Dog got my girls ... again

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Quote:
I agree here. You're mad right now, let your jets cool.

I'm sorry for the loss of your chickens. I have a pen on the side of my house where I put my dogs when the chickens are out. I lock the gates so that the kids don't forget and leave them open. It happened once . . . . not twice.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Take the money you'd spend to put the dog to sleep, and buy some wire that will keep the chickens in, or it will just happen again

 

[OvertheHenHouse]

Quote:
X3 - he's being a dog, and not his fault that the pullets got out. Or follow Bear Foot Farm's advice, which is even better - keep the dog and put the money towards keeping the pullets safe.

 

[gpwelding1]

Quote:
sorry for your loss kcaywood.
something heres not quite rite though.he's 14 years old,and falls over after his legs fail him.but he's able to run down and kill 22 chickens?
im not doubting you,but it sounds like he was set up.mabey another dog or some other preditor.and he just happend to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[kcaywood]

Thanks everyone for your input ... turns out the old guy has a few more days left to him, as my second son asked me to wait a month before putting him down. My jets are cooling ... the dog took a header yesterday in front of my youngest son, who hadn't known he was so bad off, and so now sees that it's time ... but second son is attached to him (which unfortunately doesn't translate to him taking care of the dog - that's all up to me) so I will respect his feelings and wait a month.

Watchdogps, he's a good boy despite all this, and I wouldn't leave him at the shelter alone ... I'll stay while they give him the tranquilizing shot, though I'd prefer not to be there for the lethal shot.

Gpwelding1, he's killed the 22 over the past year. His health has declined significantly lately, with incontinence and his back legs failing. The killing yesterday was a surprise in view of that.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[violetsky]

Someone said in an earlier post that dogs can be trained not to kill, is true but that should read, "some" dogs. I believe there are
a quite a few breeds/ individuals where their instincts are beyond what a training can do. I have a border collie that you can tell
him a person is ok, or not to touch the chickens, puppy whatever and he will not only ignore that animal but go out of his way to avoid
it. He is now 12 and never wavered in his reliability. That said I have a friend with a german shorthaired pointer that has undergone
extensive training to leave the chickens alone and even desparation training of pinging him with a bb gun everytime he went near the coop
and he still will take every opportunity to kill a chicken he can get and will never be trustworthy. My border collie only required one sharp
reprimand, "no" and that's it to leave the chickens alone for a lifetime. If you decide to get another dog in the future look for a pointy nosed
slender built black and white traditional looking border collie. Borders have gotten popular and may not be being bred carefully as in the past.
My dog was only 2 generations out of Scotland. He has been just an amazing dog. Sorry about your chickens and pooch. The doggy had a good life
unfortunately for your chickens he probably had too much fun, kinda like a husband you don't want them to have too much fun either, too bad
we can't them for a one way trip to the pound.

 

[dainerra]

It is much less to do with the breed than it does the individual dog. Any dog that CAN'T be trained can be confined or otherwise kept away from the birds. Even trained dogs I would never trust 100% unsupervised because they are living creatures and therefore have a mind of their own.

In all honesty, I would never trust any dog unsupervised, no matter how well-trained they seem. My boy is 8 and has never harmed a single bird. In fact, if chicks get out of the brooder or hhe finds a baby bird that has fallen from its nest, he gently brings them to me. A little wet, but completely unharmed. And I still wouldn't leave him unsupervised.

The first factor in any training is to stop bad habits before they start. That in itself requires constant supervision.

 

[watchdogps]

I'm glad you'll go with him. It kills me when people leave old dogs at the shelters. They know they going to get euthd, and sometimes they do it bc they just can't face the fact themselves, but that's so cruel and selfish. Thank you for caring more than that.

 

[jjthink]

I'm so sorry and sad about the suffering your birds endured. I'm sorry at such a tragic time to also point out that it is a dog's humans that are the responsible party when something like this happens. Neighbors must be compelled to keep their dogs - their predators - from accessing anyone's chickens and dog-owners who also have chickens have to ensure that one cannot possibly access the other unless they are certain no harm will come to their birds. So as heartbroken as I am about dogs harming chickens, the fault lies with us. I know you didn't want this to happen and I'm sorry.
JJ

 

[Zonoma]

Dogs are definitely a tricky proposition with chickens. I got pretty luck with mine: