death by puppy

[cami]

my family recently got a puppy that is incredibly smart and trainable. we got her instead of a full grown dog so the dog wouldent kill our chickens. and now she has killed the mom of our chicks. ( the rooster is taking great care of them now). so my question is what are some ways (besides the chicken around her neck because i dont believe in that one) that we could train her to not kill the chickens?

 

[bobbi-j]

How much training did you do before she killed the hen? What kind of training? The good news is, she's a puppy - not an older dog set in her ways, so I think she'd be easier to train. Time, patience, and consistency are the keys. You need to work with her every day. I'll have to admit, my training of my then puppy (he's now 8 years old and has never harmed the chickens) consisted of taking him to where the chicks were, holding them under his nose and firmly saying, "NO" when he sniffed at them or showed interest. As he got older, and the chickens were allowed to free range, I watched him closely and got after him if he showed interest. He was very easy to train to leave the chickens alone. It's not always that simple. If you research other threads here on BYC on the dog training subject, you'll get lots of good information. You just have to figure out what works best for you and your dog.

 

[cami]

thank you very much. my chickens do free range all the time so we just let our puppy out before, told her no when she got near them, and let the chickens get to her (they would comlesatly attack her) now we are taking her out on a leash and telling her no whenever she looks at them.

 

[Mattemma]

I kept my dogs on a leash.when the chickens were out.If the chickens were in the run I would let the dogs run free,but yell at them if they went by the run showing to much interest in the chickens.

I don't trust my mini pin with the chickens to this day.

 

[Orangina]

I agree with the previous poster and think diligence is the key. We bought our first adult chickens when my very well behaved dog, Boone, was about a year old. Of course, he was curious so every single time the chickens were free-ranging and Boone went near them, we very firmly expressed our displeasure. When we bought chicks, we introduced him to them and once again made sure he understood that they were off limits. I love my dog and he's a good boy, but dogs have powerful instincts, and I while I let him meander with the adults, he is never allowed to be with the chicks unsupervised.

When our game rooster decided to get mean, he started attacking our dog and you would not believe the restraint that Boone showed. He very easily could of killed him but instead he ran away and came right over to my side and sat down. I could be wrong, but I think my dog understands the situation enough that he is waiting for permission to take action. Of course, my preferred course of action is for him to leave them be.

Sorry to hear about your momma hen.

Good luck with your puppy!

Oh, another thing I should mention, we feed our chickens table scraps and treats, so Boone has now figured out that chickens = food. I've caught him rooting around in their leftovers, so from now on chickens only get scraps in their coop to discourage any sort of confrontations. Hope this helps.

 

[cafarmgirl]

To start with I would make some sort of arrangement for the chickens and pup to be kept separate. This dog is going to be a pup for at least a good year, longer if it's a large breed. You cannot fairly expect it to be allowed loose with the chickens with just a bit of training, chickens are just to much fun for a young dog to resist. Especially once the pup has played with and killed one already.

Work on teaching the pup NO and LEAVE IT along with the rest of it's basic obedience training and observe the dog carefully as it matures. A dog that continues to show a lot of interest and excitement around the chickens will probably never be safe with them. A dog that is a real people pleaser, gets over the initial excitement, and shows progress with it's training may do ok. All training aside, it's the dogs basic temperment that's going to be the deciding factor.

That said, I don't ever leave chickens out and available to dogs unsupervised. My dogs are fine and listen to me 100% when I'm around but I wouldn't trust them alone with the chickens. Even a good dog can have a brain fart, get bored, get excited by a running, squawking chicken or chick and before you know it he's slaughtered the whole flock.