Can I Trust Him?

[redmoo]

I told ya'll several days ago about my dog killing a hen. It was the first time my dog had been around chickens. I immediately took the dead hen from him, put her in a garbage bag, scolded him, and whopped him over the head with the hen, hard. (meanie, I know) Since then, if the chickens are out, I've made sure he's right by my side. He is showing no interest in the chickens. Now, I'm wondering if I can trust him, or will his instinct kick in if I'm not around? I sure would like for them to co-exist in harmony, and for him to be protective of them as he is with cattle.

 

[bobbi-j]

You have to do far more training than whopping him over the head once with a dead chicken if you want to be able to trust him with your chickens when you're not around. You need to consistently train, day after day, until you are absolutely positive that he will protect your chickens instead of killing them. And even then, it would take awhile for me to trust him 100%. He found out how much fun those running, squawking, flapping things can be! Right now I think he's leaving them alone when you're there because he knows that he'll get in trouble if he kills another one and you catch him.

 

[angel8035]

No, you absolutely cannot trust him. Dogs kill chickens for sport. Unless he is highly trained, he cannot be trusted, unfortunately.

 

[redmoo]

You're probably right. I'm wishful thinking, but I realize the time and consistency necessary to train a dog.

 

[jetdog]

My dog is a hunting dog and I hunt a lot with him, loves birds in his mouth, try a remote zap collar.I took him out to my birds when he went after them I zapped him and scolded him, after a few days of doing this the problem is solved. I think he now understands the difference in my birds and wild ones.

 

[iheartnh]

All you taught him by whacking him is, he should stay away from you when you have a garbage bag.

Very few dogs will able to live along side chickens, unless they were introduced as a pup and/or are a non-prey driven breed that has had good training. So no, you can't trust him.

 

[redmoo]

Good one. However, I have to disagree. He most certainly knew why he got whacked. I took the hen away while scolding, placed her in the bag, and whacked him. He was watching me put her in the bag. He's a very smart dog. However, he's smart enough to sneak around and do what he wants and then play Mr. Innocent.

 

[AK Baha]

Once they kill they will not stop.

 

[jenifry]

I DISAGREE with every one of you. I have a large breed mix, and she killed a chicken the first night we brought them home. I whacked her with the chicken too. (Not a mean thing about it, she needed to learn) Every time I caught her looking at a chicken I scolded her and sent her to the kennel. I have had chickens for 3 years now and have never lost another one to her. She will let them peck at her fur, eat her food, and I even caught her letting a wayward hen in the dog house during a heavy rain. Dogs CAN and DO learn to live with chickens, even after they have killed. If you don't have the time and energy to train your dog, then you should have neither dogs nor chickens.

 

[jenifry]

Maybe my last sentence was a little mean (snarky me, sorry I have a migraine) but dogs view anything in their family as a part of their pack if trained right, they do not have to grow up with chickens to learn to leave them alone. Once your dog sees that your chickens are just as much family as he is, there should be no issues.