Dog Question

[Chicky_Baby]

I am almost done with installing my electrical fence and I want to let my hens free range. My one issue is my dogs. I have 3 Great Pyrs. Beautiful dogs but they were not raised around livestock. One has to be tied or she will kill the cats, swim in the coy pond and eat the fish, etc. etc. etc. It isn't her fault some jerk dumped her on the road preggers and the poor girl had to kill to live so she has a taste for it now. The other two are not as much of an issue and I believe that one of them may actually be able to be off leash around the hens. My main concern is the biggest Pyr with the urge to kill and eat all things small and wiggly. Will the chickens fly into her reach? If she sees a cat she goes balistic so the cats stay away from her. I would hope the situation was the same with the chickens but I don't know if they think the same way cats do so perhaps they might not be as careful. Opinions please...

 

[CMV]

Training, training, training.

An old dog is never too old to be trained. I would recommend getting some professional help to rehab your dog(s). They have the right background, they have the right inclinations, so give them the right training. Use these dogs to their full potential.

I have a feral rescue mutt. She's a lovely dog- beautiful, loyal, patient with children and all other creatures, but was horrible at walking on a leash. Last fall, I had to start walking her everyday, which was unusual for her. At 7 y.o. I thought she was a lost cause on a leash, but because we were forced to perform this task I decided to train her to act like some semblance of civility on a leash. We had a trainer come out to asses her and establish what was needed to train her. I was amazed at her progress after talking to the trainer. Within 3 weeks she went from a barely contained lunatic on a leash to walking perfectly. All she needed was some intensive training. She is now a perfect angel on the leash. I am not one for spending money when I don't have to, but the money I spent on the dog trainer was some of the best money I ever spent.

Good luck.

 

[PioneerPrincess]

I am almost done with installing my electrical fence and I want to let my hens free range. My one issue is my dogs. I have 3 Great Pyrs. Beautiful dogs but they were not raised around livestock. One has to be tied or she will kill the cats, swim in the coy pond and eat the fish, etc. etc. etc. It isn't her fault some jerk dumped her on the road preggers and the poor girl had to kill to live so she has a taste for it now. The other two are not as much of an issue and I believe that one of them may actually be able to be off leash around the hens. My main concern is the biggest Pyr with the urge to kill and eat all things small and wiggly. Will the chickens fly into her reach? If she sees a cat she goes balistic so the cats stay away from her. I would hope the situation was the same with the chickens but I don't know if they think the same way cats do so perhaps they might not be as careful. Opinions please...

The chickens may or may not fly into her reach. If she (being locked up or leashed) was barking and trying to get at them , then the chickens will most likely stay away from her. If your dog is calm and patiently waits for 'prey', the chickens will likely not realize it and may walk in that area. Your dog may then suddenly pounce and get a chicken. If the latter does happen, from what I've seen/heard chickens seem to learn to stay away from that certain animal (s). I saw some chickens who lost all of their flock-mates to dogs and because the dogs still kept coming back, they stayed perched as high and as unseen as they could. These are my opinions and what I've seen from observation. I hope this helps!

 

[Chicky_Baby]

Quote:
Sadly Molly is past training. If it were a leash issue it would be different but we have made multiple attempts (some on our own / some with professional help) and each failure has cost some small animal it's life. She is a wonderful pet, a great guard dog and very sweet with my family but we have just had too many failures with her to risk it again. Pyrs are great at what they do - be it guarding or be it killing and something in her has just flipped a switch where small animals are the enemy. I can't be too mad at her for it after all she went through but understanding and forgiving can't cross the line to enabling and that is what I fear another attempt at teaching her better behavior would be.


On the bright side she is pretty blunt about her "I am going to kill you if I can get to you" routine so hopefully from what I have read here the chickens should catch on that they need to stay away from her area. I was just afraid that the temptation of flys on fresh dog poo might be too much for them or that the expression "bird brained" might be too accurate in their case. I am still so new to chickens I just don't know what to expect from them.

 

[Baymule]

Chickens aren't the brightest animal on the farm. (I don't mean to hurt any chickie feelings). They are chickens. The only way to keep your GP from killing them is to coop them or coop the GP.