Dogs and chickens?

[Rainorshine]

Hello! So I have a question over how I can train a puppy to be friendly towards chickens? We have a 4 month old puppy which we brought home at 6 weeks old. When we first got him we hoped that by introducing him to the chickens and familiarising him with them we could get him to not view them as food. We took him out for a few minutes everyday to visit the chickens whilst they were locked inside the run so that he couldn’t get to them. Unfortunately not long after we started doing this the chickens started laying premature eggs, which I researched and found may be due to the stress of being around animals, so we stopped taking the puppy near the chickens and the premature eggs stopped.

I don’t know whether or not the puppy would actually try and kill a chicken, but I am quite certain that even if he didn’t want to kill it he would probably try and bite them out of play.

I am wondering how other dog owners manage to train their dogs so that they won’t bother the chickens when they are free range? And also if there’s any way you can do this without causing stress to the chickens?

Thank you for any help.

Rain

 

[sourland]

It is doubtful that the presence of your pup caused the birds to lay 'premature' eggs. I would suggest obedience training of the pup, leashing until trained, and never being left alone with your flock. Good luck.

 

[B-Goock]

I'll be watching this.

Our adult dog is very instinctual and would chase & kill our chickens. After building gates on the porch (which she just jumped over) and her own personal fenced in yard area we went ahead and did a shock collar. Shaved her neck so it made good contact and after several times of lighting her up she leaves them alone now if we are outside. I wouldn't trust her if the chickens are out & we aren't as well.

 

[Rainorshine]

It is doubtful that the presence of your pup caused the birds to lay 'premature' eggs. I would suggest obedience training of the pup, leashing until trained, and never being left alone with your flock. Good luck.

To be honest I can’t be certain that that was the cause. I just read up on it and found that it was a possibility, and it just seemed a bit too coincidental that they stopped laying premature eggs after we took the puppy away. I did look into it at the time though, they were quite young layers so that may just be the cause of it. I took the puppy away as a precautionary measure because I wanted to eliminate any possible causes, and it seemed to work. But you don’t think that it’s related?

I wouldn’t leave him alone with them anyhow, I just don’t want to run into any horrible incidents which could’ve been avoided.

 

[Rainorshine]

Thanks. I’m hoping it won’t have to come to that but I’ll bear that in mind.

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

We have pit bull mix when we got our chicks they were a couple days old and she wasn't to sure about them and wanted to be ruff(she was about 10 months old then she is 2 now). I trained her to be nice by letting her watch them daily(she also has a problem she really love to herd them and will try to nip them if they are out of place) and she was able to be on a leash when we let them free range. I would start training you puppy now then introduce them to each other slowly. Your chickens might get stressed at first but, when he is train he should settle down a bit our dog Josi did

 

[Rainorshine]

We have pit bull mix when we got our chicks they were a couple days old and she wasn't to sure about them and wanted to be ruff(she was about 10 months old then she is 2 now). I trained her to be nice by letting her watch them daily(she also has a problem she really love to herd them and will try to nip them if they are out of place) and she was able to be on a leash when we let them free range. I would start training you puppy now then introduce them to each other slowly. Your chickens might get stressed at first but, when he is train he should settle down a bit our dog Josi did

That’s good to hear, very reassuring. Our puppy is a bull terrier cross.

I guess I’ll start bringing him out to the chickens again then. Thank you!

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

Your welcome plz keep me posed on updates I am happy to help in any way I can.I will Answer any question you have.

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

If I may what is your dog crossed with.
Mine is pitbull and dutch Shepard she is a really pretty brindle
I was not able to take a picture of her its raining here but, i found one on google that looks like her

 

[Rainorshine]

If I may what is your dog crossed with.
Mine is pitbull and dutch shepard she is a really pretty brindle

He’s a mix of three breeds.

English bull terrier from his Mum. And Staffordshire bull terrier and Shar-pei from his Dad.