Chicks and dogs

[rooster0209]

I borrowed a friends shock collar (hate them things) because my lab/bc cross kept chasing my guineas. All it took was two zaps and he was done with chasing them...forever!

Poor dog, he chased 3 of the idiots into the corn field and wouldnt come back. I called him back (of course his ears were off

) turned up the collar and zapped him. He came back and went under the pickup ASAP. The 3 idiots spent the rest of the evening and the next day yacking to the 5 in the yard, but never did make it out of the corn.

I returned the shock collar and the dog never even bothers the guineas. It almost made me cry, watching Freddie hide under the pickup but I couldnt have him killing my guineas, once they start it is just too hard to break

I bought a spray collar and he is very wary of the warning beep. He likes to bite strangers on the back of the leg when they turn their back on him. I am working on deterring this behavior.

 

[gritsar]

OT - rooster0209, I hate shock collars too, but...when it came to a choice of using one (the remote controlled kind, not the bark collar) or re-homing our border collie; we used the collar. Now we have a very well controlled border collie that's a pleasurable part of the family.

 

[Whistling Badger]

Jim, great pyrs are the coolest. I almost had to engage in mortal combat with one up in the mountains a few years ago. It was all a misunderstanding--he thought I was messing with his sheep. Took it rather personally. Came at me at a run, all teeth and erect white hair. The thing that impressed me was that, once all the sheep were behind him and safe, he quit roaring, the teeth got put away, hair laid down, and he looked around--ho, hum--and trotted off.

Our dog is a certified Doofus Hound. He doesn't realize that there are bad things in the world. Has no idea what his teeth are for. Not much of a guard, needless to say. We've been thinking about getting a more protective dog--shepherd or newfoundland, maybe--to be his buddy. Pyrs bark too much for my taste, but they do keep the bad things away.

T

 

[daved3366]

We have an Australian Cattle Dog who is all energy. An absolute love, but a ball of fire with no off switch. I take her out from time to time and let her just run. She has never bothered the chcikens before and I am usually very careful not to let her run their way and usually when they are in. I free range them during the day. Last night she went out the door and one of the roosters started yelling and she was off in chase. She ran and chased and even pin one of the roos down. She didn't try to bite or anything, it looked more like she wanted to play. I finally got ahold of her and drug her back into the house and put her in her kennel then went out to find the chickens. All but one hen was in the house on their roost! The one was hiding under a hay bale in the yard. Neither roo was to be found. I closed the hens in and went looking for roos. The banty was in a tree at the end of our 1/4 mile driveway and the big boy was hiding in with the horses.
My point is, while I think she wouldn't harm the chickens, she won't get another chance. The poor chickens don't care if she would or not, she just scared the crap out of them!! I probably won't get eggs for amother week!