Dog Training Advice

[Kjm279]

We have six new chicks and 2 dogs. We’ve introduced them.

Our older dog (4)sniffed them, nudged them, watched them and then turned around and did her own thing.

Our younger dog (2) wants to eat them. We’ve been bringing her out on a leash to watch them, having her sit and lay, telling her no when she tries to grab at one and telling her good girl and giving her a treat when she watches calmly or sits/lays after being told no and leaving the chicks alone.

We’re not experienced in dog training. Neither my husband nor I grew up with dogs and we’re not terribly strict with them. They sit, lay, shake, drop it, go potty outside, but they’re not off leash trained, they only come when called if they feel like it. We live in the city (0.11 acre lot) so they’re only off leash in our yard and the dog parks. Our chickens will only free range when we’re outside to watch them and the dogs won’t be allow out with them if they can’t behave, but we’d obviously really like them to be trusted with the chickens.

Any advice on what else we can do to train our dog to not try to eat the chicks would be appreciated!

 

[Aapomp831]

What breed of dog?

 

[Kjm279]

All I know it that she is part lab. Her mom is a lab and her dad is an unknown. Either a stray or another free range country dog. They said they think mastiff, but there’s no way. She’s about 34lbs full grown. I got her from my sister who lives out in the country in Tennessee. I’m up one Minnesota and I’ve never seen her mom.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

We used muzzles. With mingle sessions. After awhile, the muzzles were associated as a type of punishment. Time and training.. lots of it. Today they protect or yard birds.

 

[Tesumph]

I don’t think you should ever fully trust her with your chickens. Anyone who leaves a dog with a prey animal has to know that there is some risk. Their prey drive is irresistable sometimes, they see a flash of feathers and snap, you can’t exactly fault them for it.

You said they know “drop it.” You need to work on the “leave it” or a “focus” command. Start in a calm environment and choose your command word, say it, and reward when they stop what they’re doing and give all their attention to you. That’ll be easy indoors, but work up to distractions and going outdoors. You goal isn’t to get them to be best friends with the chickens, but to totally ignore them. Muzzles work well for experimental sessions. Try your best to exhaust your positive reenforcement options before using negative reenforcement.
If they will not come 100% of the time when called then that is definitely your starting place.

 

[Aapomp831]

She

View attachment 1443532 View attachment 1443533 All I know it that she is part lab. Her mom is a lab and her dad is an unknown. Either a stray or another free range country dog. They said they think mastiff, but there’s no way. She’s about 34lbs full grown. I got her from my sister who lives out in the country in Tennessee. I’m up one Minnesota and I’ve never seen her mom.

She is adorable and looks part pit... I have a dachshund/pit bull mix and she is about 37lbs.

 

[Kjm279]

I don’t think you should ever fully trust her with your chickens. Anyone who leaves a dog with a prey animal has to know that there is some risk. Their prey drive is irresistable sometimes, they see a flash of feathers and snap, you can’t exactly fault them for it.

You said they know “drop it.” You need to work on the “leave it” or a “focus” command. Start in a calm environment and choose your command word, say it, and reward when they stop what they’re doing and give all their attention to you. That’ll be easy indoors, but work up to distractions and going outdoors. You goal isn’t to get them to be best friends with the chickens, but to totally ignore them. Muzzles work well for experimental sessions. Try your best to exhaust your positive reenforcement options before using negative reenforcement.
If they will not come 100% of the time when called then that is definitely your starting place.

Thanks for the advice! Should we start with one chick to keep it calmer?

By “trust her” I didn’t mean leaving the dogs unsupervised with the dogs, but trust her to be able to be in the backyard off leash while we are out with the chickens. I wouldn’t even trust my other dog to not trample or paw one of the chicks/chickens.

 

[Tesumph]

Thanks for the advice! Should we start with one chick to keep it calmer?

By “trust her” I didn’t mean leaving the dogs unsupervised with the dogs, but trust her to be able to be in the backyard off leash while we are out with the chickens. I wouldn’t even trust my other dog to not trample or paw one of the chicks/chickens.

You could try one or two chicks, but always keep in mind that the goal is to get them to ignore it. Resist the urge to hold a chicken up to her and make a fuss, that’s just reenforcing that chicken = new exciting thing, in my opinion.

Start working on leave it/focus with nothing, then a toy, then food, then outside with a toy, etc, until eventually it’s with a chicken. They should be at a place where a bird piques their interest and you say “*dogs name*, focus!” And they immediately stop and give their attention to you. Then you reward with a treat and try and move them along to something else in the yard (fetch, playing with a kid, whatever), rinse and repeat when they look like they want to go after a chicken. It’s tedious but worth it.

But again, if they don’t come when you say their name 100% of the time then that’s a big barrier. I have two golden retrievers who are very food motivated and easy to train, although the older one is starting to use his age as an excuse to not listen (I know you’re not deaf, buddy).
I also have an extremely smart collie mix with a very high prey drive and tendency to roam. She greatly respects me and knows “leave it” and to ignore my animals, but if she’s off in the forest and doesn’t want to come, she won’t. Unfortunately I’ve had to use a shock collar with her in the past for short reminder training sessions because she started wondering down the road and cars have almost hit her (I’ve literally heard horns blaring while sprinting up the driveway to find her, it’s very scary). I don’t like shock collars and I can’t recommend it to anyone, but in my situation is has its place.

 

[Kjm279]

You could try one or two chicks, but always keep in mind that the goal is to get them to ignore it. Resist the urge to hold a chicken up to her and make a fuss, that’s just reenforcing that chicken = new exciting thing, in my opinion.

Start working on leave it/focus with nothing, then a toy, then food, then outside with a toy, etc, until eventually it’s with a chicken. They should be at a place where a bird piques their interest and you say “*dogs name*, focus!” And they immediately stop and give their attention to you. Then you reward with a treat and try and move them along to something else in the yard (fetch, playing with a kid, whatever), rinse and repeat when they look like they want to go after a chicken. It’s tedious but worth it.

But again, if they don’t come when you say their name 100% of the time then that’s a big barrier. I have two golden retrievers who are very food motivated and easy to train, although the older one is starting to use his age as an excuse to not listen (I know you’re not deaf, buddy).
I also have an extremely smart collie mix with a very high prey drive and tendency to roam. She greatly respects me and knows “leave it” and to ignore my animals, but if she’s off in the forest and doesn’t want to come, she won’t. Unfortunately I’ve had to use a shock collar with her in the past for short reminder training sessions because she started wondering down the road and cars have almost hit her (I’ve literally heard horns blaring while sprinting up the driveway to find her, it’s very scary). I don’t like shock collars and I can’t recommend it to anyone, but in my situation is has its place.

Ok, I understand now! The one that wants to eat the chickens is the one that listens to her name better, so hopefully that’s a positive for us.

 

[Tesumph]

Ok, I understand now! The one that wants to eat the chickens is the one that listens to her name better, so hopefully that’s a positive for us.

Sounds positive to me! Good luck