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Yeah, that's one of the first things I teach, respect "my" barriers. Yard fence, crate, baby gates, car doors with the window open, ect. Next is "come" to make sure if they just can't resist, I can call them back or off readily. Stay where I put you, and come back when I call, the first time. Ricca was the hardest, specially with "come"... I had to run from her and hide behind trees and stuff to get it through her head to pay attention to where I was and that she only had one chance for me to tell her my intentions before I "left" her.
With the chickens, there's always some bite sized critter around, kittens, baby chicks and ducks, I let them see and meet them all so long as they stay calm. If they stare longer than 5 seconds, I break the stare. Ricca will kiss the bunnies and will let kittens eat from her bowl. But she knows those chickens will flutter around in excitement/fear if she jumps at them, and it's just too much for her to bear. She thinks it's the coolest game ever to startle them, so I'm always keeping an eye for that. We built a secondary fence around the coop 4 ft out, so that she couldn't get a rise from them any longer.
But Logan is about the coolest dog ever. He's so calm and relaxed, and just goes with life. Whatever I bring in he wants to protect. Kittens will sleep curled in his belly and he'll lick them and baby them. He alerts me to the basement door when the baby ducks/chicks are having a crying fit. I reward that behavior by taking him with me to check on them. With the deer, I had to stand on the fence line with Ricca and get it through her head to ignore it and not run the fence barking like a lunatic. Took about 4 days since we already had key commands down. Logan, just watched.
We have a fairly "weak" picket fence between the house and garage, a determined or untrained dog could leave quite readily from there or the porch. Or jump on the wood pile and sail over the fence. But these guys, I always check if I hear certain barks, like if a stray dog is trying to visit. I just check everything and either reward, ignore, or discipline. They learn what to bark about, what to ignore, and what I don't care about. I don't sit in front of the TV hoping they shut up soon.
It's funny watching Ricca with the chickens, but I do have to watch her faces. She's very expressive, with her being 5 years old, I know her every thought now. If we only had Logan he would likely sit out there around the birds and lay in the sun with them. But I can't favor the good dog over the "bad" dog. She has totally different drives than he does. She totally drools over birds and squirrels.
Once I let her outside without looking first, and some baby squirrels had come down from their tree. She bolted towards them, and they didn't even flinch. She slammed on the brakes and sat down and stared at them, willing them to dart off. She barked and they went up the tree, but she had already lost a lot of focus when they didn't startle immediately. Hilarious. She couldn't understand why they wouldn't run, she looked so disappointed! I thought for sure she would snatch one and I'd have to pry her off it, but she really just wanted them to run. Thrill of the chase I guess.
(they know better than to jump at the fence or bark and in any way shape or form get too excited)
