Golden Retriever goes nuts over chicks - Help!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

Your dog is a bird dog. He will always have that drive to go for the birds. That being said, it is possible, with training, for the two to coexist without craziness. I have a lab who got very excited when we first brought home chicks. He was allowed to see and sniff them from a sit position but any sign of excitement and I would order him into a down position. When they finally went out to the tractor and run, he would run around it at first checking them out. Be sure that I was also out watching him. He now lays out there with me while they freerange for a couple hours before their bedtime (mostly cause he wants to make sure they arent getting some treat that he would like to eat as well!). He has learned that he is not allowed to touch my chickens and the chickens pretty much ignore him. I would never trust him alone with them however, the obedience training that I did with him has paid off in that I know that any command I give him is immediately obeyed. You have to work with your dog and if he is young, this will take time, repetiion and consistancy but the payoff is great! My lab is an old man now (12) but he is pretty good at "guarding" the chickens as well as leaving them alone.

 

[Cindy in PA]

While I agree with most of what has been said, a "bird dog" is supposed to find birds & fetch dead birds, they are not meant to kill birds. That being said, I have two field bred English springers (not trained for hunting) and they can never be alone with chickens. I did have a lab previously that was great and never went after my free ranging chickens after the first time she tried. It is true that dogs with high drive are harder to control.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

You won't be able to really trust a bird dog with birds. I have one dog that I thought was half dead- slept 22-23 hours a day and now that we have chickens she can be found trying to dig around the chicken coop 22 hours a day. She is a springer Spainel and is LOVING the chickens- as food- have lost 3 to her teeth. The first day we had the chickens I had two helpers that left a door open to a darn dog in the blink of an eye she had two down and one several out the door- I caught a few but the rest I thought were goners. Thankfully at bedtime they came back to the door to be let in.

She also dug under the brooder box and let a few chicks out- one either she ate or was lost and couldn't find it's way back to home as I found 3 outside the brooder box (whom I had given up on).

Our other dog is a lab and so far has little interest in the chickens- but I think when I try free ranging I will have both locked up.

 

[Beekissed]

You won't be able to really trust a bird dog with birds

This is a fallacy that is oft repeated on this forum. It should have to come with an addendum: You won't be able to really trust a bird dog with birds.....because I don't trust mine.

There are many, many people on here with bird dogs, hunting dogs, high prey dogs that can and do trust their dogs with their free range flock at all times. Its been posted over and over. I have always had labs and lab mix dogs and I trust them implicitly....and for a good reason. They've never let me down. Ever.

I've been free ranging for many years now with these types of dogs and I find them to be entirely trustworthy when it comes to my livestock, birds, rabbits, etc.

It all comes down to your relationship with your dogs. These kinds of dogs want to please you, they love to work and they love praise. You need to be the kind of person that evokes those traits more than the unpleasant ones. They don't require excessive leash training....I've never used a leash on my dogs unless we are going out in public.

My youngest lab/BC mix is hyper, a stone cold killer of all small game and quick as a snake....but will hold a dead chick tenderly in his mouth if I give him one. He sits and looks at me for direction and when I tell him he can "have it", will place it gently on the ground and walk away. He also loves to nurture injured chicks and has been seen licking them and snuggling with the whole flock of 20 meaty chicks I had this spring.

My first lab would point at escaped baby bunnies until we would take him off point and recover our truants. He also would baby sit young rabbits when we let them out on the grass.

My older lab/GP is truly the most gentle of all and will chastise the younger if he is too rough while playing with a cat.

My hyper lab/bc was 7 mo. when he was first introduced to chickens. By that time he was fully trained to my wishes and it only took approx. 20 min. total to train him on chickens. And he was not on a leash when this occured.

It can be done and Golden's are intelligent, gentle, receptive dogs....use those traits and really try to connect with him. Heck, I've even trained my cats to leave chicks alone...if you can train a cat you can train a good dog!