Dog Killed One Of My Guineas Today ...

[racuda]

Have you seen this thread?

Several people have both border collies and chickens together with no problems. They even say BC's protect the flock.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Quote:
Thanks, I'm checking that out!

 

[cgmccary]

If a dog ever starts killing them, it is then difficult to get the dog to stop the behavior. I wouldn't trust them to be alone if they ever started killing. I'd either put up or restrain the dog or the birds in some way.

I got lucky with my dog. She was a stray dog who had been around and feral for awhile. I noticed that she was nursing puppies and seemed really hungry so I followed her and found that she had given birth to her puppies under an abandoned house. I started taking food & fresh water to the stray mother dog every morning. The first few days I thought she was going to bite me & she would lunge at me. After a week, she stopped even growling. Everybody else around was scared of the dog and the postal worker and several neighbors reported her to animal control who came out & darted her (twice) but she'd run under her abandoned house, and they couldn't get to her once she was out-of-consciousness from the darting.

In the meantime, the mama dog started trusting me & waiting on me each morning for her food and water. When the puppies wobbled out, she let me pick them up and pet them & I began petting her. Animal control came out to trap her (and they said she was too aggressive and would be put down) but I told them I had made friends with the dog. She trusted me and let me put her in a pen. I then crawled under the abandoned house and caught all eight of her very healthy puppies one by one. I had to actually belly crawl for each one. I was in the process of moving from the city (where mama dog and puppies were) (houses juxtaposed right next to each other, lots of traffic and people) to the country. Animal Control said if I kept up the mama dog and puppies I could keep them. I did. We moved with mama dog and puppies to the farm in the country. I got the puppies their first shots & adopted out all the puppies except one I kept. Mama dog has been spayed now and the puppy is growing up. I told mama dog "no" one time when I first put the chickens out. I also got some geese and now have Guineas being hatched. The stray mama dog has turned out to be a great guardian dog. She sleeps by one of my broody hens & near the geese which I have been able to leave outside completely; she has chased a opossum up a tree and kept it there all day and stayed up all night keeping the coyotes away. She is utterly fearless against the predators. The puppy is learning the same good behavior and I have raised her with the chickens from the start. I have observed the female puppy back up and walk around the flock when I call her rather than go through them and disturb them. I guess I just lucked up with this stray dog. She looks like a shepherd/collie/cattle dog mix-- a real mutt of a dog (she favors that New Orleans "Blue Dog")-- but she's proving invaluable to me. I could tell she had good sense to have nursed and cared for her puppies and taken care of herself as long as she did on her own. She also will not permit strange people out of their cars until I am out there. Once she sees I accept a person, she is very friendly and relaxed. I put in one of those invisible fences around our 6.5 acres, and she wears a collar (we had an issue the first few days with a neighbor shooting at her when he said she was threatening to him). We had the "fence" installed immediately thereafter & she learned right away where the boundary to our property was and the "fence" gives her a warning beep (she only got shocked once-- the first time). I hope she and the puppy can cover the the ground to keep safe the free-ranging Guineas, Geese (and some of the chickens are out as well). I was planning on bringing in one of those LG Bulgarian Shepherd dogs next year. I worry about a pack of stray dogs coming through and thought that 2-3 LG dogs would be a formidable defense against just about anything.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

What a story & WHAT A DOG!
So glad you were able to save her!

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
Not so.

My dog was 4 years old when I first got chickens. One day when the coop door was open a game hen flew out and my dog nailed her. Killed her dead. I realized that I would have to train her because she didn't know she wasn't supposed to hurt them.

I put her on a long flexi lead and took a stroll with her amongst the chickens. When she made a move I jerked the leash and told her "NO".

After a few training sessions she wouldn't even look at them. Since then I have gotten totally free-range chickens and guineas and I now trust her completely around them. It has been over a year and she knows the chickens and guineas are mine and she doesn't bother them.

EXACTLY how i did it with my dogs... and i have 6 of them - 1 yorkie, 2 scotties, 1 APBT, 1 mastiff/boxer/?mix, and a rottweiler. it all comes down to how much your dogs truly, honestly respect your authority. now the dogs protect the chickens and guineas, watching the sky for hawks. my APBT chased off a black bear and its mom when they came for one of my flocks.

 

[racuda]

Quote:
Not so.

My dog was 4 years old when I first got chickens. One day when the coop door was open a game hen flew out and my dog nailed her. Killed her dead. I realized that I would have to train her because she didn't know she wasn't supposed to hurt them.

I put her on a long flexi lead and took a stroll with her amongst the chickens. When she made a move I jerked the leash and told her "NO".

After a few training sessions she wouldn't even look at them. Since then I have gotten totally free-range chickens and guineas and I now trust her completely around them. It has been over a year and she knows the chickens and guineas are mine and she doesn't bother them.

EXACTLY how i did it with my dogs... and i have 6 of them - 1 yorkie, 2 scotties, 1 APBT, 1 mastiff/boxer/?mix, and a rottweiler. it all comes down to how much your dogs truly, honestly respect your authority. now the dogs protect the chickens and guineas, watching the sky for hawks. my APBT chased off a black bear and its mom when they came for one of my flocks.

I'm impressed that you could train your scotties to not chase the chickens and guineas. They have a very high prey drive, much like my Westie. I never trusted him off leash, until I had a guinea with keets. She was FIERCE! I let Max get close to her, and of course she flogged him silly. After that he lost interest in the Guineas.