Dogs with the ducks and/or chickens

[Tessaturtle]

I don't know if many dogs get along with the ducks or chickens, or leave them alone; but just thought I would share a pic of one of mine. We might have done too good of a job training him to be around the "feathered friends"...he now seems to think he is one of them! Here he is walking around with them as they forage in the yard.

 

[Diamond88]

How cute! Here's my parents' golden retriever with my call duck.

 

[blueeyeddemon]

Cute

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Yay! With good training just about any dog can do well.

This is Lou with her feathered friends.

 

[Tessaturtle]

awww, love the pic with the little chick sitting with him!

 

[ChickensRDinos]

awww, love the pic with the little chick sitting with him!

Thank you. It is so hard to find a moment when everyone will hold still.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

we have 4 dogs, 3 great pyreneese and 1 mini doxie. All are poultry safe and excellent farm dogs.

 

[SabrinaDawn]

So how do you get them that way??? We have a 6mo old Great Dane and a 3 yr old lab. My lab has killed at least 3 or 4 of my chickens so we had to put him in a kennel. About two weeks ago I started coming up short on the evening "everyone's in the coop" count. Then I caught my Great Dane with one of my roos in his mouth in the middle of the yard like nothing was wrong with this picture. I try to discipline him the best I could ( I'm pregnant with twins & can only do so much lol) and I thought he was leaving them alone then one afternoon my daughter went to check for eggs and he tried to attack one of the chickens in the coop. I don't know what to do with these dogs...how do I get back to the point where they can run around outside without me having to worry about losing my chickens?

 

[waterdog]

We have a Black and Tan coonhound that will hunt just about anything but goes with us everyday through the bird pens and she has never attempted to harm any of our birds, although she will try to steal a chicken egg if she gets a chance.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

So how do you get them that way??? We have a 6mo old Great Dane and a 3 yr old lab. My lab has killed at least 3 or 4 of my chickens so we had to put him in a kennel. About two weeks ago I started coming up short on the evening "everyone's in the coop" count. Then I caught my Great Dane with one of my roos in his mouth in the middle of the yard like nothing was wrong with this picture. I try to discipline him the best I could ( I'm pregnant with twins & can only do so much lol) and I thought he was leaving them alone then one afternoon my daughter went to check for eggs and he tried to attack one of the chickens in the coop. I don't know what to do with these dogs...how do I get back to the point where they can run around outside without me having to worry about losing my chickens?

I believe strongly that the best way to insure that your dogs are safe around any of your other pets is to start with overall impulse control training and not just chicken/duck training. I have posted this in other threads so sorry if this is a repeat.

I have a pit-bull mix and three pugs. The pit and two of the pugs are rescues from urban shelters with mixed histories of abuse. All four dogs are out in the yard with my 5 chickens everyday without any problems. In fact I once had a chicken attack a dog but never the opposite. Everyone guaranteed me that the pit would kill my chickens but she has never been a problem.

Here is what I personally recommend: The most important thing to focus on overall is improving your dogs impulse control. No matter what your dog has a natural prey drive but more than that they are pack animals that want to please their master. Good basic training makes teaching them anything else so much easier. Make sure that you can snap your dogs attention back to you even when they see something they want. (I can't snap so I use an "aht." noise - this means sit and pay attention to me)

You can do this with some of the routine things you are already doing with your dog like dinner time. Do you free feed your dogs or do they eat at regular times? I would recommend taking them off of free feeding if you are doing that. Focus on training your dogs so they they will not eat anything unless you give a specific command. I set down all four bowls of food and make the dogs wait. They do not eat until they hear their own name and see a hand gesture. Also work on them stopping eating at a command and willing stepping away from their food. I say "Name, wait." and they stop and sit until told to continue. These skills help with impulse control in many areas of training. It may seem unrelated but to a dog, the one who controls the food is the ruler of them all.

You can also work with on waiting in the doorway to be let out. Or waiting to get their favorite toy and then dropping it with a "no" or "leave it" command.

I would introduce the dog to the chickens on a leash and just sit and be calm. (One dog at a time if you have more than one) As soon as she starts to fixate on the chickens in any way other than simple curiosity or barks or is excited (even happy excited) I would scold her with the same word every time (you only need to say it once, firmly) and immediately take her inside. It is important to take her in even with happy excitement. You are training her to ignore the chickens not to like the chickens and there is a big difference. With my dogs I brought them back when they were calm and started all over again. and again and again. lol. I allowed them to glance at them or sniff them but anything else was a no.

It took a bit of patience but I worked on the exercise for about an hour to an hour and a half each evening and within a few days all of the dogs ignored the chickens and now find very little interest in them at all other than a sniff here or there. I never yelled or hit them or used a choke or a shock. I just said no and took them away immediately at any sign of fixation or barking. You will need to do this everyday until they get it. Patience is the key and consistency. It sucks because sometimes you are busy and don't want to deal with it but starting and stopping will just make it worse. I leave them all together unsupervised regularly.

Sorry this is so long. I love to talk dogs and birds!