Dogs vs Ducks

[Rypie]

Hello all,

I recently moved to a new house with my two Pekins Count Duckula (male) and Sunshine (female). There’s two dogs that live in the same house one is a lab who couldn’t care less about my ducks he’s a little sweetheart but the other one is some kind of mutt who just salivates whenever she sees the ducks in their coop, this dog is a little over a year old and the lab is about 4. Does anyone have any advice for what can be done to have the mutt and my ducks get along? I was worried that this is just in the dogs nature but if anyone has had success (or sadly no success) with a similar situation I’d very much appreciate some insight.

The mutt was accidentally let out into the yard when I had my ducks out and she charged them and put her teeth around my ducks necks but didn’t do anything beyond that my ducks weren’t hurt at all (scared obviously) but not hurt if that has any positive indication.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I have 2 dogs
1- husky 11 years old. She is amazing with my ducks and has self taught to be their guard dog
But my 12 year old wiener dog I would never trust
He is never ever allowed out alone around the ducks
Hopefully others who have had to train a dog can help share stories to help
In the meantime I would make sure the dogs are not left alone with the birds
@DuckyDonna has trained her dogs so she may give advice on tips to train

 

[GreenAcres Homestead]

Hello all,

I recently moved to a new house with my two Pekins Count Duckula (male) and Sunshine (female). There’s two dogs that live in the same house one is a lab who couldn’t care less about my ducks he’s a little sweetheart but the other one is some kind of mutt who just salivates whenever she sees the ducks in their coop, this dog is a little over a year old and the lab is about 4. Does anyone have any advice for what can be done to have the mutt and my ducks get along? I was worried that this is just in the dogs nature but if anyone has had success (or sadly no success) with a similar situation I’d very much appreciate some insight.

The mutt was accidentally let out into the yard when I had my ducks out and she charged them and put her teeth around my ducks necks but didn’t do anything beyond that my ducks weren’t hurt at all (scared obviously) but not hurt if that has any positive indication.

We raise chickens, ducks, and 2 male Peking geese who are our watch dogs lol. We have a Boston Terrier who doesn't care about messing with any of them. We do free range on our homestead but I am building a chicken run to lock up our geese when folks come over so they don't attack or harass them plus we plan on getting more geese because they are awesome protection for your property. We did try to get an outdoor dog once but it wanted to chase all of our birds so we had no choice but give him back to the folks we got him from for our birds are our food for the table and money for eggs. My neighbor has 4 German Shepherds and he too raises chickens and he has his chickens in a separate area from the dogs due to if any of his chickens get to where his dogs are they would get ate.

 

[Geena]

Does anyone have any advice for what can be done to have the mutt and my ducks get along?

Since you only have two pet ducks, your best bet is to put up a sturdy fence to separate the ducks from the dogs. Even dogs that have been trained to ignore poultry or those dogs who seem uninterested, can sometimes slip up and it only takes a second for a dog to kill a duck.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Hello all,

I recently moved to a new house with my two Pekins Count Duckula (male) and Sunshine (female). There’s two dogs that live in the same house one is a lab who couldn’t care less about my ducks he’s a little sweetheart but the other one is some kind of mutt who just salivates whenever she sees the ducks in their coop, this dog is a little over a year old and the lab is about 4. Does anyone have any advice for what can be done to have the mutt and my ducks get along? I was worried that this is just in the dogs nature but if anyone has had success (or sadly no success) with a similar situation I’d very much appreciate some insight.

The mutt was accidentally let out into the yard when I had my ducks out and she charged them and put her teeth around my ducks necks but didn’t do anything beyond that my ducks weren’t hurt at all (scared obviously) but not hurt if that has any positive indication.

I've got 3 border collies but they have all been around my ducks since they hatched so I think that is a bit different than your situation. I think it's good to expose your dogs to the ducks but I don't think I'd trust them if you are not around to supervise. My ducks are so used to my dogs they'll walk right over the dogs to get to wherever they want to go.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

I have 2 dogs
1- husky 11 years old. She is amazing with my ducks and has self taught to be their guard dog
But my 12 year old wiener dog I would never trust
He is never ever allowed out alone around the ducks
Hopefully others who have had to train a dog can help share stories to help
In the meantime I would make sure the dogs are not left alone with the birds
@DuckyDonna has trained her dogs so she may give advice on tips to train

We just received a husky. She is 11 weeks old. I’ve only had her around the enclosure twice but she needs more training and was mostly running wild in the garden (oops kind of). Slowing down with her seemed to help but her attention span right now is LOL May I ask if you have any tips?

 

[DuckyDonna]

I have 3 border collies who are very smart. 2 of them grew up with the ducks and they know it's their responsibility to not hurt them and to watch over them. My 2-year-old girl really takes it seriously and honestly, I didn't have to do any training. They were just told what to do and not do and they did it.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

We just received a husky. She is 11 weeks old. I’ve only had her around the enclosure twice but she needs more training and was mostly running wild in the garden (oops kind of). Slowing down with her seemed to help but her attention span right now is LOL May I ask if you have any tips?

I didn’t get birds till my dog was around 10 years old
She had no training with them
But I did train her as a puppy to listen
I have heard I got very lucky as most are not this well behaved as mine
I would focus on basic training first and leash training her around the birds for some time
Husky usually have a high drive anc many have attacked birds
@DuckyDonna has dogs she trains around her birds
Although different breed , she will be able to give tips on dog to bird training
I think she used a leash and as a puppy would have the dog sit and watch no touch for a long time.

 

[DuckTapePalace]

I didn’t get birds till my dog was around 10 years old
She had no training with them
But I did train her as a puppy to listen
I have heard I got very lucky as most are not this well behaved as mine
I would focus on basic training first and leash training her around the birds for some time
Husky usually have a high drive anc many have attacked birds
@DuckyDonna has dogs she trains around her birds
Although different breed , she will be able to give tips on dog to bird training
I think she used a leash and as a puppy would have the dog sit and watch no touch for a long time.

Thank you!

 

[DuckyDonna]

I didn’t get birds till my dog was around 10 years old
She had no training with them
But I did train her as a puppy to listen
I have heard I got very lucky as most are not this well behaved as mine
I would focus on basic training first and leash training her around the birds for some time
Husky usually have a high drive anc many have attacked birds
@DuckyDonna has dogs she trains around her birds
Although different breed , she will be able to give tips on dog to bird training
I think she used a leash and as a puppy would have the dog sit and watch no touch for a long time.

Never used a leash. My dogs are HORRID on leashes. When I was hatching my ducklings I had the dogs around the incubator so they could see the eggs and once they started hatching they were right there watching. I let them be around the tiny ones when they were first hatched and they were very curious and careful not to hurt them. However, I remember one time I had the ducklings outside inside a portable dog fence and my female border collie decided to let them out and take them for a little walk around the yard. I was sitting in my living room looking out the front window and here come the ducklings walking by with the dog. They never hurt them though. We also had a big Anatolian Shephard who was amazing with them. The little ones would climb all over her and she'd let them.