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

[Aunt Angus]

Took Copper to the grocery store today where she mets lots of people and saw lots of things and heard lots of scary noises and she sniffed the hell out of the floor by the deli in the grocery store.

Also, the chickens were in their coop making distressed noises, and I went in and found a bunch of them in a circle freaking out inside. Copper was with me. She went _barreling_ through them and snapped up a mouse! No hesitation at all. Explains why she wanted to go after the babies. And she'll apparently be rat/mouse control when she's older. Who knew?

I got her a dog size squeaky slipper at the grocery store, and she's just going nuts making it squeak like the mouse did.

Sounds like a very good day!

 

[chickfused]

This is going to sound crazy, but... I've been making her sleep. Like a toddler. IE: I'm no longer getting up after 6 hours to let her out, she's going 7 now at night. I let her play and run _some_ but not until she wants to quit. When I want to quit. Then we go to a quiet place for nap time. It's helping?

Edit: Oh, and another pullet came online today, and this time I know who it is! Which means, the one I thought was laying just started today. I think her sister went first. So now I have 3 laying birds again, with about 9 more on deck.

 

[chickfused]

Oh and here's a funny thing. I was playing "which hand" with her (which hand is holding the treat) - and after she got the hang of the game, she started rapidly touching both hands, one after the other, trying to cheat!

 

[chickfused]

Two things from this morning: We went into the pen to greet the chickens and let Copper look at the babies. She was super interested, but I'm not sure if she wanted to eat them. She eventually just sat and watched. When it came time to leave the chicken pen, she just sat at the gate and begged to be left with them. It was very sad that I can't trust her anymore, she clearly wanted to spend the day with her birds. I may put a swivel stake in their pen with a 10 ft lead so she can be in there, but they can get away from her. We're no longer in any danger from heat/sun.

Also, we spent the weekend working mostly on leash manners. She's getting pretty good! I don't even have to ask her to heel anymore, she just does it after a few leash correction techniques. Now if only I could get her to stop trying to play tug of war every time...

She went a whole 7 hours in her barn overnight, no messes. If only I could get her to be house trained, you know, in the house!

Lovely dog morning. I may be falling in love with my shovel...

 

[NatJ]

Lovely dog morning. I may be falling in love with my shovel...

 

[chickfused]

Not so great evening. The shovel is back in the shed. She legitimately jumped up my back today, clawing, biting, and tearing my shirt in full lunatic mode. She was hanging off it like a pitbull hangs off a rope swing. I yelped and cried and my mom was watching and was like "I watched, and she just kept playing. Didn't care in the slightest that she'd hurt you."

Standing like a statue doesn't work, treats don't work, telling her "no" increases the aggro, yelping and crying has no effect (sometimes it increases the aggro), and timeout works but only until she ramps up the next time - it doesn't stick.

My puppy trainer might be a flake (said he'd get me his schedule today and nothing) and no one else will come where I live. So, while she was in lunatic mode, we had a 20 minute session of "Who's the Boss?" with mannered leash walking. She was so sad-mad about not being able to go everywhere she wanted to go, but after some leash corrections, she was pretty good. After the second loop of the yard, she was walking at my heel on a loose leash and paying attention to me 90% of the time and getting lots of praise. The third loop got her treats and praise. Fast pace, no time for attention wandering, lots of sit, stop, wait, let's go, with time for love and kisses, but no real long breaks. The tug of war ended.

At the end of the day, I got licks when I put her to bed. I'm desperately afraid I'm going to break this lovely girl, or make her hate me, but she cannot be like this.

In other news, she could have eaten baby chickens several times today and had no interest. I think she realizes they are chickens now. She was licking her friends this evening when I let them share a water bucket. She even licked the white chicken without any attempt at provoking play.

 

[chickfused]

Well, cautiously, today was a mostly good day. She minded absolutely beautifully all day for the most part. Only one small section of time where she was in lunatic mode - got her out of it in less than 2 minutes by literally beaning her with toys until she snapped back into focus. And she's still way too snappy when she doesn't want to be touched, moved, bothered, or whatever, but I managed to make a small inroad there. If it works, I'll share it.

As much as I hated to do it, it is clear "Who's the Boss?" helped. Is she perfect? No. Is she more interested in being my partner instead of boss? Absolutely. We will repeat that lesson as many times as needed, it clearly does not damage the relationship. It may, in fact, correct it. She was licky, playful, and seemed happy all day.

She got a mouthful of chicken today though. Just tail feathers, but she was clearly trying to play with it AS a toy vs. with a friend. It was squabbling with another chicken and flew right over her head while she was on her back playing with something - she couldn't resist a snap and was successful. Didn't chase or get off the ground, but got it in the air briefly.

 

[chickfused]

I love my shovel again. The lessons learned the other night have definitely stuck. She knows who's the boss and freakin' everyone is happy. For the most part. Puppy trainer unflaked, and is coming by tomorrow for a site visit. Things are good.

Whenever she meets the chickens now, she goes around and licks/tastes/sniffs every one of them, and then goes on about her business. It seems to be some kind of inventory. (Sidenote: I got 5 eggs today!! All the pullets are coming online!)

Anyone know how to prevent car sickness? She likes to go places and meet people and do things, and loads in willingly, but even the shortest car rides end up a mess.

 

[NatJ]

Anyone know how to prevent car sickness? She likes to go places and meet people and do things, and loads in willingly, but even the shortest car rides end up a mess.

Can you tell when she's going to throw up? Or does she take you by surprise?

I would try the obvious things that work with humans-- open a window, try to make sure they can see out, make sure it's not too hot and their stomach is not overfull, give them something else to think about (maybe a chew toy for the puppy.)

I don't know whether a small amount of food is better or worse than an empty stomach. I've seen some people that get carsick more easily if they are really hungry, so there is a chance that a dog could have that problem too.

I've also read advice for desensitizing dogs, but I've never had to try it myself. Such advice usually starts with just sitting in the car with the dog, not even turning it on, and then working up gradually over time (longer stretches in the car, turn on the car, drive down the driveway and back, drive around the block, etc.) This would typically be combined with praise, treats, and any other ideas that make the car a pleasant and relaxing place (not stressful) for the dog. (Apparently many dogs throw up in the car from stress, more than from actual motion sickness. That part may or may not apply to your puppy. But starting small and working up gradually might help anyway, no matter what the actual source of the problem is.)

 

[chickfused]

She stands up from a dead "sleep" suddenly and then it's all over. Doesn't matter if I stop the car or anything. I read dogs can have non-drowsy Dramamine and may try it. We have a 30+ minute car ride on Saturday to the vet for next shots... Gonna paper the car in puppy pads... That'll at least help me understand if it's anxiety or motion.