Do you have a dog that hangs out with your chickens?

[Pickles03]

Zazouse - your pics are great! The one of the dog all covered in dirt from the chicken taking a dust bath made me laugh loudly.
thanks for the morning smile!

 

[DawnSuiter]

Oh yes, all of our dogs, cats, chickens & geese roam together in the same yard.
Our main guard is great with the chickens... currently right now he's sleeping under a tree with a flock of 4 month old easter eggers.. here is him in winter sharing his cage with a lone rooster

I don't really have any good photos of the whole group since my camera is on the fritz this year and my yard is in transition (transition from weeds to dust to gravel)
EDIT: but they do look a lot like zazouse's photos.. just far less fowl! Even the dusting photo happens here... gotta love the harmony of it all!
.
But the other dogs are a beagle mix, an overgrown chihuahua mix and an overgrown dachshund mix.
3 domestic type cats
30-50 chickens
3 geese

There is almost 5 acres here, and yet they all hang out a good portion of the day in the front yard together.

Go figure.

 

[MED747]

My lab is more than amazing with my 5 yo daughter my 2 month old daughter and all 30 chickens keeps all the pests away also she is an inside dog and will wake me up if the coons get to close

 

[LindaN]

I think it depends on the dog and your training, of course. I had a fox terrier and beagle mix that I loved to pieces (RIP Sadie), but I would never let the chickens out when she was in the yard. Her terrier instinct to kill small animals was just too strong. She also would bark at the chickens and try to challenge them through the run fencing when I gave them a treat that she really wanted (like stale bread). My other mutt dog (have no idea of the breed mix) is very trustworthy around the chickens. I do get concerned that she could accidentally run over one as she charges around the yard when another dog is walked by, but so far so good.

I would definitely be wary of any terriers. They've been bred for hundreds of years for the express purpose of catching and killing vermin. If one of the chickens decides to dash around (like they sometimes do, especially when young), the terrier instinct may just kick in and the dog could grab the bird. Even if the dog lets go of the bird quickly on command or the thinking part of its brain kicks in and it realizes that it's not supposed to do this, the chicken could be injured.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I have two Maremma LGD's that watch the chickens, goats, sheep and calves. They set up a 'no fly-zone' around the house and yard. (we live on 250,000 acres so there are LOTS of predators) Cletus likes taking care of the chickens. You can always find him in the yard, wherever they are hanging out.

 

[TeePants]

I would think nearly any dog gotten at a young age and socialized with chickens would do well - smaller terrier dogs might be a problem, for example my pomeranian tackled a duck I was fostering COMPLETELY out of the blue - the duck was fine, but the pom was in BIG TROUBLE! He's less than a year old though, so he's still very feisty and he doesn't know when to stop, even with our house cats/other dogs.

So I guess the real trade off is, if you get a puppy, it will grow up around them, but puppies are rambunctious and don't always understand boundaries, so they might hurt them on accident. With an older dog, they'd be a lot calmer, but if they had any hunting instincts it could pose a problem. But there are so many older dogs in animal shelters that need homes! It might be your best bet to go with a more experienced/older dog. Just watch how it acts around smaller animals/toys/et cetera. I'd imagine a dog that did well with cats or some such might do well with other small animals. If it has a strong 'ball drive' it might not work out so well, as the instinct to chase might be too much.

I know the local shelter here has volunteers that work with the dogs every day, and we take notes on behavior and stuff like that, so you could always ask. I don't think breed is going to be as big of a factor as the individual dog. This is coming from someone who owns a hyper, neurotic basset hound.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I have a Golden Retriever that is fine with chickens, like a lot of dogs. He doesn't bother them, but neither does he protect them. The LGD's actually become part of the flock/herd and spend their lives as guardians specifically. They also patrol at night and seek out predators. Its a very different type of dog, so it all depends on what your needs are. My Golden's purpose in life is to chase toys and bring them back. He might even bring back a bird, if you threw it for him!

 

[bald k9]

Here is my baby, not much of a guard dog but he doesnt bother the chickens at all,

 

[FiveHens]

Our doggy is a hound mix (SPCA) and she barely notices the chickens. Sometimes she'll hang out near them, just for fun, and other times she'll see a squirrel or something and bolt right through the middle of the flock, scattering screaming chickens everywhere. It think she thinks it's funny. I do get the feeling, though, that if the chickens were threatened and she was there, she would defend them.

We are convinced that what made the difference with her being friendly to the chickens was us raising the chicks inside. She got to know that they were pets, and we showed them to her every day (in our hands, of course) as they grew from little chicks to big chickens. Now she doesn't bat an eye.

 

[koakritters]

This is my mini aussie with her very first chicky! Nali was 3 months old and the chick was a 3 day old golden comet

These were her 2 babies from a couple months ago