Dogs Aint Predators

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Quote:
Okay, that is the single most adorable chicken killer i have ever seen!!!

 

[woodmort]

Let me rephrase: Dogs aren't predators in that have to kill to eat. While they may eat what they kill, that isn't usually their primary motivation. And for those that say they can train them--OK, but my money is on the dog. I have a neighbor who claimed his dog wouldn't ever harm his chickens--one day he had his dog with him when he went to a friend's house who had chickens freeranging in the yard, as soon as he opened the car door the dog was on those chickens and killed five before they could be stop it. If the circumstances are right....

 

[crossgirl]

I wish my neighbors would read this. I have to fence my whole yard to keep their dog out. Their dog only wants to "play" with the chickens, she wouldn't hurt them they tell me and why should they have to fence their yard or contain their dog??

 

[emmak]

We have two mixed breed dogs, one has a lot of ridgeback in her with a splash of lab. The other is a terrier/shepherd. We don't let them out with the chickens. If my ridgeback shreds every tissue she sees, what would she do with those wonderful feathers? Besides, she stands by the run/coop and drools. My point though, is that we have some land upon which our neighbors run their goats when we're not around. My husband arrived at the land before me, let the dogs out, and instead of just chasing off the goats (what they usually do) they cornered a baby goat. One of them (I suspect the ridgeback) shook the baby goat and killed it. Now, this dog is the most wonderful loving dog I've ever known, but it's in here genes, it's her breed that made her go after the prey. It's my responsibility to keep her from being in a situation where she could harm other people's (and our) animals. Dogs are not furry people. Chickens are not feathery people. We have to understand them for the creatures God created them to be.

 

[WillieBoy]

I find it kinda amusing that anyone could say a dog isn't a predator...! Just because all dogs do not eat what they kill,doesn't make it so...I agree with the other posters who say " Dogs are predators and will eat a chicken it killed" to say "Dogs Ain't Predators" in incorrect and and actually a little nieve..

 

[Lbrad7]

Woodmort,

Thanks for the great post. Most times I totally agree with you but this time I have to disagree at least to some extent. I have raised dogs with chickens for years but I now have 3 dogs, 1 Catahoula, 85 pound mixed mutt and one 14 year old Jack Russell Terrier. When my JR was young she was a certified chicken murderer and would kill until you could round her up and physically pull her off of them. After a few weeks of intense training..taking her to the coop with me on a very tight leash, she learned not to kill them.

We have 6 acres and about and acre fenced to keep the larger dogs from the free ranging hens. My JR has been left alone with them and she goes to the coop with me every evening to gather the eggs. She has snapped at an aggressive roo but never followed through the kills. Even at her age she could take out the larges roo in under 5 seconds. She still kills every snake that slithers within her reach (much to my dismay) and there are NO small animals safe if she can get to them. She kills squirrls, rabbits, chipmunks and skinks weekly so her prey instinct is still very much intact. She just knows that the chickens are off limits and in 13 years hasn't had one accident. (well after training. LOL) She even hunts and kills rats and mice in the barn and coop but doesn't lock onto the chickens.

All of that being said; I still would never trust her with baby chicks because they are just so different in how they look, move and sound.

My larger dogs???? No way, no how would I ever let them run with the birds. It would be like like the North Georgia version of Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn. Not one of them would make it out alive!

Take care....

 

[chickengrl]

I agree that most dogs are predators. I do have a 7 year old female Labrador with a VERY strong mothering instinct. She adopted a 4 week old kitten and protected it, washed it, and let it lay with her. We still have that boy cat who has a mama dog. She is also, without training, very protective of the chickens. If she hears a ruckus out in the coop she will rush over there to see what is going on. She has interrupted our poor roosters doing their usual roosterly duties many times because she seems to think he is hurting the hen if she is protesting too much. Sort-of funny really.

They don't much like that dang interfering dog. We also have a young almost 2 year old labrador who seems to have taken her lead and he has been very trustworthy so far. That being said, we do not currently have a fence so we are always out if the dogs are out. I would have to say that I trust my female 100%, and the youngster 50%. Not sure how trustworthy he will be if he gets the duck hunting training my husband wants for him.

Edited to add: I would have to say I would not trust most of the labradors I have been around. Some love to chase and kill...cats, squirrels, anything. I think you have to carefully look at your dog and assess the danger level. My dogs have a fair amount of obedediance training, but with some dogs that might go right out the window if they see something running. We have been lucky with our dogs.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Since the definition of "predator" in my dictionary is "an organism that preys on other organisms for food" I'd say that dogs--excepting feral ones--are not predators in that sense. I suppose since a dog will eat decayed roadkill that makes them a scavenger too but you'd hardly classify them as that. The simple fact is that dogs do not kill chickens specifically to eat them. Will they eat them? Sure once they are dead. But that isn't the main motivation for killing them. If you think otherwise, you haven't seen it happen--just read the posts in this section.

BTW, kudos to you, Lbrad7, for teaching a Jack Russell to do anything. My nephew had to rehome his JR when he could not train it to stop growling at and threatening his newborn daughter.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Well, I have an Anatolian cross who is excellent with them....all of them. Chickens, ducks and geese. He's almost 6 years old and has never, ever harmed any of them. He will also go into the duck & goose shelters and very carefully bring me out eggs (I can no longer lift up the shelters because I'm 5 months pregnant).

He is an awesome dog.

Our Borzoi was also excellent around all of the animals and almost 6 years old when he died...he never, ever killed or hurt anything--and he was sight hound, of all things. Perfectly fine around puppies, kittens, cats, chickens, ducks, geese, baby goats, horses, children....

Our newest dog is a heeler. So far, so good. I don't give him the chance to hurt any chickens (they are locked up) and he's always supervised outside but that's mostly because he's got allergies to nearly everything and won't stay out of the poop pile.

On the other hand, when one of our neighbor's dogs came over (a German Shorthair Pointer) while I was in town, she killed my entire flock. This was a few years back. Not one was eaten. She actually lined them up. No blood or feather loss, either. I made the mistake of taking Cash (our dog) with us to town and left the chickens out. My mistake.

However, when my parents' chocolate lab came up she killed a chicken and ripped the breast meat off and did eat it. She was a rescue and half starved when I found her so maybe that's why? Again, that was my fault because I had the chickens out.

Regardless, my chickens no longer are allowed out of their runs.

Here are some photos of my dogs...with our other animals...

Cash, checking the geese:

Meeting Tater (in-laws' puppy)

Watching a duck (yes, I do let them out, still):

With Hank when he was a pup:

Patrolling the coops:

One of the roosters I let out to bathe before a show....Cash was very concerned that he was out and did not let him out of his sight!

Cash, concerned with the wild turkeys:

Cash with Hank, the night I brought Hank home:

 

[The Driver]

Quote:
Since the definition of "predator" in my dictionary is "an organism that preys on other organisms for food" I'd say that dogs--excepting feral ones--are not predators in that sense. I suppose since a dog will eat decayed roadkill that makes them a scavenger too but you'd hardly classify them as that. The simple fact is that dogs do not kill chickens specifically to eat them. Will they eat them? Sure once they are dead. But that isn't the main motivation for killing them. If you think otherwise, you haven't seen it happen--just read the posts in this section.

BTW, kudos to you, Lbrad7, for teaching a Jack Russell to do anything. My nephew had to rehome his JR when he could not train it to stop growling at and threatening his newborn daughter.

Dogs are predators just like mankind is!

Now most domestic dogs are humanized and have come to rely on man to feed them. Just like man if you quit feeding it or a human is starving they will kill for food!

I raise hunting dogs and are around plenty of the lapdogs also. They will kill for food if left to go back to the wild where they came from.

Hitler was a genius as far as running a war machine and a madman to mankind!

Lets stick to raising chickens and protect your birds from all dangers!