German Shepherds and chickens - good combo?

[ducks4you]

Ruth has gobs of great pics but I have one good one to share of Xena, when she was 6 months old, in 1998

Still,

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Heck, that makes me cry.

What a beauty.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
Good advice! I have had showline GSD's(more calm and sedate) and now have East german GSD(High energy and active). They both have prey drive which allows for chase. The East German dog has a higher drive but, that is because he has a working pedigree. So its what you want. For health reasons(rear ends) Is why I went w/ a working type of dog.. The West German dogs are your beautiful traditional saddlebacked. Normally red w blk saddle w/ sloping backs. East German generally sable or blk.w a straighter back and less angulation So do your research and get the type that will suit you as an individual. Your American show dog has an extremely angulated rear and come in a varity of colors. One thing I always told people who got our pups-" You get out of a dog what you put in to him."

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, ruth!
Okay, let's get real--Germans Shephards are THE most beautiful dog. Period. I WANNA GET ANOTHER!!!!!!!!!!
WWWAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

 

[kipenei]

We are on our third GS, still on the first set of kids

The kids are part of the herd, and as such will become part of the security responsibility.

Even friends of our kids who come here almost every day, get the security welcome.

The dog had been looking at the chicken running around in the pen and only once exhibited prey drive. Told him no and that was the end of it. He has been in the pen with the chickens and is just curious on wants to sniff them out. Chickens don't like that just yet.

Just this last Tuesday we let our flock out after being sequestered for about a week. Dog looked at them and followed them around and looked at us a few times as if to say, no toys? Told him no again.

Today the chickens were free ranging for a few hours with the dog outside, he was just looking at them but showed no further interest.

 

[kipenei]

We are on our third GS, still on the first set of kids

The kids are part of the herd, and as such will become part of the security responsibility.

Even friends of our kids who come here almost every day, get the security welcome.

The dog had been looking at the chicken running around in the pen and only once exhibited prey drive. Told him no and that was the end of it. He has been in the pen with the chickens and is just curious on wants to sniff them out. Chickens don't like that just yet.

Just this last Tuesday we let our flock out after being sequestered for about a week. Dog looked at them and followed them around and looked at us a few times as if to say, no toys? Told him no again.

Today the chickens were free ranging for a few hours with the dog outside, he was just looking at them but showed no further interest.

 

[wildorchid053]

i have a yellow lab/shepard mix.. she is great with the chicks and roos and hens.. then today i let her out with them and off she runs... she was after a momma turkey and her chicks.. she chased them but never hurt any of them.. i saw turkeys and babies flying all over the yard.. they barely had any feathers.. but she was gentle and came right back..they were wild and i think she was shooing them away from our chickens

 

[lifein1840]

As a child, I lost the best dog I have ever had because she wouldn't stop killing the neighbor's chickens. She was pure bred German Shepard and wonderful with all of my brothers and I. My dad tried everything to get her to stop. We ended up having to give her to the vet that lived on a farm that had no chickens around.

Once they get a taste for blood, it's a miracle if you can break them of it.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

We raise and sell imported working-show class lines of German Shepherds,,http://www.vomlauterbach.com and with the German Shepherds we raise,titles are invlolved.More so in Germany,but the reason behind titiling a German Shepherd, is to prove they still have inherited instincts,such as protecting,agility,and prey drive.

If these dogs were still not domesticated,they would be required to hunt and kill for food,for themselves and their pups.Any good German Shepherd will be able to scent track,and should show no fear in protecting(as in it's pups) or to kill for feeding. Another strong part of the German Shepherd is being under the control of the handler at all times,,this shows the dog still responds and obeys basic commands.

You can train this breed to leave certain other animals alone,but it takes strong,and concise repitition,done each day and done the correct way.They say German Shepherds are "strong willed" which is a very polite way to say they are hard headed.If your dog will chase after a ball when thrown,or a frisbee,it does have drive,but if it shows little or no interest in going after objects,then I would not put much worry into it about the dog chasing the chickens.

 

[Rowtag]

Reading all of this makes me wish our German Shepherd was still around to guard my birds. My collie does an okay job, but she is in no way a guard dog. She will tell me if there is a dog or coon messing with the chickens/ducks and she will help me put them up/ keep them nearby while free ranging, but she doesn't have the drive that our Shepherd had. Our next dog will be a GSD in all likelihood.