Feeling Very Guilty...Need Advice

[rosemarythyme]

I was putting off posting a few pictures, but he is a cute dog, so here you go!
Also...his name is Meatball
Don't be fooled by the big puppy dog eyes!! Haha.

UGHHHH that face! I want to squish it! I'm a sucker for brindles too (yes I got suckered in by a brindle, yes she's a terrible dog, but has the cutest face, so I put up with the fact that she's 100% unreliable out of my sight).

 

[Fetchfarm]

Thanks for your reply. The dog has some separation anxiety issues so if I leave him in the house to go free range the chickens (and supervise them), he whines and is starting to become destructive. The dog pound didn’t know he had these issues. We’ve been trying to crate train him but it has been extremely slow going. I’m on Night # 6 of getting only 2 hours of sleep because of the night time whining/barking while in the crate next to me in bed (husband has been sleeping in our guest room). I don’t know what to do. I feel so bad for my chickens, this is causing me so much anxiety.

Feed him in his crate every meal.. make it a great/fun place... lots of crate games online! Stay strong with the crate training...

 

[Sam66]

Hello all. This is slightly embarrassing for me and a long read. We have a current flock of 11 chickens (Five 2.5-year old hens and six 12-week old chicks). I am the primary caretaker of all of them, and I am very, very attached to my chickens and they are attached to me. My husband jokes that he thinks I love the chickens more than I love him sometimes.

We’ve been debating rescuing a shelter dog for almost 5 years now and we finally adopted a 3-year old border collie/pit bull mix who comes from an abusive home. We have had him for about 5 days now. The dog pound didn’t know much about his background. He’s a surprisingly good dog despite his upbringing (friendly towards people, is semi-house trained) but as we’ve come to find out over the past few days, he has a very strong prey drive when it comes to any animal (rabbits especially). We’ve done a very controlled (fully leashed) distanced introduction with the dog/chickens and the dog has lunged and pulled to get closer.

We are keeping the chickens in their run/coop for the time being and I am feeling INCREDIBLY guilty about it. The chickens are used to free ranging during the evenings and have been vocally complaining, making crying sounds, moping around the pen/coop. I feel so horrible and have been trying to spend as much time in the pen as possible but it has been difficult with the new dog (husband works a lot and I’m the primary care taker of the dog while working from home FT). It is making me so emotional and sad and almost resentful towards the dog. Am I being crazy? Over analyzing every move the dog makes? I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to my chickens because of the dog. Just looking for some advice from others on this...

Have you tried a soft muzzle for the dog? Perhaps the dog could get conditioned to the chickens using something like that.

 

[eknielsen]

I recently rescued a pitbull from the shelter who was perfect in every way...except that she wants to eat the chickens, all the time. I was taking her out leashed, but knew I needed a new situation so she’d have room to run. Then one day I opened the back door for the dogs without thinking and she went straight for one of my hens and grabbed her. The hen ended up surviving...hundreds of dollars worth of vet bills later. What I ended up doing was building a fence around a smaller portion of my yard for the coop and chickens. They were used to roaming the whole yard, but they immediately adapted to having a smaller area. I know that’s not feasible for everyone but it’s made a huge difference for me!

 

[robynkravitz]

Is it possible to keep the dog in the house or a kennel in the evening while the flock free ranges?

This is what we have to do

 

[PrincessPeggy]

Congrats on your growing family! There's no need to feel guilty; you can have the dog and the chickens as long as you're careful. We let our girls in the yard with our 3 dogs as long as we are there to supervise. The first few weeks were tough; we were like the chicken's personal body guards -- dogs got a harsh NO! if they got too interested in the chickens. We used old baby gates to keep them separated until the newness wore off. Now, we let everybody roam the yard together (as long as we're there) and they mostly ignore each other. BUT the dogs either stay crated or the girls stay in their pen if we're not there to supervise. Even now one of the dogs will occasionally run after them for no reason, so I can't imagine ever leaving them alone together.

 

[RebelChief]

Have you tried a Thunder Coat for the anxiety?

 

[lbgreenfield]

Have you tried a soft muzzle for the dog? Perhaps the dog could get conditioned to the chickens using something like that.

My husband suggested a muzzle of some sort, so I think we will keep one on hand just in case we need it.

 

[Krazeemommy]

We have 3 basset hounds. We always supervise them but with LOTS of work and patience they now co-exist in the backyard. We started with them watching through the glass back door, then on leashes, then one at a time off leash.
Good luck!

 

[lbgreenfield]

I recently rescued a pitbull from the shelter who was perfect in every way...except that she wants to eat the chickens, all the time. I was taking her out leashed, but knew I needed a new situation so she’d have room to run. Then one day I opened the back door for the dogs without thinking and she went straight for one of my hens and grabbed her. The hen ended up surviving...hundreds of dollars worth of vet bills later. What I ended up doing was building a fence around a smaller portion of my yard for the coop and chickens. They were used to roaming the whole yard, but they immediately adapted to having a smaller area. I know that’s not feasible for everyone but it’s made a huge difference for me!

Thanks for the suggestion, but that’s not feasible for our yard/coop/run area. I’m glad it worked for you though!!