Fostering: What dog breeds should we avoid?

[Peaches Lee]

Maybe foster the older dogs--ones that may be more interested in basking in the sun and being lazy.

You are braver than me. I wouldn't consider fostering dogs with my cats and chickens (and horses). That's a lot of management and risk I don't want to take. I commend you for your kindness!

Good luck to you!

 

[jonalisa]

I remember that case. It was in San Francisco. Two dogs were involved but it is my understanding that while both dogs chased the woman, only the male actually attacked. I didn't hear anything about them trying to eat her, but I do remember that the dogs were grossly mismanaged and mishandled from day one. The owners of those dogs should not have been trusted with a toy poodle, let alone a large and aggressive dog like a cane corso.

Dogs are what we make them.

 

[jonalisa]

Maybe foster the older dogs--ones that may be more interested in basking in the sun and being lazy.

You are braver than me. I wouldn't consider fostering dogs with my cats and chickens (and horses). That's a lot of management and risk I don't want to take. I commend you for your kindness!

Good luck to you!

Agree. Maybe rescue a puppy that you can train with the chickens. I have a mini dachshundt thatwas raised with my chickens and I can completely trust her with them. In fact, when I can't find her she's usually in the middle of the flock.

And thank you for your willingness to foster! You might calls some local farm rescues that have dogs for adoption, as they are likely to be used to chickens and livestock. I've seen a few recently when looking for ex-battery hens to adopt.

 

[cassie]

Dogs are what we make them.

Up to a point. Heredity is a significant factor in temperament. And not just in dogs.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I would avoid most Shepard’s, malamutes, huskys, larger spaniels, pits and pit mixes. A good rule for someone starting out is to not get a dog bigger and than you can control on a leash. Some foster dogs will never have been on a leash in there life and will pull you straight off your feet if you give them the chance. Also never leave a dog alone with smaller animals. It’s one thing if it’s your dog that you’ve had for years and possibly raised your animals but it can take months even years to make sure they are safe around other animals.
This is coming from someone who has fostered dogs in the past.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I thought the point of fostering was to train the dog and make them into good companions for their forever homes.
That will be hard at best if they are on a cable or in an outside pen all day and night.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I thought the point of fostering was to train the dog and make them into good companions for their forever homes.
That will be hard at best if they are on a cable or in an outside pen all day and night.

agreed most dogs are fostered for one of 3 reasons. A. They are too young to be adopted. B. They need training. C. They need socialization. I don’t feel like a dog would get these things being an outside only dog. I also forgot to add to my original post that some dogs react very badly to being tied out.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

We are getting set up to foster dogs (one at a time) through our local humane society. All our pets are outside. We have three cats (in their catio at night & when we are not home; running in the yard/fields when we are home). We have a rabbit (in a hutch mainly, but allowed to hop in her fenced in area (3’ tall fencing). We have 21 chickens also. The chickens are in a fenced in area (5’ fencing) with bird netting on top. They get to “free range” in our half acre only when we are outside.

Foster dog will be on a 20-30’ tie out cable attached to our 90’ long zip line (so it will have the run of the yard without needing fencing) when we are home. Foster dog will be in an enclosed pen (on rock, not concrete) at night and when we are not home.

I can keep the chickens in their run when we have a foster unless the foster dog is in its pen.

We would like to avoid breeds that are known for chasing/killing chickens though. Currently our shelter has a malamute, pit mixes, lab mixes, beagle mixes, and some other hound mixes, but it changes almost daily.

Thoughts?
(Our dachshund lived to be 15 & was around our chickens the last 4 years of her life. She never harmed them. She followed me into their pen and was accidentally locked in there with them for an hour or so and never hurt them. Free range time wasn’t an issue either. So I don’t want to stereotype all hunting breeds or whatever—but I also don’t want to take bigger risks if it’s not necessary.)

The Malamute is gorgeous, but I’m reading about their high prey drive & how much they love to dig and thinking she may not be a good fit.

What would you avoid if you were considering fostering a dog with chickens & cats in the same yard? We will likely only foster each dog for a week or so until it gets adopted.

I personally think it has more to do with the time and effort you are willing to put into training and some dogs just take more time and effort regardless of their breed. Most dogs will kill or injure small animals if they are not trained to leave things alone. I have just always trained my dogs religiously!

 

[SurferchickinSB]

We are getting set up to foster dogs (one at a time) through our local humane society. All our pets are outside. We have three cats (in their catio at night & when we are not home; running in the yard/fields when we are home). We have a rabbit (in a hutch mainly, but allowed to hop in her fenced in area (3’ tall fencing). We have 21 chickens also. The chickens are in a fenced in area (5’ fencing) with bird netting on top. They get to “free range” in our half acre only when we are outside.

Foster dog will be on a 20-30’ tie out cable attached to our 90’ long zip line (so it will have the run of the yard without needing fencing) when we are home. Foster dog will be in an enclosed pen (on rock, not concrete) at night and when we are not home.

I can keep the chickens in their run when we have a foster unless the foster dog is in its pen.

We would like to avoid breeds that are known for chasing/killing chickens though. Currently our shelter has a malamute, pit mixes, lab mixes, beagle mixes, and some other hound mixes, but it changes almost daily.

Thoughts?
(Our dachshund lived to be 15 & was around our chickens the last 4 years of her life. She never harmed them. She followed me into their pen and was accidentally locked in there with them for an hour or so and never hurt them. Free range time wasn’t an issue either. So I don’t want to stereotype all hunting breeds or whatever—but I also don’t want to take bigger risks if it’s not necessary.)

The Malamute is gorgeous, but I’m reading about their high prey drive & how much they love to dig and thinking she may not be a good fit.

What would you avoid if you were considering fostering a dog with chickens & cats in the same yard? We will likely only foster each dog for a week or so until it gets adopted.

I just think a lot of times rescues are more difficult, because you don’t know how they were treated before or what they were exposed to before you get them, most likely they have not been treated well and have not been socialized or trained, so they have developed their own behaviors.You will have double the job, because you have to break their old behaviors and also train new behaviors.I am just speaking in terms of my own experiences.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Something else to be very aware of.....

Dogs can and do swallow rocks. That is a life threatening thing.
In my 30 years keeping dogs as pets I have had 4 that have swallowed rocks.
Jack had emergency surgery, River had emergency surgery, Sparky's rock had gone through most of the way so spent the day with the vet and lots of meds to pass his, Tilly went from kinda looking off to almost dead in 12 hours (she had been seen at the vet at noon) at 1 am she violently vomited a gigantic amount of blood. She was way to weak for surgery so spent 6 days at the animal emergency hospital then 6 weeks being to weak to eat so was syringe fed.
We are a multi dog household with a minimum of 3 big dogs at any given time.

If keeping a dog on gravel it needs to be less than 3/8ths of an inch maximum size.