Dogs and Chickens

[SJUDD]

Quote:
I tried a bark collar on the mutt before... turns out she is smart enough to change the tenor of her bark so that she wouldn't get shocked. She is one smart cookie, although she is in a lot of trouble right now.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

We got a 7 month old chocolate lab who indeed would have killed my chickens if I had let her go! She wanted those chickens badly! I kept her on a leash and whenever she would go after them I would yank the leash and say NO BAD dog really loud to her. It took me three days of working with her and now she is out running around with the chickens and totally leaves them alone

Good luck and I sure hope you can train them to leave the chickens alone and everyone can hang out together. You really have to be consistent with them though or it won't work. Take the dog out on a leash every time.

 

[SJUDD]

Well semi sucess over the weekend. My husband wanted me to try to train the dogs to not go after the chickens. He said "they are your dogs and your chickens, you need to teach them to get a long." So I thought it over and remembered when I was a kid, I had to teach my cat to leave my parakeets alone. My Aunt, who owned a pet store and was pretty knowledgable about animals told me to fill a spray bottle with vinegar and water and spray the cat every time he got on the cage. SO... I figured if that worked for the stubborn cat, it might work for the dogs. Hubby was skeptical but I sat outside for 2 hours on Sunday and every time the dogs went near the chicken coop, I sprayed them with vinegar and water. As of this morning, they will not go anywhere near the coop. Hopefully this continues to work. I know I have a lot more work ahead of me with that but thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it.

 

[cobrien]

So sorry for your loss, I also get very attached to my girls.

I've had 2 dogs that were great with my chickens. i lost my sweet old girl in January and just got a new one, but still have my dachsund/spaniel cross. He is fine with the chickens, even if left unattended. My new dog is a 1 yr old cattle dog cross, she has not been formally trained around them yet and I am being careful with her - she is being good around them through the fence, but has a suspicious glimmer in her eye. My plan, and my suggestion for you, is to supplement what you are doing with positive reinforcement, or even consider switching 100% to positive reinforcement. Not that I think what you are doing is wrong, bad, or mean - but this is generally what dog trainers recommend because they feel it is more effective. I personally try to use as much positive reinforcement as possible but my old school ways are hard to change and I do use negative reinforcement, and would not be against the spray bottle with vinegar as you are doing, or in extreme cases even the shock collar.

I plan to start my new dog on obedience training in a group class BEFORE getting her close to the chickens. Once she consistently sits, stays, comes on commands, and learns the very important command "leave it", then I will work on these commands near the chickens, eventually with her off leash. I'm hopeful that this dog like my other 2 will eventually be safe around them even if unattended, but I'm prepared for the next best thing = if she is good around them when I'm around, as the girls don't come out with out me home.

If your dogs know sit, stay, come, leave it, etc. you can do these things when you do chicken chores, when the chickens are free ranging, etc. During these exercises you want the dog to be looking at you and not the chickens - any attention they give the chickens, especially if their ears are up, is your chance to give a quick correction (tug on the leash).


good luck

 

[nzpouter]

Quote:
it is NOT the taste of blood... it's the chase and the kill... all our dogs are fed raw (yes, include chickens) and they stay with the flock unsupervised.

 

[NoisyCricket]

"Playing" with the chicken is a self rewarding behavior - ie. the dog received positive reinforcement just by doing it (it was FUN!). That makes your job of teaching the dog to leave the chickens alone more difficult, obviously. I am going through this same thing with one of my Mastiffs, although she just chased and pinned, but didn't end up hurting the bird, because I was close enough to get her off.

There are many ways to go about it, but I recommend using the "leave it/get it" commands. It is easier to teach with 2 people at first - one person holding a treat (something really tasty) a couple of feet in front of the dog, and the other controlling the dog. When the dog moves toward the food, say "leave it" , tug on the leash and if necessary the quickly cover the treat so he can't get it. Repeat and praise when he starts to figure it out. To keep from frustrating the dog, either give the dog a treat when does the exercise correctly or teach the "get it" command at the same time, allowing him to get a treat. Repeat until the dog responds to your "leave it" command while off leash, with no one close enough to cover the food.

Then repeat the process with the chickens. Start with the chickens locked in their pen, and the dog on leash. When the dog has a "soft eye" looking around at the chickens that is ok, but if he starts to "fixate" on one chicken, not moving his eye away and starting to tense in his body, say" leave it", then tug on the leash. If he obeys and looks away from the chicken, praise and treat. If he doesn't respond, check him, and if necessary back him up from the chickens until he is far enough away that he will obey. Work him there and move closer as you progress.
Repeat until he will respond to you when he is off leash and not next to you. Then, when you feel ready, I would recommend getting a Gentile Leader head collar for him, get him used to it, and have that on him when you first let the chickens out of the coop. With a head collar I have absolute control over a dog that out weighs me by 40 lbs. It is wonderful for controlling the head/face which is what you need to prevent an accident. Repeat the training process with the chickens loose. Remember to strongly reward him for leaving the chickens.

For the next step, letting the dog off leash with the chickens loose, an e-collar is great as you have control even when not next to the dog. Teach the dog the command first, then use the collar to reinforce it if the dog disobeys. Using the collar without any training, as a negative reinforcement for going near the chicken, may work with some dogs/breeds, but for my Mastiffs, it may make them want to get the chickens, because the chickens zapped them. I want them to know that the discipline came from me - that I disapprove of their behavior.

If you want faster results, use clicker training along with the leave it command. You are competing with the memory of how much fun it was to chase the chicken, and clicker training gets the animal investing in doing the right thing.

Also, using a trainer is great, but be sure to check into the trainer you plan on using. I have met many that are very bad at what they do, and a bad trainer can cause more issues than he/she resolves.
I hope this helps.

 

[misty51]

I successfully trained all of my dogs to leave the chickens alone even after they killed 2 of them. When we first got our chickens they were in a fenced back pasture where they free roamed and the dogs could not get to them. Of course not letting the dogs around them made them want to get back there all the more. One day DH left the gate open and we find 2 dead chickens on the front steps. So we decided we had to train the dogs. We put them on leashes (3 labs) and brought them around the chickens alot. We would sit out there in the evening with the dogs and when they would even look at the chickens we would give a yank on the leash and tell them no. They learned very fast and now that they were around the chickens and got to see what they were they were not interested in them. I think the more you try to keep your dogs away from your chickens the more they are going to try to get at them, but if they get used to being around them then the chickens are'nt such a novelty. Now we built a coop closer to the house and dogs and chickens free roam all day.So nice! So you can train your dogs , let the chickens out and sit outside with the dogs on leashes and let the dogs get used to the chickens being around.Good-luck that is how we all learn, by our mistakes.