Dogs?

[Crunchie]

I agree with the posters who don't think it wise to leave a dog unsupervised with the chickens. I personally wouldn't. My three dogs are fine with my birds--they typically ignore them--but I would never let them out together alone. The dogs only end up with the chickens around feeding time, when we're all outside together. And for the record, all of my dogs are adult pit bulls. One would assume that, being stereotyped the way they are, that they would be quite anxious to make an easy snack out of one of my birds (especially the brahma, not the swiftest of the bunch

)!! Well, you can't always go by breed "type"!! My dogs aren't aggressive and they aren't into killing other animals. But, while I would be surprised if they ever hurt another animal, they are dogs. Dogs kill things, it doesn't always matter what breed it is. Tasty chickens would be no exception...which is why, like I said, I don't tempt fate and my dogs don't go out with the chickens!

Not exactly on topic, but can I ask why the pup isn't living in the house? Or is the yard just for during the day/outside time? If the dog is living with you, it could just go outside supervised, and that might solve your problem??

 

[chickbea]

In the time I have had chickens and dogs coexisting, I have had: a German Shepard/hound mix, a German Shepard/Husky mix, a pure-bred German Shepard, and currently I have a beagle mix. All were adopted as adults, and all came to me with unknown histories. It took varying amounts of time for them to figure out that ignoring the chickens was their job, but like any other aspect of animal training, it just takes time and consistency. I prefer traing cross-breds, as they seem to have all the good qualities of the contributing breeds and few of the bad traits.
Having said that, not all dogs can be trusted. As someone above said, herding dogs, esp. Border Collies, are not good. Even if they don't eat the chickens, they will annoy them incessantly, just like they do with every other critter! I wouldn't rule out German Shepards, however, since they are so wonderfully trainable (unless poorly bred) , and once they know what you expect of them, they would rather die than be disobedient.
However, DO NOT LEAVE THE PUP UNATTENDED WITH THE CHICKENS! Pups view just about everything as a toy, and one that flaps and squawks is even more fun. Once the dog is allowed an initial kill, then you are in a major uphill battle that you probably won't win.
It can be wonderful, though. My Shepard/hound mix, Gwennie, would get so excited every year when the baby chicks would arrive! She thought she was the mom - too cute.

 

[SandraChick]

okay- here I go.....unlike many posters here, I DO BELIEVE YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR DOG WITH YOUR CHICKNES IF and I say IF you spend the time and effort to train it properly.

I'll start with I have two labs, both trained to retrieve ducks and pheasants while hunting....but neither will chase or touch any of my chickens or DUCKs...the dogs know these birds are part of the family. When I bring a new chicken onto the property, the dogs are introduced to the new chicken through the cage first and then let go--this way they know it's a new family member. They are the protectors of my flock and keep coons and foxes out of the yard.......

you can do a lot with a puppy- but you have to be willing to take the time---EVERY DAY.

At first, tie the puppy to you everytime you do "chicken chores" or go hang out with the chickens.
If the puppy tries to play with them, give the leash a tug and give him a firm "NO". Be sure to praise it when it ignores the chickens. The idea of having the puppy tied to you is so that you can't accidently let go of the leash. The puppy will learn that the chickens are part of the family. It will need CONSTANT supervison for many months...but it will learn.

Make sure the puppy is getting regular training for basics, and teach it the word "leave it". Use feathers from the coop to reinforce the leave it command in the home.

The more you involve the dog with your daily chicken time....the more likely it is to be a success.

Sandra-

 

[Sunnychick]

I have a 4 yr. old Weimaraner and it took a lot of training before I was able to let her lose with the chickens. I walked her on a leash around the chickens for several months before I attempted to let her go. Now she loves to lay in the middle of the grass while they walk around her... She is doing Great... I learned a lot from the Dog Whisper...

 

[kingsdaughter]

I am planning to introduce my dogs to the new chicks and tell them to "leave it" Step two of my plan is to put the dogs on a down stay and treat and praise them while I let one chick at a time crawl on them, and then build up to several chicks. Im hoping if I do this daily the dogs will get the idea that chickens are friends not food. I will let you all know how this works out.

 

[SandraChick]

as the last two posts illustrate- it takes training time....I just can't emphasize that enough.

Sandra

 

[HenHappy]

Be as alert as you can at all times! One of my dogs tricked us. She spent weeks just staring at the chicks, being really calm, and I thought, cool, she's going to be okay with them. Well...I think you can guess. We didn't pay close enough attention and... slurp... a chick was in her mouth! I freaked and hubby got it out. Amazingly the chick was okay (coverd in drool) and I learned that that was the end of that. I just couldn't trust them enough. Even when I was with them. Now everyone has thier own space outside. It isn't the dogs fault. She was doing what was natural for her!

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Sandra I agree I will continue to let my dogs mingle with our chickens. They also are both bird dogs (labs) having been brought up with hunting pheasants, ducks and geese. I believe I have mention before the benefits of having dogs mingle with chickens. They protect our free-range chickens from predators since we have had cats, opossum and skunks in our area which they have caught or chased off, their scent alone is enough to deter a predator. When I have locked a chicken out of the hen house at night they go to the workshop and sleep with the dogs. I just read about Mr.Dad today losing some of his chickens and other posters worrying about predators well I don’t need to worry because that is why I have my dogs. If dogs kill chickens then the owner must not have trained their dog properly, even when my dogs retrieve a bird when hunting they will bring them back alive because they have a soft mouth. If your dogs show any tendency of harming your chickens then definitely keep them separated. I have confidence and am at peace knowing my dogs are with my chickens 24 hours a day.

 

[SandraChick]

hen happy-

My black lab has a much tougher time with the little peeps....they sound like squeeky toys and he wants to play with them--not chase them, but he doesn't realize how big he is. (Yet one more reason I hate squeeky toys).

Since I let my chickens do the hatching, the hens did the best job ever letting dusky know his limits( and mine too!)- about 6 feet away. I have to say though, when my dog was a pup, he got 5-7 5minute training sessions a day which eventually went to 2-3 1/2 hour sessions and now I just do reinforcement here and there. Time well worth spent I say.

sandra

 

[Henriettahen]

my dog that I wo nnow is HORRIBLE with our animals...but I had a dog once who was raised with a bunch of animals in the house, and she did just fine with the chickens. She let them run under her feet...ect. She was a newfoundland..I am not sure about sheppards tho.