Dogs and chickens

[TJAnonymous]

You are using the e-collar incorrectly. The shocks need to be very well timed to coincide exactly with when the indiscretion is initiated, not later when you happened to discover it and were pissed off. I would suggest that you lose the collar until you learn how to use it correctly. It's VERY easy to ruin a good dog with poor e-collar corrections.
The reason your dog growled at you is because it was already amped up from making a kill, then you shocked it out of nowhere, then scruffed it, and spanked it. No doubt the dog was confused and defensive and probably even afraid of you at that point. Nothing wrong with disciplining a dog, but it needs to be done properly and effectively and not out of anger.

Sorry but I disagree. I didn't shock her because I was pissed off that she had the bird. The bird was already dead. I shocked her because she refused to listen to ANY commands (sit, down, drop it).... All of which she knows. Instead she took off and tried to hide the bird. She was being corrected IN THE MOMENT when she was disobeying. And I didn't just go on a shock binge while pissed off. I didn't shock her more than twice. I WALKED up to her.... Mostly because you can't run in that area of the yard without losing a kneecap or spraining an ankle... Thanks to the moles and her digging everywhere.

Look, she's my dog. She is not and was not abused. I shocked her in the moment of her disobedience. She knew that she was doing something wrong. It was evident to her and everyone else who was there. I smacked her twice on the bottom in addition to the stern NO for her growling behavior. I feel there is NOTHING wrong with that response. In a dog pack, a superior dog would have bitten her or worse. She was disciplined. Not abused. You are entitled to your opinion but I've found that when it comes to dog training, many people have opinions. This post isn't about how I disciplined her but rather an explanation of the events that happened and looking for advice on how to TRAIN HER not to kill chickens. I even said in an earlier post that I am worried it may be too late to train her not to kill since she clearly killed and ate the Pullet last night.... But I'm still willing to try. She and my chickens deserve that much.

 

[Geena]

Sorry but I disagree. I didn't shock her because I was pissed off that she had the bird. The bird was already dead. I shocked her because she refused to listen to ANY commands (sit, down, drop it).... All of which she knows. Instead she took off and tried to hide the bird. She was being corrected IN THE MOMENT when she was disobeying. And I didn't just go on a shock binge while pissed off. I didn't shock her more than twice. I WALKED up to her.... Mostly because you can't run in that area of the yard without losing a kneecap or spraining an ankle... Thanks to the moles and her digging everywhere.

Look, she's my dog. She is not and was not abused. I shocked her in the moment of her disobedience. She knew that she was doing something wrong. It was evident to her and everyone else who was there. I smacked her twice on the bottom in addition to the stern NO for her growling behavior. I feel there is NOTHING wrong with that response. In a dog pack, a superior dog would have bitten her or worse. She was disciplined. Not abused. You are entitled to your opinion but I've found that when it comes to dog training, many people have opinions. This post isn't about how I disciplined her but rather an explanation of the events that happened and looking for advice on how to TRAIN HER not to kill chickens. I even said in an earlier post that I am worried it may be too late to train her not to kill since she clearly killed and ate the Pullet last night.... But I'm still willing to try. She and my chickens deserve that much.

In your original post you didn't make mention of any commands before shocking her. I still feel you are using the e-collar incorrectly and hope that you learn to use it properly for your own sake as well as your dog's. I've seen dogs that were all screwed up by unfair e-collar corrections and it's ugly.

I do not think you are abusing her, it's plain to see you care very much for your dog. It just seems you don't quite know what you are doing with your training. As someone else mentioned you need to start back at square one. Hold off with the e-collar and work on your basic commands first.

If you want to make her chicken safe she needs to have a good solid come, leave it and drop it at the very least. She's only one year old right? Just a pup! You have another year or more of training ahead of you in order to get it right and get her where you're able to trust her. Good luck!

 

[BDutch]

I don’t know anything about Husky’s or Pyrenees but I do know that most chickens are afraid for dogs.

Most chickens have a natural instinct saying ‘dogs are predators’ and chickens tend to flee away from dogs, foxes and other predators! My free ranging chickens never visit the neighbours gardens where they have dogs. And if a dog trespasses to our garden they flee over the fence to the other neighbour who has no dogs.

In you’re case there seems to be something wrong with their instinct. But chickens learn amazingly fast. They probably saw that you’re dog killed you’re chicken. And now they now/learned its dangerous to fly to the dog. Chickens are not as stupid as they look.

To make a higher fence or to clip their wings is a good idea. But I doubt you're chickens will try again , unless they want to commit suicide. Anyway I wouldn’t break down the pavillion if I needed to make this decision, just because this happened once. Maybe it just won’t happen again.

 

[ackie]

it definitely depends what your birds are accustomed to. living next to the dog may have desensitized them. but yeah, I imagine they wont be chomping at the bit to get into the dog yard

 

[BDutch]

The neighbour dog is quit new. Before they bought him, as a puppy my chickens often strolled in the garden of the neighbours. The fence between is open at a few places and they can walk around it. So did the pup. But when the pup saw the chickens he came over to ‘play’ with them. Its a labradoodle and I don’t think he really wanted to harm them. But the chickens flew up upon the run or over the hedge with the neighbours at the other side.
Now the dog is well trained and he doesn’t come over anymore.

But there were more encounters with dogs from the neighbourhood. From the first time one came into our garden they panicked and fly in trees, bushes and upon the run to be safe.

I dare to say I never lost a chicken to dog (until now) because the can flee and fly. The younger chickens were raised (natural breeding) by the older ones, this might help too.

Anyway if these are sane chickens, then the chickens who saw what happened to the blue Andalusian, ever try to fly to the dogs territory again. And maybe the chickens even talked about it with each other in their own primitive way. I know for certain (saw and heard) chickens communicate with each other after something out of the ordinary happened.

 

[ackie]

it all depends what they're accustomed to

 

[Little white duck]

what a gentle fellow you have there

 

[ackie]

what a gentle fellow you have there

The tan dog hates it. I think it scares him. lol

 

[bryan99705]

I'm a dog lover but if a dog kills a chicken, it will do it again. once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer. Sorry

 

[WhatTheDuckingDuck]

Sorry but I disagree. I didn't shock her because I was pissed off that she had the bird. The bird was already dead. I shocked her because she refused to listen to ANY commands (sit, down, drop it).... All of which she knows. Instead she took off and tried to hide the bird. She was being corrected IN THE MOMENT when she was disobeying. And I didn't just go on a shock binge while pissed off. I didn't shock her more than twice. I WALKED up to her.... Mostly because you can't run in that area of the yard without losing a kneecap or spraining an ankle... Thanks to the moles and her digging everywhere.

Look, she's my dog. She is not and was not abused. I shocked her in the moment of her disobedience. She knew that she was doing something wrong. It was evident to her and everyone else who was there. I smacked her twice on the bottom in addition to the stern NO for her growling behavior. I feel there is NOTHING wrong with that response. In a dog pack, a superior dog would have bitten her or worse. She was disciplined. Not abused. You are entitled to your opinion but I've found that when it comes to dog training, many people have opinions. This post isn't about how I disciplined her but rather an explanation of the events that happened and looking for advice on how to TRAIN HER not to kill chickens. I even said in an earlier post that I am worried it may be too late to train her not to kill since she clearly killed and ate the Pullet last night.... But I'm still willing to try. She and my chickens deserve that much.

Consistency is key. My experiences have proved that hitting your dog doesn’t curb the behavior, the dog will just be more sneaky about it.
The dog had already gotten the reward for killing the chicken, it didn’t know why you hit it, only that it got hit. You said it yourself you hit it because you were mad. Don’t take YOUR frustrations out on your dog. It’s not the dogs fault it wasn’t taught manners. My suggestion is to secure your chicken area, keep the chickens away from the dog, and do some research into dog psychology. My 4 dogs don’t bother any of my birds, the puppy chased at first but I put a stop to that right away. Best of luck to you! I know it can be tricky.