Dog or no dog?

[chickengirl778]

yeah I'm really hoping that it works out but I'm not positive it will yet!

 

[aart]

If anyone has had trained their dog with their chickens, I would be interested to learn your tips.

Obedience training will allow you to control the dog in any situation.
Recall and 'leave it' will cover about anything.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If anyone has had trained their dog with their chickens, I would be interested to learn your tips.

I wouldn't worry about training the dog to the chickens just yet. If you do decide to give him a try, focus on getting him basic training to respond to you and your family, first. Once he's able to take basic commands you can start adding other things. But you really want to nail down those basics first.

A begineer's group class is usually not too expensive and you can usually bring the whole family along to learn, so that's the easiest place to start. It helps being able to work with someone who can give you tips and pointers on working with your actual dog, rather than just reading a book or watching a video.

 

[chickengirl778]

You gotta show her that you are the new alpha even though in reality you are meek and will probably be blown over by a 10 mph wind gust. My point is, you should establish your dominant position first in a new area he isn't familiar with so that you can set boundaries and then slowly introduce her to the chickens (while being leashed the first few times)..... keep doing it until he's comfortable with his new surroundings and with the chickens, soon enough he will get bored of the chickens and pay no attention to them and you can leave him off leash. But it really depends on the dog though, with mine she still sometimes will turn on her 'switch' if the chickens decide to act crazy when she gets a little too close to them and will chase them, but when the chickens are a good distance away....... she usually just leaves them alone. Just hope your boxer doesn't have a high prey drive, but if so, maybe with a lot of training you can subdue his natural instinct to chase if that is the case with him.

I'd say go for it, having a dog around is another good layer of protection for your flock if everything works out OK. But being a teenager as you said you are, there's also a lot of responsibilities associated with them, so that's something you have to take into account.

It is a big responsibility. I hope it works out!