Dogs and Chickens

[DaviJones]

If your dogs are trained and you have control..Meaning the Dogs respond to commands without hesitation?..The Birds should be fine. My Dogs would never dare touch a Bird I own. They are trained.

I made sure they understood that as well, and will drop whatever they're doing when I call their name. I'm just too chicken to risk anything, I'm here all week by the way.​

Edit: Sorry once I looked back over my post, I realized how confusing and poorly-worded it was. I meant would being allowed near my chickens encourage negative behavior on the dogs' part, I was kind of worried that them being near them(they occasionally watch me do the daily chicken-related chores)would cause the dogs to view them as prey. As recently another chicken keeper said she didn't allow the dogs to be near or even see her chickens because it "fueled their prey instinct" when I mentioned that I had mine are often outside with me while I work but not in the pen. So I guess the real question is was her statement valid, does any/all interaction with dogs encourage this? I have a feeling I should take it with a grain of salt as evidenced by some experiences and guard dogs, but I still worry about the what if anyway.
So sorry again, I was trying to write the original posts between passing periods, not my best idea.

 

[JaeG]

If your dog's are fixated on the chickens, staring intently at them and ignoring you, the chickens aren't safe. If they are gallivanting about, being dogs, listening to you, your chickens are not in immediate danger and they aren't learning bad behaviours if you are distracting them and encouraging them to do other things besides staring at chickens.

 

[SA&P]

Yes, I don’t think Sooty would have torn one apart....hhmmm, couldn’t know for certain! But he WOULD have chased them until they dropped from a heart attack or exhaustion. I didn’t want them stressed at all from the dogs so after the initial one to one with Sooty every time I went out to do my outdoor jobs I took him with me and he helped. It meant I could keep an eye on him and the more time spent with the trio (for my situation) the better. Now he guards them. Between Sooty and Kung Poo (our Rooster) our girls are safe

 

[canalcolt]

Our dog was friendly with chickens.. even have pictures of him walking around with the chickens but then one day he ripped out all the feathers from one of the roosters. we made the mistake to let him out back with the chickens alone..my husband was doing things around the yard and basement so was in and out but I saw it from my office window, was able to call him off and he didn't kill the chicken and backed off. He is no longer allowed to be around chickens unless he's on his leash.

 

[jroyalimage]

I have 2 dogs. One is a pit bull and the other is a mix of probably every dog there is. When I first got my chickens I was nervous about them interacting but I was set on free ranging. I found it easier to teach the dogs to ignore them completely. The chickens are not food or toys. It took a while but now everyone sort of just hangs out.
My pit bull is super territorial and doesn't let anything into the yard and my chickens have learned to stay close to him lol. He hated it at first but now he tolerates it.

 

[trufadog]

Muzzles with dogs and chickens: We just had a sad realization that after three months of perfect behavior with the chickens, that we weren't feeding our one yr old rescue dog enough and he killed our Dominique chicken that just started laying. I am going to get the shock collar battery working again, but we also thought of a muzzle too. I just was concerned that it would be such a negative thing to muzzle him that he might go the other way and have worse behavior with the chickens.

Today, he is locked in and when he is out, he is fully supervised with a long dangly leash looped so he has three leash lobes down to the ground in front of him. He was so sad, that instead of going outside to play or pee, he just walked right back into the crate and took a nap.

I have also upped his food. We would rather not have to add another fence to our yard, so hopefully the muzzle would be good. Can they drink water with the muzzle? The muzzle is only supervised, right?

I am feeling hopeful that muzzle, shock collar or last result, divide our yard with fences, because we love our chickens and our dogs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[SW31]

After having to deal with the horrific injures from our stupid neighbours dog (the neighbor is stupid, not the dog) to two of our hens I treat all dogs as high risk now.

 

[kittycat1356]

I have a gsd Aussie mix, who is good with baby animals like chicks and kittens but bigger animals drive him crazy. Occasionaly he breaks off his leash, and he always goes for the coop. The first time he did it all the poultry were free ranging at the time, and he chased them a bit, he decided to go after my goose, who is a pansy too, and once she was practically in his grasp he jumped over her entirely and just kept running. I called him with the get here now or you aren’t going to see the light of day ever again call and he came back entirely ashamed. I made him do tricks and sent him back into the house and rewarded him for actually coming back.

The second time he got loose he went to the closed coop/run and was barking at them, I wasn’t the one walking him but when he came back inside he went straight to his crate and looked pitiful for about an hour.

I then bought a shock collar, I tried to see what his “recognition level is” but his fur is too long and I don’t want to have an inconsistent too painful shock. So I use vibrate, it effectively does the same thing. He hates the vibrate, and I plan on introducing him to the chickens properly eventually with the vibrate handy. ( collar also has a beep setting it doesn’t phase him at all)

 

[trufadog]

So, we ended up getting two sets of 16foot precision dog fences with gates. We attached them with carabiners to the shed and our fenced garden. The dogs don't seem to complain but the chickens, who still have a huge yard and lots of bugs and plants to eat complain that they can't have their favorite spots in the yard. Oh well! I am more relaxed now that I have some separation between puppy and chickens.

 

[RWise]

I have 3 Rat terriers, they share the yard with my flock with both out at the same time, alone. I have never had any issue with it, and it helps to keep the "sorry neighbors" dogs/cats out! All I had to do was teach them those are mine! I also take them hunting so they can do their thing killing rats, rabbits, ground hogs, even a coon a few days ago. Good dogs! (I would never put them on a coon, they found and killed it)
Now I had a rooster that got brave and decided the big boy was to close to his girls, well he pecked him on his rear. The big boy took it a few times then turned and put the rooster in his place! (I was certain I had a dead roo) No harm was done to the bird, and he left the dog alone after that.
I also have tried to give the dogs raw chicken, they look at me like "daddy, there is something wrong with this"! They wont eat it unless it is cooked. (or aged well)
As said it takes training and trust.
Edit I have chicks hatching, my little girl dog is so excited she keeps telling me Dady there's babies! She jumps in my lap and tries to look into the bator, then turns and tells the boys to stay back!