Anyone have any ideas on how to handle a small dog who wants to eat the baby chicks? She is a foust/fiest or whatever breed. My gandmother encouraged her to kill mice and chase cats but mamaw is gone now and dad takes care of the dog. I don't want to beat the dog but durn she's sneaky!
(I would never beat an animal)
Don't know about the breed...but I've had our dog (pit bull, sweet as can be, an overgrown baby at 7 months) get ahold of one of ours earlier in the week when it escaped.
The husband says, since he grew up raising both parlor roller pigeons and pit bulls with his stepfather, that dogs naturally want to go after smaller things that move - therefore they need to be trained not to. He's getting a shock collar and I won't have any part of it, but he swears by putting the dog on a short leash/lead with the collar on, turned down, and holding a bird nearby. When he tries to snap at it or get at it, he pushes the button. Then, moves up to the next setting, and repeats the process, until the dog no longer snaps at the bird. He swears by it - I don't like it - but if it keeps our dog from killing our birds, then I'm going to let him do what he's always done in stopping the threat. Other people's dogs getting into our pasture/coop is one thing - it's a trespasser and the owner, if located, should be notified that the next time it happens they'll be burying their pet. After all, chickens are many people's pets AND sources of food (like us here) so who's to say which pet is more important?
I don't know what else to do to train dogs not to go after the chickens...so I'm going to let the man do the training and hope for the best. :/