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

[Paz]

I’m not very good with teaching clock commands, so for that you should contact your trainer.
If you have any more questions, go ahead and ask me.

 

[chickfused]

NOTE: she is an English shepherd, she herds. She may chase them because she likes to see they move by her command, don’t worry about it too much.

I left her, because she can't really harm them yet. And when I went back out, she was laying calmly next to them, and they too were calm and doing normal chicken things. I would think if there was a real problem, the chickens would be completely freaked out by her. So we're going to continue with watching and waiting. And I will also take your other excellent advice! Thank you!

 

[Geena]

I left her, because she can't really harm them yet.

Adorable puppy!
I don't think that's a good idea. Chasing leads to catching, which will eventually lead to pinning them down and gnawing on them, or worse.
A dog is not going to actually bond with chickens, whether it lives in the coop with them or not. Dogs are predatory animals and instinctually know what prey is, and a chicken is a prey animal.
Your pup can learn to leave the chickens alone and even to protect them through training and guidance. IMO leaving the puppy alone in with the chickens is a recipe for disaster.
You should check out this thread
English Shepherd as poultry guardian

 

[chickfused]

Interesting thread. I do hope there will not be losses, but this person seems to have an entirely different approach than I do to guardian dog work. My puppy has slept with the chickens since night 1. She chases them nearly always only in the morning and we'll be doing morning chores with the leash on going forward. The rest of the day she sits right in with them, 2 feet away, chewing on her chewy bone and really just hanging out with them. She shares her food with them even. She doesn't have any other dogs to work with or distract her, they are her only companions other than me. I don't trust her in the slightest, but if it IS going to work, it's going to have to work now. I'm willing to take the chance and hope she doesn't kill any of my favorites.

 

[NatJ]

Welp, she has now decided they are for chasing. Not a pleasant development.

Have you considered putting the puppy in a pen next to the chickens, instead of having her in the actual chicken pen? That way she couldn't chase them or hurt them when you are not available to supervise. Of course you could let her actually be with the chickens when you are available to supervise.

She chases them nearly always only in the morning and we'll be doing morning chores with the leash on going forward. The rest of the day she sits right in with them, 2 feet away, chewing on her chewy bone and really just hanging out with them. She shares her food with them even.

She probably does have a lot of energy in the morning. Does she have a safe way to use that energy?

Maybe you could take her to a place without chickens (like the yard outside their pen), and let her run and play and use up the energy in a safe way before putting her back in with them. She might enjoy chasing a person, or being chased by a person, or chasing a ball, or fetching something, or playing tug-of-war. If you have two people available, you could also practice "come" by calling her back and forth so she runs across the yard from one to the other, and each time she comes to a person she gets some petting and praise, or gets fed some of her breakfast, or gets some food treat, or whatever motivates her. I know you don't want to encourage her to chase, grab, or tug on chickens, so I'm not sure what kinds of play might be appropriate (is it better to chase a ball than a chicken, or to chase nothing at all?)

 

[chickfused]

Have you considered putting the puppy in a pen next to the chickens, instead of having her in the actual chicken pen? That way she couldn't chase them or hurt them when you are not available to supervise. Of course you could let her actually be with the chickens when you are available to supervise.


She probably does have a lot of energy in the morning. Does she have a safe way to use that energy?

A secondary pen isn't really possible just yet, but isn't entirely out of the picture! I'll likely bring her in the house if she is untrustworthy and big enough to actually hurt them, but she needs more than 1-2 hours of elimination control given my work schedule. So I'm hoping to get a few more weeks before we may have to do that. She can go 4 hours at night already without eliminating, and I only have to get up once a night to let her out of the barn. She hasn't had an accident inside at night in a few days. We shouldn't be too far off for a reasonable waking elimination schedule if she's doing that well from what I've read.

We do a perimeter patrol, chores, and playtime every morning and night, but I think when it's time to be done, she might be overstimulated like a little kid. I think I may need to actually give her _less_ exercise than she's getting in the mornings. I've been giving her a ton because of her breed supposedly being very active and needing lots of exercise, but perhaps I'm doing too much. We're learning together she and I. Let's see what tomorrow brings with a bit less gogogo first thing in the morning.

 

[NatJ]

We do a perimeter patrol, chores, and playtime every morning and night, but I think when it's time to be done, she might be overstimulated like a little kid. I think I may need to actually give her _less_ exercise than she's getting in the mornings.

That is an interesting point. Maybe less exercise or less excitement, or maybe naptime after the excitement, or something like that.

We're learning together she and I.

 

[chickfused]

I can always bring her inside for a nap too if the leashing doesn't help, and take her out after an hour or two of recovery post-morning stuff. We'll get there.

 

[chickfused]

I should probably also note that she comes from generations of working dogs and was raised on a farm with regular exposure to all sorts of small and large livestock from the time she could walk. She had already met some chickens by the time she came to live with me. She also reeeeally wants to be friends with the cats. They are not so inclined.

 

[chickfused]

So this morning we avoided the amped up phase, and there was no chicken chasing. Fingers crossed we found the key.