Dogs in general...

[dangerouschicken]

I had a lab/newfie mix who butted head first into the chicken run for months until he made a hole big enough to get his fat head into. I pulled him out, fixed the fencing, and he started all over again.

Our Belgium Shepherd would have herded them until they were dead, as well. Needless to say, we no longer have dogs (they now live on a chickenless farm in Texas).

Don't trust a dog around birds of any kind. General rule my Grandpa taught me.

 

[erthymom2]

We have 3 BIG dogs: (1) St. Bernard & (2)Great Pyreanes (160-185 lbs) and both will stand or lay at attention for HOURS watching the chicks and hens thru the fence.

I put the coop/chicken range area right next to the largerdog yard and they have grown up together. I would hold the chick baby's & let them sniff and lick the chicks so they got the scent and used to them as baby's and as they grew, kept that up.

The GP dogs are a natural protector and thinks it his job to watch the birds. when we work in the yard out of the fenced area, he won't stray unless another dog or fox comes into the yard - then he's on 'em like a flea.

If the chickens fuss over something, the dogs "go to work" and are very attentive and watchful. If the nieghbors cat gets to close to the fences, the dogs will "fuff" or give it a low growl and the cat is gone, gone, gone!!!

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

I like Iceblink's training method. It's pretty close to how we have trained our puppies. As for our Labs, they have all be older dogs when we got the chickens. It only took one or two stern commands (leave it) and all interest was in the chickens.

Jim

 

[lemurchaser]

While labs may be more interested in the chickens than other breeds, they also should have soft mouths and be less likely to kill chickens (theoretically they should carry them without injuring them). That being said, each dog is an individual, and should be treated accordingly.

I've found that with my dogs, (2 pitbulls, with a 3rd foster pitbull) having excellent basic obedience skills makes it possible for us to all be out together. I can tell my dogs to stop, back up, walk away, come to me, get out of the situation, or down and stay. They look to me for guidance and have been very easy to teach good manners around the birds. If the birds scream and flap across the yard, my one dog with the highest prey drive, looks at me like "OMG can you believe they did that, and I can't chase them". On one of the first meetings the birds started flapping, she started chasing, had one bird 6 inches away from her mouth, I said "NO, OUT" she stopped dead in her tracks, took two steps back, and looked mournfully at the bird running off.

And for all of you that think harsh training methods are the only way, my dogs are trained with food rewards, clickers, positive reinforcement and time outs for bad behavior. They have never been physically corrected in their lives, no choke chains, no hitting/smacking, no shock collars, no poking and hissing in the cesar milan method. And they are pitbulls, dogs that many people think are uncontrollably dangerous.