Do Dogs and Chickens EVER mix??

[mamaKate]

My dogs:Great Dane/Aus.Shepherd, Springer Spaniel/Border Collie, Pug/Jack Russel, Mini Beagle/Dachsund. All are fine with the chickens. The 5th one is a Black& and Coonhound/Rottweiler and the first time he was close to the birds (they were caged) he trembled so violently that I thought they would be forever separated. He can now handle walking among free range birds while he is leashed. I still put the birds up before I let him off leash. All the dogs were grown when they met the chickens. I won't trust any of them (or the cats) with a baby chick.
The weird thing is, all my guys were great mousers before I got the chickens. Now they won't touch a mouse. I think they assume the mice belong to me, too. lol

 

[aimeeinwv]

I agree on the case by case basis. My dog plays with the chickens, they on the other hand are aggravated by her. We believe she thinks all the chickens are her puppies. We refer to them as "her babies" and she knows who they are. They walk right past her like she's a statue... unless she decides she wants to play and chase them. They just don't see the fun in that game like she does. The Roo's will chase her but never really try to hurt her.. just keeps her away from the hens if she's being playful.. just as it's thier job! I am thankful that we have no problems so far.

A friend asked me to take a dog she had, but I couldn't. Since it wasn't raised along with the chickens I was afraid it would kill them. We live where the dog and chickens can all run free.. don't wanna chain or cage anyone. We raised the chickens and the dog together from a less than year old pup, and day old chicks. Worked good - SO FAR - but nature is nature.. you never really know!

 

[kcbailey]

We lost 13 baby chicks this past spring because our dog got in, we now have full grown hens, and there isn't a problem.

 

[chickensioux]

All 4 of my dogs are out when my chickens free range. A doberman, Aus. Shepard, 2 mutts, never had a problem.

 

[Eggcellent]

I just got rid of my lab because I couldn't keep him from trying to dig into the chicken runs. It was only going to be a matter of time before we had an accident. Found him a great home on a buffalo farm with 2 ponds and no chickens.

My australian shepherd is great around the chickens. I only let her around them when they free range under supervision. No matter how great she acts when I am there I still don't trust her not to decide they are a prey item when I am gone. Generally, I only let the chickens free range when my wife or I can supervise anyway. We just have too many predators around here.

 

[ginasmarans]

You can never say for sure. Alot depends on the breed and alot depends on the training. Our dog,Trixie,is a black lab(surprize,surprize)/blue healer mix. She is wonderful. She keeps the chickens off the porch and occasionally she will help me herd them. The other day,my husband picked up a stray dog. She was in terrible shape. After a bath and good food,she was much better, but I found out quickly that she could not be trusted around the chickens. On one day, as we were walking toward the chicken pens, a hen,who was ranging saw the strange dog and took off.The dog really wasn't after the chicken,but the hen was afraid. Trixie ran in front of the dog,stopping her,and then ran at the hen,making her go into the pen. She's a real peach of a dog.

 

[Terri]

i let all my dogs out with the chickens all the time, of course they were well trained before getting the chicks. i have a 15 yo lab/mix, and 10 yo pitmix, a black dog(have know idea what it is, and and a border collie mix. The pitmix took some time to train because of her high prey drive, but we leave her out now too. We just got the chickens in March and we found it pretty easy to join the chickens into our pack.

 

[henryetta]

im another that will say of course it CAN work, but will it??? I went for 15 years of having chickens on our ranch with never having a problem with any of our dogs. I for some reason didnt even question that there would be a prob and there wasnt (ok i was young and nieve and lucked out) Now, i have chickens in the city, and i have to worry about my little dogs not getting beat up by a peed off chicken.. They all get along, but the chihuahua likes to graze with them and if she finds something extra special that one of the chickens wants, she may get jumped. She's good about she deals with it, but in our home, it's the dogs we worry about..

 

[Tala]

My dog's afraid of my rooster

What can I say, my roo is pretty fearless will take on a 65lb dog, but still gets along with the boss lady (ME) and is great to the hens!

Well, really my dog just had to learn that the chickens are a part of our pack, same as the cats. She understands that our two cats are not to chase, but the neighborhood cats are free game! lol
All my critters (dogs, cats, chickens) can be loose in the backyard together. I have more trouble with adult vs. teenage chickens than I do with dogs vs. chickens.

I think it depends a LOT on your dog's prey drive and how much control you have over your pack.

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
We brooded our suburban chicks indoors right beside our kids and the 3 y/o lab for 13 long weeks while their coop was being built. She was a bit unsure of the tiny creatures at first, but quickly learned that they were MINE and has not looked their direction since.

My lab gets quite concerned and jealous when she sees me walking to the backyard with a bowl of kitchen scraps for the birds. I guess in that matter they are strict competitors. She has even been known to sit at my feet, along with the chickens, at scratch/treat time. I don't think that millet and BOSS are her favorite, but she eats them just the same -- I'm sure she thinks she's missing out on something when I give this to the chickens... dork.

I leave them ranging together in the backyard on a regular basis with zero fear of her behavior. It all depends on your dog.