Getting a guardian puppy - any chicken<-->dog communicables I need to worry about?

[chickfused]

Good luck and in the end after you put all your love and hard work into the puppy it will have been worth it.

This is what I expect too, but encouragement is helpful at keeping spirits up. Thank you!

I talked specifically to a livestock dog trainer, and this was their advice. She clearly doesn't want to harm them, but I worry that she will play too much. She tried to give her archnemesis white chicken this morning a stick to play with together even.

She doesn't have access to them overnight, she just roams their pen for predation and has a section of the barn all to herself. This is for nightime predator control while they are safely locked in the coop. During the day though, she does.

Did. She's currently in my office with me and I think the great experiment is over. In a few months, I'll determine if the very young puppy in with the chickens by itself for 3-4 weeks helped get her to chicken safe, faster. I truly do think it may have helped a LOT.

Unless she's amped up, they share food, water, and space amicably and friendly like. She sits right next to the tree they roost on all day, and watches. (See pic above.)

 

[Aunt Angus]

This is what I expect too.

I talked specifically to a livestock dog trainer, and this was their advice. She clearly doesn't want to harm them, but I worry that she will play too much. She tried to give her archnemesis white chicken this morning a stick to play with together even.

I had wondered about that. Everything I've read/heard says put them in with the flock from a very young age to ensure bonding.

Again - this thread has been most helpful. So often folks just post day 1 and maybe an update when training is long complete. It's so important to see the struggle, imo.

 

[chickfused]

The problem is that she is now of an age and size where her wanting to play with them is dangerous. She is very clearly not wanting to play with them as toys, but wants them to play with her as puppies. And they can't, and won't. Chickens don't seem to play. So it's best to seperate unsupervised until she's an adult now I think. But I really think these 4 weeks put her in a good frame of mind about chickens and I highly recommend the method if the owner observes it to be safe.

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

This is what I expect too, but encouragement is helpful at keeping spirits up. Thank you!

I talked specifically to a livestock dog trainer, and this was their advice. She clearly doesn't want to harm them, but I worry that she will play too much. She tried to give her archnemesis white chicken this morning a stick to play with together even.

She doesn't have access to them overnight, she just roams their pen for predation and has a section of the barn all to herself. This is for nightime predator control while they are safely locked in the coop. During the day though, she does.

Did. She's currently in my office with me and I think the great experiment is over. In a few months, I'll determine if the very young puppy in with the chickens by itself for 3-4 weeks helped get her to chicken safe, faster. I truly do think it may have helped a LOT.

Unless she's amped up, they share food, water, and space amicably and friendly like. She sits right next to the tree they roost on all day, and watches. (See pic above.)

I'm no expert dog trainer but in my experience Keeping the pup in an outdoor kennel next to but not in the chicken coop gives them plenty of exposure to them while at the same time keeping the pup from physically touching the birds. Only allowing the pup to have close contact when you're in the pen with them all feeding them and interacting with them. Keeping the pup on a leash so that when it gets "playful" you can put it in check quickly so it learns that chickens are not toys to be played with or chased.. Playful can easily be equal to killing is fun in a puppy brain. LOL!

 

[chickfused]

Yes. Thank you!

 

[chickfused]

Timeout is working _extremely_ well at calming her down from bitey, snappy mess.

 

[chickfused]

She was a joy this morning. We needed a good dog day, she and I. In other news, my basil harvest is going well...

 

[chickfused]

Copper and the chickens shared some mealworms this morning as Mom and I had some personal business in the city today. I wanted to give her a treat before I left. Our business ran over by many hours. Copper stayed outside on a 20 ft. dog lead (which she hates) for about 8 hours with her doghouse (which she hates) and food and water and toys of course. I had to ask a neighbor to come put her and the chickens up unexpectedly.

But while I was out, I bought her a nice fluffy dog bed to cuddle up in, since we're getting into the 40s at night. She immediately knew what to do with it, and she was so happy to see me when we got home. She was very, very good. She was beyond amped up, and excited, but she kept checking herself when she went to bite and snap. I was able to pet, love and massage the dog without worry that I was going to touch a trigger spot at all. It was wonderful!

Also, the beef heart stock has been replenished. I've created an addict. I was trying to teach her fetch. So now, when she knows there's beef heart, she takes a toy, takes it for a run, and then brings it back and drops it at my feet and looks hopefully at my hands. (I only give her a treat when I ask her to actually bring it now that it's clear she knows how it all works.) It's kind of nice to not even have to throw the toy though, it's like an autofetcher and it's all dog.

 

[chickfused]

OK. Now that we've moved in, we are completely not housetrained. It's pretty clear it's because she doesn't equate house to kennel though. She won't go in her barn at all. This is not fun

(She voluntarily went into her crate though, so maybe we're at the start of getting there.)

 

[NatJ]

OK. Now that we've moved in, we are completely not housetrained. This is not fun :

Could you put in a doggie door? I've found that a dog door, with a small fenced pen inside the house (using kid gates or similar) and a fenced area outside, makes housetraining MUCH easier!

If you want a dog door temporarily, there are some panels that you can put in a sliding glass door. They tend to leak air and maybe insects around the edges, so not convenient for long-term use, but worth it when dealing with a puppy who can't hold it for very long.