Dog Chasing Chickens

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Hello! I have a five month old Sheltie. I was hoping y’all could give me some training tips to get him not to chase my chickens. He never tries to attack them, but he is stressing them out by chasing them. To train him so far, I have placed him on a leash around the chickens, telling him to sit and giving him treats and praise when he behaves by ignoring them. However whenever he is off the leash, he will immediately chase them. Is consistency key here or are there other tips and tricks I can use to get him adjusted? Thanks!

P.S He is very food and praise motivated!

DOG TRAINER HERE: I am a dog trainer and am teaching my 2yo GSD to not chase chickens. This is how I do it:
First I work with him on basic obedience, heel, sit, down, recall, etc., where he can see the chicken but not get to them. My aim here is for him to ignore the chickens and pay attention to me (don't bribe him with treats, they are only a reward!), when he does that from far away, slowly move closer and closer to them (behind a fence with the dog in a leash). When he gets to the point of ignoring them, I bring him into the run with me with a long lead attached to a prong collar on him and do basic obedience just like you did outside the run. If he tries to go after the chickens, correct him with a pop on the prong collar and re-direct him i.e. tell him to do a desired command. When he is excelling in that, I put a long-lead on him and let it drag on the ground while I do chores (attached to a flat collar). Make sure he is tired before doing this, a dog with all his energy will make a lot of mistakes. I want him to be totally calm, ears shouldn't be perked up at the chickens. It's best if he is watching me but he is ok as long as he ignores the chickens (I do this at least once a day for a couple weeks). Remember, don't expect him to stay calm in the run for a long time at this point; keep the sessions short and sweet, and then build up the time that he is in there.
Once he is totally reliable with the hens while he has a long lead on, I move to the e-collar with a long-lead tied to a tree or post so that he can't kill any chickens. At this point, I go inside and watch him through a window. If he goes after a chicken, I firmly correct him with the e-collar. The e-collar is, in my opinion, the best way to get reliability (if he knows what the pressure means). If he is calm around them for a couple minutes (2 at most, don't push him too far at this point), I will got out there and give him a high value reward. Try not to get him super excited though, remember, he has to be calm in the chicken run. I slowly add time to how long he is out there alone over the next week or so. Make sure to move him around so that he knows to be calm no matter where he is in the run, dogs are very situational!
Once I am 100% sure that he understands that he MUST be calm around the chickens, I will take the leash off, but always keep the e-collar on (don't leave him in there alone!). Do not rush to this step, if he fails at any point, take a few steps back and slowly work him up to this point. I will work him through this for a long time, until I am confident that he will be gentle with the chickens. I continue to build off this and eventually he should be able to be calm near the chickens, but I would not let him have access to them if he is totally alone (and you aren't watching him, ready to correct) unless you feel like he wont fail.
The most important part is to make sure that it is crystal clear to the dog that if he chases the chickens, he gets a solid correction, but if he is calm, he get a great reward! Make sure you do not rush the dog, this will take at least 6 weeks or longer to get complete reliability! Always the the dog up for success!!
I hope this helps!

NOTE: Don't try to use the e-collar or the prong collar unless you know how to train your dog to respond to them! There are a lot of videos on Youtube that you can watch to learn how to use these tools. It isn't hard to do, you just need to be aware of how they work.

 

[kbroom]

Hello! I have a five month old Sheltie. I was hoping y’all could give me some training tips to get him not to chase my chickens. He never tries to attack them, but he is stressing them out by chasing them. To train him so far, I have placed him on a leash around the chickens, telling him to sit and giving him treats and praise when he behaves by ignoring them. However whenever he is off the leash, he will immediately chase them. Is consistency key here or are there other tips and tricks I can use to get him adjusted? Thanks!

P.S He is very food and praise motivated!

Certain dogs with excitable temperaments won't respond to this, like my Schnauzer puppy, Chewy (I've tried). Have you tried an electronic collar? I finally had to simply go to a muzzle. I'm currently using a plastic muzzle that seems to be more comfortable for her. Of course, when she's inside, the muzzle comes off. At times now, she will be outside while the chickens are grazing, unaware that she has no muzzle. I do believe that she loves the chase. Schnauzers are natural herding dogs. She has not killed any chickens yet. Hope that helps. I believe the most important thing is supervision, especially in the beginning.

 

[TheyBeChillin]

Certain dogs with excitable temperaments won't respond to this, like my Schnauzer puppy, Chewy (I've tried). Have you tried an electronic collar? I finally had to simply go to a muzzle. I'm currently using a plastic muzzle that seems to be more comfortable for her. Of course, when she's inside, the muzzle comes off. At times now, she will be outside while the chickens are grazing, unaware that she has no muzzle. I do believe that she loves the chase. Schnauzers are natural herding dogs. She has not killed any chickens yet. Hope that helps. I believe the most important thing is supervision, especially in the beginning.

Hey!! Yes, I use an electronic collar on him. It’s been a year. Still chases chickens- but he knows when the collar is on him he has to behave

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Hey!! Yes, I use an electronic collar on him. It’s been a year. Still chases chickens- but he knows when the collar is on him he has to behave

If he knows he only has to behave when he has the collar on, that means he is 'collar-wise'. To get rid of this you need to put the collar on your dog long before you use it (I put mine on my dog in the morning). You can also put a different collar on your dog right before he goes out with the chickens (it can just be any type you want, as long as he doesn't already wear that type), and then he will get 'collar-wise' with that collar instead of the e-collar. This basically means that the dog will think he only has to behave when he has the special collar on when in reality it's the e-collar that does the shocking. You can look up videos on YouTube to find out more on how to get rid of 'collar-wise' dogs.

 

[TheyBeChillin]

If he knows he only has to behave when he has the collar on, that means he is 'collar-wise'. To get rid of this you need to put the collar on your dog long before you use it (I put mine on my dog in the morning). You can also put a different collar on your dog right before he goes out with the chickens (it can just be any type you want, as long as he doesn't already wear that type), and then he will get 'collar-wise' with that collar instead of the e-collar. This basically means that the dog will think he only has to behave when he has the special collar on when in reality it's the e-collar that does the shocking. You can look up videos on YouTube to find out more on how to get rid of 'collar-wise' dogs.

I was wondering how to fix that. He’s an extremely stubborn dog haha