dogs and chickens

[ChickensRDinos]

Well, I've tried just holding the chickens to lett the dogs sniff, but it just caused the chickens to freak and in turn, excite the dogs. I've just been doing it rreal slow, a few minutes ata time with both out in the yard.

Don't hold them up. You need to teach the dogs to ignore the chicken when they are acting like chickens and to be used to their normal behavior. Holding them up makes them seem like a toy or something to be interested it. You want them to ignore the birds.

I'm also looking for advice. We have a 9 year old schnauzer/poodle mix and he's always had free run of the backyard. Now that we have a coop, he wants to spend all day scratching, clawing, digging and barking at the little pullets inside. The chickens don't care, but the pup is going to drive the neighbors (and me) crazy with the noise and he is getting filthy with the digging.

How did you all make the introductions? I'm thinking we are almost to the point where we'll need to move the coop and fence the dog in separately.

I would work on overall impulse control training and try to keep the dog and the chicken where they can not see each other until you can get the dog trained. The goal is not simply to train your dogs not to attack chickens. The goal is to get them to ignore their impulses to attack or play or do whatever other silly thing poops into their head at the moment: dig, bark, lick, jump, whatever. You want them to understand that those birds belong to YOU and are a part of your living space just like a bench in the backyard. Ignore that, that is mine.

There are tons of impulse control training exercises that you can do everyday to improve these behaviors and you need to be really consistent about it. "Wait" "Stop" and "Leave it" All the time. When I am first working with my dogs I make them wait before eating ANYTHING. I make them stop several times each meal. I make them wait in every doorway. I make them drop every toy they pick up. After awhile you can snap them out of any behavior even if it is something they really want. They bark when I say bark they stop when I say stop. All it really takes is a daily time commitment.

When you can tell impulse control is improving introduce the dog to the birds on a leash. Only calm, ignoring behavior is acceptable. Anything else and you start again. Even happy excitement is bad. Rinse and repeat. Over and over. Everyday until the behavior is right every single time.

 

[DeepFriedBacon]

Neither one of my dogs will stop until they get a good long smell. Once they do, they'll be fine. Has been that way with every other animal.

 

[Moonkit]

My border collie, Diamond, is wonderful around our chickens and can even be trusted with them unsupervised. We've started using her as a guard now when we're busy inside but want to give the chickens foraging time. She's even good with chickens she's never met before. These pictures are of her with three chickens that I was babysitting while their owner was in Thailand for a month. She looked after them just like she had with my own, even though the red one would attack her (see the third image)! To her credit, she simply jumped up and ran to me and let me make the "crazy bird" leave her alone. Granted, I only did this because their owner asked if I could see about conditioning her birds to be near dogs without running and encouraging the chase instinct.



During her stay, the red one became a lot more tolerant of Diamond's presence. Apparently, she was the only survivor of a dog attack by the neighbor's dog.. so her aggression was understandable.

Diamond was trained to be tolerant and protective of the chickens from the first day that I brought home day old chicks. She originally did show a prey drive towards them, but I nipped that in the bud immediately and by Day 4 she was ignoring them aside from the occasional sniff and whining when the chicks chirped for something in the brooder. The training has paid off in giving us a dog that we can trust to protect the chickens when we aren't watching. I have seen her run off 2 hawks, including interrupting the stooping dive of one, saving our silkie..

Our grey silkie, Stormy, was grazing in the middle of the yard, and I happened to be outside at the time. I was at the far end of the yard when I heard a chicken's alarm call at the same time I heard Diamond's growling snarl. I look up in time to see a hawk in a full dive.. aimed right at Stormy

. Now, Stormy's not the brightest cookie, as everyone else ran for cover into the boxwoods and knockout roses, she simply stood out in the middle of the yard, clucking in confusion (this is the same chicken that will stand just outside of the coop during a down pour in 20 degree weather.

).. To this day, I swear I never actually saw Diamond move. One second she was next to me, the next second she was in front of Stormy, legs braced and mouth open, ready to catch the hawk. The hawk broke off its dive and flew back up

and Diamond spent the next 10 minutes tracking it from below around the yard, barking what I assumed to be insults and challenges ("Come down here and fight like a dog!"). She wasn't going to give it a second try.


Her only vice is that she does try to steal whatever treat the chickens have been given and does have to be watched or given her own share. The only time she's offered "tooth" to a chicken was when our Polish insisted on trying to steal bites off the corn on the cob that Diamond had been given. And even then.. Diamond didn't really try to land the bite, it was just a warning snap in the hen's direction.

 

[chickenfam6]

Do any of you have a Mastiff? I would like to know how a mastiff acts.

 

[Scovy Momma]

I have four dogs & one Muscovy & they all get along just peachy!
Never have had a problem when they're all in the yard or in the house together.
My biggest is a Kangal/Great Pyr mix puppy & he just loves the Muscovy. They hang out together often.

 

[josiefox]

help! I have a great pyranese (livestock guardian) dog. NOT! He got into the coop this week and malled my chickens in the snow throughout the back yard. Unfortunately, I lost one 24 hours later and all the hens stopped laying completely! The girls won't come out of the coop except to eat and then go right back in. I don't know what to do to get them to start laying again. Please if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

 

[Moonkit]

help! I have a great pyranese (livestock guardian) dog. NOT! He got into the coop this week and malled my chickens in the snow throughout the back yard. Unfortunately, I lost one 24 hours later and all the hens stopped laying completely! The girls won't come out of the coop except to eat and then go right back in. I don't know what to do to get them to start laying again. Please if anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

Its going to take time for your girls to get over the shock and fright. Don't rush them, continue offering them food and treats to lure them out, but don't force them. They need time to get over their fear. It'll probably be atleast a week or so (if not longer) until they relax again and resume laying. Until then, I'd suggest doing some firm training with your pyranese to ensure this doesn't happen again.

 

[kimberliem]

My lab (3 yo) gets along great with the chickens. She mostly ignores them unless she's following behind them to eat the 'treats' they drop. If 2 pullets are acting up, she will sometimes go over to investigate...which is enough to break up the fight. She's never chased one or heaven forbid, tried to eat one.

I did spend a LOT of time when I first brought them home trying to integrate them. She could smell them and watch them. And then I'd get her in a relaxed state, rub her belly etc...and let the chicks walk on her. She got used to them...and them her. One will often come out and 'groom' the dog...reminds me of monkeys. She gently pecks and Maggie thinks she's getting a massage.

 

[josiefox]

thanks, we have been working with him since we got him. When we first got him he actually would attack the girls and rip them to shreds. I lost about four chickens last year because of this. Now he will stop when we see him going toward the coop and he didn't kill any which is a step in the right direction. He only played with them but the chickens didn't think it was fun. I guess the next step is to keep him completely away from the coop. thanks for your feed back.

 

[krcchickens]

I have a 4 dogs and all of them get along just fine with my 6 chickens. They act like they don't exist and are completely uninteresting. It certainly did not start out that way. You really need to make sure you have good basic training down first and work a lot on impulse control overall. If you want some training tips, feel free to PM me and I can send you a whole long thing. I firmly believe you can train any dog to be fine around your other animals, even if they have killed a bird in the past. It just takes a time commitment and a dedication to work on training EVERY day until it the dog has it completely down. This is my pit mix Lou (who is a rescue from an urban shelter and had never seen grass before I brought her home)

I would love the info you offered. We adopted a 2 year old rottie/lab mix in December then in feb we got 12 chicks. When she gets close I've seen her lick one a few times. She watches them. Not sure if she's thinking or licking them in a mommy way or a chicken dinner way.