EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[BantyChooks]

I believe that positive reinforcement is great.... but in situations like this, where they'll rip apart chickens, you want to create avoidant behaviors. You literally need to associate a very unpleasant reaction, with their fixation, or nothing will ever stop them.

I've worked with a lot of hard core working dogs, and I hate that most trainers don't respect or even understand how to use tools. You can't proof a dog with out being open to using a wider variety of training methods, especially high energy working dogs, or dogs who have issues with other animals. Especially if they have a high prey drive.

My husband has his dogs so fixated on their reward for working now, the work itself was also created to be the fun part, and then at the end, they get their ball. He created a very big ball possession drive, where you nearly have to choke them out to get their ball back, but because of it, they can go anywhere, around anything, and if their reward ball is in their mouth, there's nothing that will make them drop it. Not even the desire to taste a chicken, too. LOL

However, I have a strict rule. If a dog eats my chickens, it can't live here. So he made sure his dogs wouldn't eat a chicken. haha

She got loose once and went after the neighbour's ducks. They got away, but I was hopping mad at her. I took her over there on a leash with the collar on, and right as she lunged for them I nailed her with full power. I'm pretty sure she spun around in mid air and tried to bolt back to the house---she's behaved a bit better ever since then. I need to do that again, maybe it would sink something in a bit deeper.

Birds in general drive her nuts. Songbirds, parakeets, chickens, ducks... Oh, and cats too.

 

[kajira]

She got loose once and went after the neighbour's ducks. They got away, but I was hopping mad at her. I took her over there on a leash with the collar on, and right as she lunged for them I nailed her with full power. I'm pretty sure she spun around in mid air and tried to bolt back to the house---she's behaved a bit better ever since then. I need to do that again, maybe it would sink something in a bit deeper.

Birds in general drive her nuts. Songbirds, parakeets, chickens, ducks... Oh, and cats too.

Yep, in her case, the shock collar training would do her a lot of good. She may always need supervision, but at least if she knows she gets shocked if she even looks at a chicken, or a bird, or a cat... she may for her own sanity, just ignore them.

My grandma had either a doberman, or a GSD (Can't remember which breed) that she was working on with, that attacked other dogs.

She nailed him with a cattle prod when he went to attack another dog, and he never once, looked another dog after that while on leash. Which is when he got the most agitated by other dogs. They were trying to show him for AKC, and he couldn't go in the ring because of his aggressiveness towards other dogs.

After her little zap, he was able to be shown and would ignore the other dogs on lead. This was back in the 70's.

 

[mlm Mike]

She got loose once and went after the neighbour's ducks. They got away, but I was hopping mad at her. I took her over there on a leash with the collar on, and right as she lunged for them I nailed her with full power. I'm pretty sure she spun around in mid air and tried to bolt back to the house---she's behaved a bit better ever since then. I need to do that again, maybe it would sink something in a bit deeper.

Birds in general drive her nuts. Songbirds, parakeets, chickens, ducks... Oh, and cats too.

One of my dogs, Sunna, has to chase every wild bird out of the area, she doesn't mind cats. Moose and Clover are the two that will chase and bark at cats. The only time I would worry about a chicken is if Sunna and Clover were the only two out and a chicken got into the dog yard, only because Clove enjoys taking things from her mother, so it would be possible they could hurt/kill a chicken accidentally if they were to fight over it. If Moose is out with them no one is getting close to the chicken but him and he won't hurt it.

 

[kwhites634]

I'm 99% sure, had we not traine dmy husbands working dogs, to not eat birds, they'd have wiped our chickens out. (lab/pit mix and a pure bred GSD.)

He used a shock collar to train them. Even our blood hound no longer "mouth hugs" our birds. He loves stuffed animals SOOOO much, never tears them up, but just slobbers on them and hugs them and "which way did he go george, which way did he go" the chickens............. lol

We've caught our blood hound, more than once carrying around a full size chicken, like he does his stuffed animals. He's not trying to hurt them - but they are "real life stuffed animals" and they just make him squee in his little doggy heart.

However, the stress of that, is not good for my poor chickies.

In the hands of someone who knows when, why & how to effectively use one, a shock collar is the best thing to ever happen to dog training.

 

[Cynthia12]

Afternoon folks. Guess who got woke up by a charlie horse this morning?

(answer is me and husband, because I guess I'm not getting enough potassium or magnesium or something and my legs keep cramping. joys of motherhood.)

Those are no fun! I get them once in a while. Hubby gets them more often. Yes.. get some mag.onto that body of yours. Yep, potassium too.

 

[Cynthia12]

For the dog people
The one puppy we kept, out of my german shepard/great pyr accidental breeding (courtesy of my teenager.)

He loves being in the car, he's already clicker trained at 3 months old with numerous commands.... AND he doesn't eat birds

Beautiful! I love big dogs. I used to foster and rescue dogs, also trained. I miss those days. What a smart pup to have learned that much by now. Also shows that the owner is consistent with the training! Good job!

 

[kajira]

In the hands of someone who knows when, why & how to effectively use one, a shock collar is the best thing to ever happen to dog training.

I 100% agree - it's like people freaking out about using choke chains or pinch collars. I always used them on my 200lbs mastiffs. They outweighed me by almost 100 lbs, no matter how much training a dog has had, that's THAT big, I wanted a better way to control them in public. A pinch collar ensured the dog wouldn't do something bad. Training is great, but I never 100% trust a dog in public. Just like I don't 100% trust my toddlers. LOL

Beautiful! I love big dogs. I used to foster and rescue dogs, also trained. I miss those days. What a smart pup to have learned that much by now. Also shows that the owner is consistent with the training! Good job!

My husband and 6 year old, work with him for 15-20 minutes every day and hubby takes him in the car 2-3x a week. This picture was his first day on a leash, we had to do a 15 minute training session, prior to going, because he freaked out pretty bad about something on his neck. They've been working with him on leash stuff this week since this picture was taken a few days ago to get him okay with it.

We prefer to use a pressure leash approach on puppies, it teaches them to self-correct the pressure to stand next to us, so they don't pull. It's very effective for leash control lol

 

[Cynthia12]

I worked with positive reinforcement with my dog for quite a while, just repeating and repeating it, but she was so fixated on the chickens she wouldn't even eat the most delicious treats I could find. Nothing could budge her. Took her to a trainer, she told me to just keep doing it...

I eventually gave in and bought a shock collar. I don't have to use the shock now, just the buzzer, and as long as the collar is on she doesn't fixate quite so much. She's too smart for her own good.

They are smart aren't they?! And like you said, too smart for their own good. Golden Retrievers are usually a dog that is eager to please. But.. I had one that would not stop barking.. another trait they are known for NOT being... barker. Well, no matter what I did. . This dog barked. First dog .. ever.. that I had planned on keeping for myself that I took back. And the last, .. my next 2 were wonderful. Not sure what was up with that dog.

 

[kwhites634]

I 100% agree - it's like people freaking out about using choke chains or pinch collars. I always used them on my 200lbs mastiffs. They outweighed me by almost 100 lbs, no matter how much training a dog has had, that's THAT big, I wanted a better way to control them in public. A pinch collar ensured the dog wouldn't do something bad. Training is great, but I never 100% trust a dog in public. Just like I don't 100% trust my toddlers. LOL


My husband and 6 year old, work with him for 15-20 minutes every day and hubby takes him in the car 2-3x a week. This picture was his first day on a leash, we had to do a 15 minute training session, prior to going, because he freaked out pretty bad about something on his neck. They've been working with him on leash stuff this week since this picture was taken a few days ago to get him okay with it.

We prefer to use a pressure leash approach on puppies, it teaches them to self-correct the pressure to stand next to us, so they don't pull. It's very effective for leash control lol

When I'd have a new litter, I'd tie a length of small diameter rope, with a no-slip knot, around the neck. They'd pull, tug, and stand on one another's rope, and train themselves to give to pressure on their neck; same principle as teaching a horse to ground tie by letting him step on the reins.
If I was teaching a dog to "heel", I'd snap the lead to the collar, then take a loose loop around the loins so that it tightened whenever the dog pulled ahead. Once or twice, & a half-bright dog soon figured out that if it didn't pull, it wouldn't be uncomfortable.

 

[hippiestink]

Sometimes a shock collar or pinch collar is really needed. As is, my dogs didn't really need trained too much. Once I taught them the "leave it" command they never chased a chicken again, except to maybe herd it back where it belonged. But my dogs aren't a hunting breed, they're a herding breed so it's already wired in to herd not hunt.