Do you have a dog that's good with chickens? Please share!

[Equest94]

ohiofarmgirl - I completely agree and have been working with my dog in a similar fashion!


As for which breed of dog is best with chickens, I feel that it really depends on the dog as an individual, their training/how they have been brought up and accustomed to, and their overall respect for their owner's possessions; however, more 'guardian' breeds such as the Great Pyrenees, Bernese Mountain Dog, Sheep Dog, some breeds of shepherds, etc seem to do well with flocks.

I use to have a little maltese who was quite the character. She would leave the chickens alone unless instructed to "get them" in which she would round them up back into they coop (I wish the commend was a different set of word, but that worked for her).

Now, I have a Carolina Dog/Dixie Dingo. She's actually a shelter rescue and needed quite a bit of work in over coming her nervous issues. Since the breed is still quite feral and has a strong prey drive, I wouldn't expect it to be very good with chickens, but Sabina seems to be proving me wrong. Occasionally she gets excited and playful and tends to bull-doze through the flock to which she gets a "No! Leave them!" and then she shamefully backs away immediately and then all is fine. I've never seen her actually go after the chickens in terms of wanting to kill them, but I still feel it's better off to correct any behavior of that sort [not commanded of the dog] before the dog begins to think they can get away with more and more intense versions of "the game." She is quite funny though and sometimes brings her toys to our chickens to see if they would like to play with her. As for squirrels, rabbits, rats, and birds - that's a whole different issue.... but chickens, she's been pretty good with; however, I still feel that more 'wild' breeds of dog wouldn't be well suited as a chicken dog and that the Carolina Dog isn't quite a good flock/small animal guardian as a breed in whole.

 

[mekasmom]

I have four Great Pyrenees and a st. bernard plus some chihuahuas. The GP never bother the chickens. They just sleep while the birds walk around them. The St Bernard is just 8wks old, and she seems to notice them a lot. I don't see prey drive yet, but am watching her just in case. The chihuahuas are smaller than the chickens, and are terrified of them.

 

[walkswithdog]

I have a German Shepherd Dog who is good with them, one who is learning, one who is awful. I have a Great Pyrenees who is young and learning but awesome with both my chickens, turkeys and goat kids.

I have one rescue Bordercollie/JRT - Jack Russel Terrier(borderjack) that is awesome and even good at herding them, and a blue heeler - correct term australian cattle dog ACD/JRT (cattlejack) that is awful and predatory and a Bullchit - French Bulldog/ Chihuahua that is terrible and kills for fun everything he can get his stupid little mouth on. But he's an awesome varmint dog - so is the cattlejack and they're going nowhere, but I had to e-fence them off from the chickens/turkeys/goats.

 

[ozflock]

Quote:
I started out from the first day we brought the chicks home, to include the dogs in our joy... I'd invite them in with me to watch them (chicks are cute enough to be watched for hours and hours!) - and if one of the dogs "lurched" or encroached too much, I "Ceasar Millaned" her - my version is saying "HEY"! (to get them to disengage their intenseity) and then, like some people use "Leave it" - I say "NOT FOR YOU"
As soon as they weren't intensely interested (and darn near drooling over the chicks) - you know, as if the newness wore off- I began to pull the chicks out of the box and let the dogs sniff. - Again, newness and intensity... but I stopped that excitement with saying "Hey! Not for you". When the dogs were ok and could care less that there were chicks walking around on our floor, I made the dogs lay on their sides, making them very vulnerable, but having to trust me... and I put the chicks on the dogs- letting them walk all over them... by doing this, I figured I was driving the point home that they had to respect that the chickens were part of the household because I said so.
Now the dogs ignore the chickens! The two dogs and the two chickens take sun baths together! My Border Collie actually avoids them because the Barred Rock pecked her eye, and the Labrador (my mouse hunter) avoids being too close because she doesn't like giving piggy back rides!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/20412_img_1265.jpg

I have a hunting dog - whippet/fox terrier mix who's parents were used on foxes and rabbits. I bought him with the intention of training him to guard my poultry from foxes and he has worked out brilliantly. He was 9 weeks old when i got him and i must mention that he was the "wimp" of the litter - very timid and so easy to train. The person above has hit the nail on the head - the description is pretty much the same way i trained mine.

The idea is to de-sensitise your dog to the chickens, allow them to satisfy their curiosity by letting them sniff and investigate them fully while you hold on to them. Talk to the dog in a soothing, calming tone at the same time. Reprimand if they go to bite. Keep repeating the procedure at every opportunity until the dog gets bored and walks away (or relaxes and goes to sleep?).

With an aggressive "chicken chaser" i would pick up a chicken and chase the dog around with it until the dog was completely humiliated. Then go with the procedure as above, you need to be persistant - depending on the determination of the dog.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We have a redbone coonhound mix, and she was given to us already trained. No predators can get in our yard. Period.

I also have a blue heeler who likes to herd everything.

 

[walkswithdog]

And there ARE some dogs who won't train up, who will eat chickens each chance they get. My rescued bullchit can't help himself despite training (as above) and e collars. If he's unsupervised and a chicken gets in the varmint dog yard, it's a goner. If he gets over into the chicken pasture - figure on dead chickens.

But he kills moles, voles, shrews, possums, rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, gophers and smaller ground hogs. He's invaluable.

Some dogs will train, some dogs won't. Trusting the wrong dog sucks.

 

[noraflood]

We have two heeler mixes...one a border collie/ heeler mix, and one a lab/heeler mix. The border collie is afraid of practically everything, so he's fine with the chickens because he's scare sh*tless of them. The border collie/heeler will sit and let a chicken approach him, then turn away because he's frightened and knows he's not supposed to go after them. The lab/heeler mix is an agressive girl who loves to chase everything, so we haven't let her be out with the chickens off leash at all yet. On leash, she shows interest in the chickens, but we haven't let her pursue her interest at all, because we don't want anything tragic to occur.

That's the story of our dogs and chickens. Neither has acted as a guard or protector yet, but we're still new at the chicken raising business.

 

[Andora]

Both of my dogs are fine alone out in my yard with the chickens free ranging about.

I have a treeing walker coonhound that we got from a shelter when he was 2.5 years old. He was a horrible menace of a dog--overbearing, dominate, rude, disgusting, everything a dog should not be. He would mark his territory inside every chance he got, even though he was house broken otherwise. He even would pull on our shirts and rip them, then knock us down and lick us to death or hump our legs while we tried to get away. (And yes, he was fixed at the shelter!)

After months of dedicated training on my part, he became a very well behaved boy. He wanted to eat the chickens at first, but anytime he focused on them too much we shook The Can. The Can (he also knows it by name if you threaten to get it) is a coffee can with the lid taped on tight filled with old bolts and screws. As soon as the can shakes he tucks his tail and hides for all he's worth. You don't have to touch him or go near him, just gently poke The Can. Now we just have to say, "don't make me get the can dog!" and he immediately obeys.

My other dog is a black lab farm mutt. She was abandoned on a farm and she was badly beaten up. She finally got over her major nervous issues and now she's a great dog. She has been protective of the chickens from day 1.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I have a 13 YO hound who wll chase them if they run from her, and a JRT/Beagle mix who sees them, but will leave them alone when told. Hard to believe, since he's got some devil in him.

 

[sephiroth]

I have one Pitbull that is perfect with the chickens so far. He was out just last night with the coop wide open. When I woke up the morning the birds were out ranging and Stan was just hanging out on the back porch.