques are being used as well. Games are valuable so their loss is not taken lightly.

In most intances, if dog owner has firmly established dominance of dog, then repeated brief and stern verbal commands issued when dog shows undo interest or pursues birds will often stop attack. This must be done repeatedly. Adult border collie caught on real quick.


For German shepard of OP, you have a similar situation to my present German short-haired pointer pup (~ 6 months old) which I will describe. A free ranging game hen has bitties that all too readily run to me and pup. Pup killed one. I took chick body and found pup cowering. Then placed chick down where he could sniff it. He picked up body and chomped it. I very stearnly said "NO!" with a growl and pushed him by head (snout) and scruff to ground and shook him when he resisted. Initially he struggled to get away. Process was repeated several times with corpse during a five minute period. By end of session he would sniff chick but made no effort to pick up. If I even growled, then he would promptly lay on his back submitting. Now when amoung chickens he does not even put head down when bitties go between his legs. If he moved too fast, hen flogs him and he actually submitts to her. The only risk he now presents to chicks is accidently stepping on one which has not happened yet. He still eats their feed but sometimes that is a good thing in developing bond with flock.

For most folks, the limiting factor is the inability to establish dominance over dog. Sometimes that is difficult to do because feel overly mean.

 

[Chihuahuamom444]

Quote:
A boston terrier as a livestock guard?? now thats funny

 

[centrarchid]

Actually, Boston terriers, despite being small have a lot of heart and a gentle disposition. They also think before they chomp. Ours did not roam as bad as other breeds like coonhounds prone to do.

 

[ranchhand]

My real point, now that I've seen even more posts, it that training has to be firm, consistent and takes a long time. More of a lifelong series of reminders after the initial lessons. It's not something dogs learn immediately, and some never do.
Mine won't. Why? Because I can't train other members of the household to be consistent with commands and training. When I say "leave it" and DH just yells the dogs name for the same offense, it isn't going to work. Which is why I said "Honey, we need a good fence." I tried the shock collar- worked well for me. Gave the control to DH and he overused it. Shock collars, to me, are a dead last resort.

The key is to have everyone on the same page. I finally gave up, and let me tell you, this house will fall down long before that fence!

 

[Britney]

6 months old for a dog is just a baby. My friend has a German Shepard that runs around with her free range chickens. She has never had a problem. My experience with my neighbors dog is that every chance they get to get into my yard they take it and rip into my coops and make their killings. They seem happy to kill. Is your dog playing with the chickens and killing them or is the dog aggressive? Does the dog appear to be obsessed with them? I would never take the chance with a dog and chickens because I never had good luck with it. Your dog is just a baby, in dog life not even 7 years old.

 

[centrarchid]

For me I have even had to resort to training neighbors dogs because they were not alway confined and would come visit with our dogs as well. I am not an advocate of SSS, especially with neighbor you are on good terms with and who's property my dog also violates. Such training sometimes required my confining neighbors dog briefly. Major benefit has been neighbors dogs then became another barrier to predators. Negative is another dog on porch in August. Dogs of bad neighbors a different story.

 

[Tiffiany]

I will definitely have to disagree with all the post that say your dog can't be rehabilitated,
Our Labrador retriever knows to stay away from our birds. This may offend some people but his electric collar cured him of any desire for our ladies.
When the ladies came home we knew our dog Duke was going to want to eat them( he couldn't help it), so we put the collar on him, every single time he would approach the hens we'd give him a low jolt, a couple of times we had to go to a higher setting , but only because he was being especially hard headed.
We also put up an invisible fence around our ladies, when Duke tried to tread on their territory he'd get a jolt.
Now when he see a hen coming towards him, he backs away from them. FAR< FAR AWAY!!LOL
Duke no longer wears a collar and the invisible fence in turned off.

Don't go overboard, or hurt you dog unnecessarily, some dogs will endure the pain to get to the chickens, no matter what. In that case either keep the dog inside when the chickens are out, or don't have a dog. We love all of our furry and feathers friends.

 

[2many2count]

I have 5 labs that have all gone thru this stage and yes they can be trained not to do this. I have to say also it takes time and alot of stubbornness on your part not to give up even when you think you've lost. I have used several methods for them to learn from and each dog learned by something different not the same thing so keep trying and thinking of new ways to teach your toddler/pre-teen to learn to leave em alone. I have used hot sauce lol and have one that when you pull jar out she goes and hides after 4 yrs of not touching a chicken. I have used cayenne powder. I have beat em so to say with the dead chicken when I caught em with it. I have told em bad and tied em up outside out of reach of the rest of us...and yes it worked she pouted until bedtime when I let her loose and she wants nothing to do with birds. These are just a few things but any ideas you come up with give a try...you know your dog and what it takes as punishment and what it thinks it play. I have one now that has issues but alot better this year than last but I go out with her and watch her and correct her behavior when she decides to go after a chick. Oh and guineas do help with this issue when they get older umm I'm waiting for mine to deal with dogs but for now they keeps roosters inline

and that is worth the show. I say don't give up and keep thinking and trying you will soon have him trained. I have to say we have a pit bull in a kennel cause we can't trust him but he don't eat anything that isn't in his kennel.....but he is controllable to some degree.

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

Quote:
My dad talked about this too about when his dog, Henry, killed a cat. He/his dad tied it around Henry's neck right after he had killed it and let it stay there until it was nearly rotting off. Henry never went after cats again to my understanding. Barn dog though, so its not like he was in a house with a less then desirable necklace. While I was off at college my dog, Noah, got a hold of one of my chickens and killed it, so my dad reverted to the old method of hitting him around with the carcass like his dad had done. Noah didn't go after the chickens for a few months, but then *BAM* he struck again. So the chickens get fenced off now.