So, after two weeks of free ranging, landlord(rent an apartment on a farm) comes up to tell me his dog killed one of the chicks (6 week old Jersey Giant). I had factored in 20% losses to our dogs, and had been shocked that my bird dog has been as good as he had been (but then I'm not above showing a misbehaving dog who's the boss the way my buddy/landlord is). I'm more surprised than mad, we hadn't been surpervising the birds with the dogs in at least a week now, thinking everything was fine. It must have been too much temptation, but that dog, a 12 year old sheperd mix will even run the cat off when she's stalking the chicks, so I really didn't think she'd be the one to give in and snatch a bird.
Not sure what to do. Beating someone else's dog after the fact won't solve anything. I took her back outside with the birds, and her on leash, but she wanted nothing to do with the situation. She's normally outside all day long, with or without anyone home, and my chicks aren't scared of the dogs at all, so they are easy to snatch if they want to. Any suggestions? Shock collar maybe? But no one was watching earlier, landlord/buddy just said she was wining at the door with a dead chick in her mouth. No one heard a commotion.
Not sure what to do. Beating someone else's dog after the fact won't solve anything. I took her back outside with the birds, and her on leash, but she wanted nothing to do with the situation. She's normally outside all day long, with or without anyone home, and my chicks aren't scared of the dogs at all, so they are easy to snatch if they want to. Any suggestions? Shock collar maybe? But no one was watching earlier, landlord/buddy just said she was wining at the door with a dead chick in her mouth. No one heard a commotion.
