English Bulldog attacked my chicken in my backyard-are they killers?

[panner123]

Quote:
I disagree, not ever dog is a chicken killer. Check out the profile photo on facebook of John Koning. I will place this dog in with any chickens, if she hurts any one of them, I will replace it ten foil. And shoot her. On the other hand, when she is around a chick as she is in the photo
I will bet you can't pick up the chick. I have another dog that is good around chickens, but wouldn't trust her around chicks. I also have two cats that will not harm chicks and are afraid of a chicken. Can send photos if needed.
I will not just take a shot at any predator after my livestock, I will shoot them. To old and orney to try and chase them off. Besides Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson have always been much faster than me. And they hit harder.

 

[purr]

if you purposely leave a dog with a chicken and the dog kills the chicken and you shoot the dog, you may as well shoot yourself because you are more at fault than the dog is. The dog is behaving the way a dog is supposed to behave , they are predators and that cute little squeaky thing running around is Prey. end of story. Keep your dogs away from your chickens. Dogs are not vicious if they attack a chicken THEY ARE DOGS!

 

[archerobx]

My bad, I mis-read it.

 

[Kathleen bierman]

I've had a horrible 16 hours...for the past several years I've had problems with a neighbor's (I'll call him Billy) American Pit Bulldog, Lefty, coming to MY yard and trying to kill my Golden Retreiver, Buddy. After the 4th attack, which could have killed me in front of my children's terrified eyes, and it attacking one of his friend's dog, he finally put it down about 2 years ago. This dog also reached through his fence into his backyard neighbor's fence (they join) and killed one of their small dogs (after a hefty vet bill to try to save it). This neighbor was so afraid of saying anything, her husband made her keep quiet about it. I lived in terror EVERY day because of this dog while he was alive. Billy also has a French Mastiff who has been in my yard at least twice rapidly approaching my sleeping retreiver on the porch, but I was able to get Buddy inside before anything happened; however, it's been at least a year since that happened.

I live in a neighborhood where some neighbors have fences on part of their property (min. land size is 2 acres), but most don't. I've tolerated, as well as others who live here, other dogs coming into my yard ALL the time and I know my Buddy would join up with the group and sometimes visit with them or go to their properties - this rarely happened in the last few years of his life since he had hip problems and was aged. He never attacked another dog - only when defending himself in his yard against the pit bulldog. These visits from other dogs were rarely any trouble, until Lefty.

Billy apparently has more money than sense. He had a home invasion and installed a HUGE iron fence around his entire 5 acres about 4 or 5 years ago- couldn't have been cheap. His dogs were getting out because he didn't either close the gate(s) or didn't secure it properly or going under the fence when small. They still have the Mastiff who spends most of his day barking at us whenever we're out from across the street (we live on a cul-de-sac and I'm at the end of it) and now they've added an English Bulldog, Abby, to the mix. Abby leaves the property daily - I've stopped several times on my way home and tried to put her back in w/o the Mastiff getting to me. She seems to be a very sweet dog, but I know little about English bulldogs. Billy's closest neighbor ("Frank") told me he use to put Abby back in and finally stopped cuz he figured if Billy didn't care enough about the dog, then it wasn't his job to do so for him. He also said he WITNESSED the mastiff reaching through the fence and attacking the little dog 1st. Guess, Lefty came along about a week later and finished the job. I had another neighbor come to my house last Friday with Abby on a leash asking if she was ours and telling us that Abby spends every night at their house.

So yesterday, my chickens were out milling around my yard just outside my office window where I was studying and I decided to take them some BOSS and feed the birds at the same time. Billy's dogs were at their fence line, barking away at me, but I didn't think they could get through that section of the fence so I headed to the backyard to clean the coop out a bit. I then heard a huge chicken commotion out front and seconds later, Topsy, a BO, came running and squawking with Abby nipping at her heels. I spent the next 2-3 minutes chasing them both around the acre backyard (and I live on a terrace, so that's not easy!) trying to get the dog away from Topsy. My mini doxie, Bella, was very upset and barking at Abby, because she grew up with those chickens and feel they are her best friends - eats with them, etc. Eventually they all made their way into the run (Topsy knows that's safe haven) and Abby cornered her under the elevated coop. I was able to occasionally grab a hold of Abby which allowed Topsy time to get away, but I thought the dog had killed or maimed her. After I got a good hold of Abby, she started lunging at Bella! Long story short: I carried this 40 lb. dog to my car, had to rest for a few minutes before trying to get my dog inside, which wasn't easy, and then headed to Billy's house to have them get their #*@ dog! They weren't home and since I couldn't trust their fence or dog, and I didn't have a place to leave her in my house, I took Abby to Billy's best friend's mother ("Suzie") who lives in the neighborhood and asked her to take the dog and to give Billy a message that if his dog killed my dog, that he would be met with an attorney and "it" would be met with a shotgun. My main concern is that if his dogs attacked my small Bella, she would be killed.

On the way home, I stopped at Frank's house to ask him what he knew about English bulldogs (he loves the American bulldog, but is a very responsible, caring owner and I never feared his dog). Frank told me LOTS of information re: the neglect of and abuse by Billy's dogs and of the personal problems Billy had been going through. About 1 hour after the incident, Billy comes to my door and says that Suzie told him that I threatened to kill his family...they never even came into the brief conversation I had with her - only the dog. So, GEEZ! Basically, the gist of the conversation was that he was the ONLY neighbor who had built a fence in the neighborhood (not true) and that he kept his dogs in all the time (definitely not true!). He accused me of being addle and lying about what his dogs do or have done on a daily basis. He also said that Buddy use to "terrify" his children and that they couldn't cross the dam to get to Suzie's house (the beginning of the dam is on my property!!!), which I found interesting cuz whenever I saw Buddy at the empty lot next to my house where the beginning of the dam is located, they weren't afraid at all and appeared to be playing with him. There's also a bridge over this pond they could have used instead! In other words, he didn't want to admit any fault. I strongly apologized for my use of words, but that they had been directed at his dog only and that I had sprained both my ankle and back trying to get his dog off my property and had been extremely upset. There's tons more to this "conversation", but not worth mentioning.

So, two questions:

1. Was I wrong?
2. Are English bulldogs killers?

Sorry, for the long story, but I only had 3 hours of sleep last night and my body hurts all over! Gail

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

The short answer is.. all bulldogs are killers, moreso than many other dog breeds. Even rolly polly English bulldogs still have some bloodlust in them. Except maybe Frenchies. I’ve never known a Frenchie to be anything but a lap dog.

Usually a bulldog’s aggression it isn’t directed towards birds though. Birds weren’t what was programmed into them to lust to kill over the centuries. I was always able to train my English bulldogs and Old English bulldogs to leave chickens alone.

However, for what a bulldog wants to kill, you can’t love or discipline it out of them. Usually other mammals; rival dogs, cows, pigs, ect.

 

[Krugerrand]

Welcome, @Kathleen bierman !

This thread is almost 13 years old.

 

[Chickenshannanigans]

The short answer is.. all bulldogs are killers, moreso than many other dog breeds. Even rolly polly English bulldogs still have some bloodlust in them. Except maybe Frenchies. I’ve never known a Frenchie to be anything but a lap dog.

Usually a bulldog’s aggression it isn’t directed towards birds though. Birds weren’t what was programmed into them to lust to kill over the centuries. I was always able to train my English bulldogs and Old English bulldogs to leave chickens alone.

However, for what a bulldog wants to kill, you can’t love or discipline it out of them. Usually other mammals; rival dogs, cows, pigs, ect.

 

[Chickenshannanigans]

Literally! I know this is an old thread but I have an English and a frenchie. Yes even trained dogs can and will attack chickens. My dogs have a fenced in yard, my chickens have their coop, run and also free range. I had a flighty leghorn fly into my dogs fenced in area, and they both took a nice bite out of her! My English went for her neck!!! My frenchie was scared at first but he did join in and nip her butt! As I was scrambling around scruffing them both up to get them away from her, I did save my chicken! The dogs were scolded and pouted around for awhile. Long story short, when my dogs are out in their fenced in area (with a 6 foot tall) fence, if I’m not out there they will act really ignorant when the chickens or even roosters come around the area, but if I’m outside with them they will look at me and just wait for the tone. Anyways, YES English bulldogs and frenchies will “try” to kill chicken. My English was way more aggressive as to really trying to kill the hen, my frenchie however was a little apprehensive at first and then joined in and nipped her at her butt. If I was not outside there is no doubt in my mind that they would have both eaten my chicken. Both of my dogs are inside, trained, and I even have an autistic child. They are great, lazy dogs that really cause zero issues with people or children. Throw a few hens and roosters in the mix and they instantly go stupid! Hope life is better for you!

 

[Chickenshannanigans]

if you purposely leave a dog with a chicken and the dog kills the chicken and you shoot the dog, you may as well shoot yourself because you are more at fault than the dog is. The dog is behaving the way a dog is supposed to behave , they are predators and that cute little squeaky thing running around is Prey. end of story. Keep your dogs away from your chickens. Dogs are not vicious if they attack a chicken THEY ARE DOGS!

Literally! Thank you!