Dogs that are less prone to kill?

[hroewe]

Are there any medium-large dogs breeds that as a whole, are less prone to killing/chasing ducks, geese, and chickens? I've even heard of many lgd breeds that are prone to chicken/duck killing up until a certain age. I have to have an outside dog to keep other dogs and coyotes at bay.... But not go after my birds.

Thanks!

 

[Judy]

This is almost entirely a matter of training the dog. It is natural for them to catch and "play with" something that moves like a chicken. It's not that they intend to kill, in most cases.

 

[hroewe]

That's more or less what I've gathered from my own research. I have an amazing dog, who doesn't bother any of the full sized birds on our property, but this is the first time we've had ducklings. And even with constant supervision, and harsh correction for even coming NEAR the ducklings, he has killed four. Both times he was let out with them, by one of my kids while my back was turned... And both times I had dead sweet baby ducks within minutes! I've resorted to muzzling him until I can figure this out. The ducks have to be out due the mosquito issue they are taking care of.... And the dog has to be out to keep the cyotes away.... I just don't know what to do now.

 

[Judy]

It may be that he will be OK with them when they are grown.

 

[hunt]

Border collies are good my friend from church has one and he is fine with their chickens.
I have a miniature schnauzer he has gone in my goat pen and my chicken pen before and acted like he was going to chase one or anything.

 

[Firefighter Chick]

I recently acquired some ducks and some bunnies. My dogs have been taught to respect all of our animals but these new animals pique their interests a bit too much. I think they are excited by something new, new smells, new sounds... eventually they left the ducks alone but they are still highly interested in the bunnies (keep in mind my dogs kill squirrels, coons, skunks, etc.) They need to learn what to respect and what to kill. My dogs are lab mixes and I think try to play too hard with the animals. The muzzle is a good idea. I also own a shock collar. My dogs are thick skulled idiots at times and the shock collar does help when I need to use it. Basically now all I need to do is play a warning beep with no shock and my dogs know to stop. Keep desensitizing your dog with the new editions. Reward your dog for ignoring the ducks.

 

[Chickery Chick]

Pyrenees are very good with cattle lamas, horses, children. They are very gentle, but if anyone messes with their pack(which is everything on the property) they will protect ferociously.
Read this thread.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100516123524AA5P7VK
Will even protect against hawks and eagles.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...ardian-dogs-great-pyrenees.aspx#axzz2bbm0mOze
Yes very good with cows. pretty much every kind of livestock or farm animal.

If you have bears, or huge predators or a lot of them, you may want to get two Pyrenees.

Getting a Pyrenees puppy that was bred on a farm/acreage with chickens is the best route to insure early introduction to fowls and not to chase.
I know these people have many free range chickens, lamas, goats, horse, and more and raise Pyrenees puppies or at least used to 308, 350-1293 in Nebraska.

 

[hroewe]

Thank you everyone! I've been working with my dog everyday since the last incident. Every time he looks at the ducklings/goslings, I run at him and growl and shake the scuff of his neck, or his head. It's quite a sight But he's completely freaked out by it. And then I use the command "Get!" And point to the house and he tucks his tail and runs off. He would NEVER kill anything while I was watching, but it may take until after next hatching season to assume him mostly trustworthy.

 

[hroewe]

Also, I talked to a few lgd breeders yesterday about both Great Pyrenees, and Anatolians, but the issue I would run into is fencing. We have barbed wire fence on 3/4 sides of the ten acres, and woven wire on 1/4 that borders the private road. All breeders agree that most lgds roam, but these breeds especially. And anatolians can pretty much scale 5-6ft fencing.... And dig under the rest. Not to mention, not all lgds are going to be good with birds. I am researching Maremmas at this point because they are noted to stay closer to home than most others.

 

[bhaugh]

As someone who has working german shepherds with high prey drive (lines bred to work) I would NEVER leave any of my dogs out with the chickens. Even my 10 yo who is calm. I also train other working breed dogs. The desire to chase is just too strong in certain lines of dogs and its up to YOU the owner to make sure they have no means to chase and or kill your stock. You can train all you want, but training most times does NOT curb strong genetics. You didnt mention what breed of dog you have that has killed the ducks. Once they kill, it's very hard to retrain it out and again you might be working against genetics. I had two aussies that used to kill chickens. They were placed in non chicken homes.

You might have better luck with a puppy but again it depends on the lines of the dog and whether the prey drive is what some will call over the top. As was previously mentioned, certain breeds of dogs that are bred specifically to protect stock might be a good alternative but some times breeders are hard to find and the puppies are expensive. If it were me the chickens would be penned when you couldnt watch the dog, the dog would be penned if the chickens are out or place the dog if you cant do either.

Barb