Dog issues. Please read on.

[dataman]

Good advice(s). Thanks!

 

[secuono]

OK, lets not freak out when I say this, I use it sparingly and safely.
My Dobie has an ECollar, I only used it to teach him not to pass the ditch into the street, just once to each new person that we invite onto the property and 3x total when he met the chickens. He's a dog that likes to meet newbies, then be fine with them. I use the lowest setting that he notices.
Anyway, he is fine with them now. He circles the barn to see what's up and then continues surveying the rest of they yard.
But our Chihuahua mutt, she would of been a chicken killer 4 times over if there wasn't bird netting on the run. She walked right on it trying to get to them. I introduced her to one, she was fine with stern vocal warnings, but if they move, they loose their heads in her mind.
Her fur is very dense, triple coat I think it's called. She pants when there is 3ft of snow, so no way she feels anything if it can't reach her skin at all. So no collar for her. She has attacked and killed several baby Robins and Blackbirds this past spring. Most could fly, but she was just a bit faster at responding. This dog can catch a tiny bit of meat thrown into the air, nowhere near her mouth from what seems like a zoned out abyss. It's kinda scary, lol.
You should fence your yard and then section off an area for the birds. While you teach the dogs to get used to them, they can see them and spend time around them.

 

[crj]

Maybe I lucked out. I have 3 dogs and they don't bother my chickens at all or my ducks. There will be an occassional chase and I will give the dogs a shout which ends it. I know I can leave my dogs and birds out together and leave the house for the day. I even have a chicken in my kitchen. She got sick and I think she is blind now. She hangs out on the floor on a towel and the dogs think nothing of it. Although, they do check to see if she has something better to eat then they do.

I introduced my birds to my dogs. I made sure when I was holding them they wouldn't be agressive towards the birds. Then I put them on the ground and let the dogs check them out. The black dog (pictured) feels that all chicks are hers but otherwise they walked away not interested.

 

[Moabite]

I don't trust cocker spaniels... Pittbulls are usually fine though if you can get the point across. (Sounds backward doesn't it?)

 

[inc123]

I tried the youtube videos from the Dog Whisperer-- that lasted about 15 minutes. My dachshund is the worst offender as she is a hunting dog- she may be small, elderly, slow, and hard of hearing and low vision but she is spot-on on prey.

One of my German Sherpherds wants to herd them, even carrying them in his mouht- howver, the last chicken died from heart failure. The other gsd, well she has never been close.

Now my dogs and chicken as permanently separated, and I have accepted the reality that they cannot be left alone together. So I build abother gate with the chickens in the sideyard and the dogs in the back. I put a window (plexiglass) in the 6' privacy fence so I could see in, it wven has a little set of plantation shutters that can close if I ever want to block the view.

The lady I got my chickens from only lets dogs around her chickens that were raised from puppyhood with her chickens- and goats. No loss, no trauma this way.

No doubt many people are better trainers than I am but two wounded chickens was enough lesson for me. Having to put one down was about the hardest thing I have tried to do-I had never even killed a mouse before.