dogs and chickens

[hennyannie]

My Jack would jump on an ostrich.

 

[StephanieD]

I had my dog trained beautifully till the neighbor dog got into our yard and terrorized the chickens and actually bit the hind quarters off one of them, poor girl. But she's healing well. So my dog is back in the house unless I walk her on lease in the backyard. She now has to be re-trained, if that is possible after that incident.

 

[teach1rusl]

It sounds as if perhaps none of your dogs has a killer instinct with your birds, which is good. It just takes work and time. Do your dogs know the "Leave it!" command?? That would help tremendously.
I taught my dogs by taking them individually into the chicken run (on leash, with my hand on the collar initially). I'd sit down, and make the dog sit down beside me. I'd lure the chickens over with treats and let them mill around me and the dog. My command was "Easy" or "Gentle" (with diff. dogs). After a week of that, I progressed to doing the exact same thing, but with hand off the collar - loose leash. Then to walking around the run w/the dog, loose leash. Then walking around in the run with the dog off leash. Then finally to walking around with the dog outside of the run with the chickens. My whole process lasted over a month, and even after that I would "hide" and monitor, because some dogs will act differently when they know they're being watched by their humans.
Of course now my chickens and dogs are both out and about our yard with no issues. I do have people-pleaser breeds though, so that makes some difference I'm sure.

 

[Rusty's Ranch]

My experience is very similar to teach1rusl. We have a german shepherd and a shih tzu mix. While the birds were running around the yard, I would sit on the patio with the dogs on leash and make them lay down next to me. I would use the "leave it" and "no" commands. Both dogs just really needed work on their impulse control. I don't think they really wanted to hurt the birds, it was just so darn fun chasing them around.

After about 2 weeks of daily training, we finally got the point across. Now both dogs interact with the chickens as if they were all one pack. The shepherd is the perfect "mama" dog and the shih tzu is our little guard dog.

So far, so good (we'll see what happens with the new pullets that are going to be joining the group soon)

 

[firsthouse_mp]

We have a Beagle, a typically hunting dog, but she never bothers the chickens. We had her before the chickens but she is quite sweet in temperament. She is the smaller Beagle, under 13" so is probably the same size as a few of my BR hens. On occasion when I put out goodies and she tries to help herself to some snack, the chickens will all fly at her and attack. She cries and runs away and I have to bring her in the house for her own sanity and safety....they would totally kick her behind if I didn't intercede. Chickens are mean mean mean when they want to be!

I think it depends upon the dog. Our old lab, while quite sweet, would probably never tolerate being beaten up by a chicken.

 

[chezpoulet]

My 13 year old border collie/sheltie mix sees the chickens as a source of yummy "poopcorn". She sniffs at the chickens, the chickens mill around her, but they co-exist well. My dog is more interested in what comes out of the rear end, so I don't usually let her out unsupervised or she will be cleaning up the yard for me- kinda gross. It is always fun to see the chickens running all around the dog without any fear- which means I am extra vigilent as they will be easy prey for other dogs if they wander through our yard...

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
Poopcorn!!!!

Love it!! (the term, not the poopcorn itself

) Yeah, same with my dogs. Mine try to steal the treats going in (fresh) and coming out (recycled)...hehee.

 

[Peck Johnson]

Quote:
Agreed. Unless the dogs are taught to respect the chickens within their own space they will not necessarily make the distinction between intruder or family.

It is also harder to train several dogs at once and hard to overcome pack mentality.

We reconditioned a loose wild dog to respect our chickens but it took a lot of patience and careful attention. It is absolutely important to immediately correct any attention or excitement directed towards the birds. They must learn to lay submissively amongst the chickens. They cannot be allowed to stare at the birds in an alert position (shoulders and ears forward) for anything longer than a couple of seconds without correction. I have made other posts on the subject before if you are interested.

Having a mean rooster is also a help but not necessarily dependable depending on the size of the dog.

 

[kitchwitch]

when I get new poultry, the order is take it out of the box, let the dog sniff it, dip beak in water, dip beak in food. Then anytime I am holding a chicken and the dog is around, she gets to sniff them. If they're outside in their baby run (as youngsters) I let the dog watch them play. So far my dog (who is very dog aggressive) has never hurt any bird (or bunny or rat...). Once I had all the hens escape from their coop so I went to grab the dog, thinking her mere presence might make them run for shelter. The dog took one sniff at a hen then turned around and went to sniff something more interesting!

 

[DanEP]

We took the same aproach sat with the chickens running around us for treats with the dogs sitting next to us for control. After about a month they were used to the chickens and ignore them. the only problem we have is when our smallest bo keeps trying to eat that big brown worm thats shaking on the south end of the chocolate lab. She's been trying to get that worm for about 6 months now and doesn't seem like she's ready to give up yet.