Good small dogs for protecting flock

[Chickengene]

Good and small dog is an oxymoron.

 

[Nardo]

We have four labs and they are all quite good at helping with the chickens. I trust them all implicitly. They can come and go in the run and when the chickens are out to free range, I make sure to have the dogs out also to protect the hens from any predators.

 

[mixedbreeds]

It takes me about 6 to 8 months to train one of my dogs to be a good bird hunting dog it doesn’t stop there though. The training and reassurance continues throughout there life. My current Lab was 5 years old when I got chickens this last time, he had never seen one at that point. It took right at 3 weeks working with him to be nice to the chickens, after that I had no problem leaving him alone with them. He is 9 years old now and loves the chickens and they don’t pay any attention to him either. If another dog shows up they freak out but they do that with some people to.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Just wondering if there’s a smaller breed of dog that’s good for guarding chickens? I know corgis are good, but what else? I’m looking into buying a dog but also using it to guard the flock, especially since we want them to be free range in the day

I hate to agree, but most of the good flock dogs I've seen have been large. My german shepherd mix is amazing with the chickens. She barks at hawks and stays right by the girls all day. They jump on her and she is fine with it. Smaller dogs tend to bark at the chickens.

 

[m1chelle1]

No small dog will be safe out there with coyotes or larger dogs. a guardian dog needs to be large enough to intimidate coyotes, at least, and be likely to survive an encounter.
I agree that large terriers would be very difficult! The Chessies and the German Shorthair that I raised from puppyhood learned early to ignore the chickens, but I had them at the house, not living out there with the flock.
Having an actual LGD living with the flock, or better yet, two of them, will be an expensive and long term project, and include good fencing.
Electric fencing is much easier to manage, and much less expensive!
Mary

glad someone got to this point before me... x2 on the "LGD's need to be large enough to intimidate predators" point. Ive known many LGD's and have done loads of research on other livestock guard animals (Llama, Donkey, etc) and SIZE is a huge deterrent, in and of itself. Im not sure id personally recommend looking for a "smaller" dog, for this specific purpose. Also not sure if this has been covered but LGD's and other guard animals are supposed to be with the flock or animals they are guarding 100% of the time, they are a part of the flock and it is their total job to protect the flock, not be a pet. So im not sure the allure of having a smaller dog do this job
Hope that helps, good luck

 

[m1chelle1]

I have a female border collie who was raised with my second batch of chicks. She is AWESOME with them. She mostly ignores them, except when it’s time to let them out, she excitedly waits at their gate. I control her position in the yard with the ball. The chickens are only allowed free range time when the dog is with me to deter predators.
I believe she would attempt to protect them from anything. Once we had a maintenance guy here and when her leaned over to say hello to the chickens, my dog went ape sh*t. She also chase off anything that doesn’t live here. Another time, my friend brought her huskie by and when she saw the bunnies, she went crazy. My dog was very upset and was trying to call off the other dog. A third time, my neighbors bullmastiff wandered into the yard. He’s probably too slow to catch anything, but he’s huge. Before I even saw him, Lexi ZOOMED across the yard straight toward him, circled him, and then got right in his face. I think she might have been protecting the flock. I haven’t trained her for any of these things, but she knows they are part of the family. She does know “leave it.” We also have our own word, “gentle,” and she understands that, too. Sometimes she she’s zooming after a ball and doesn’t see a chicken in her path, I yell “gentle!” and she’ll look for the bird and change course.

Having said all that, for strictly guarding, I’d go Great Pyrenees. However, border collies are super smart and eager to please. Mine has been great with my flock, I think mostly because I’m her main person and she knows the birds are dear to me. She’s a good girl!

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Shes so cute!! Border collies are such intelligent and great "farm dogs"!!

 

[m1chelle1]

My lab is also a hunting dog geese, ducks, quail and pheasants. He loves the chickens and would never harm one, I have had boxes of chicks in the house and he doesn’t bother them at all. He also does chance off hawks he seen me yell at a couple of red tail hawks sitting above the barn and now if they land anywhere near the chickens he runs and barks till they fly and chases them to my property line. He does not do that when I’m hunting. To BS to the chicken killing lab comment you need to know how to train a dog period.

id agree. my lab knows the difference between wild animals and pets; period. She never has chased or been aggressive to pet: rabbits, birds (all kinds), cats, etc. And shes been around a lot of farm and small pet animals in her life. She HAS adamantly chased wild squirrel, possum, rabbits, birds (all kinds), even feral cats etc. She just knows the difference

 

[Ghosty]

Good and small dog is an oxymoron.

The thing about small dogs being bad is just plain silly. I don't see many oxymorons, but I do see plenty of ummm people out there that just can't handle a puppy and give up quickly. Let me tell you, it takes less time to train a puppy than a child, but you need to be equally committed. If you haven't researched your breed and know what to expect and know how to get past any issues, you aren't committed. Every breed can have it's drawbacks, it is up to you to know what those are and that you can handle it and train them to act properly. My Cairn just loved to run outside barking and chase the wild birds off the feeders. I allowed her to. When I got chickens, I broke her of that easily, a years long habit. She has been trained to stay on a few properties over the years without a fence of any kind. She loves to ride in a car, and has been on many 15 hour trips on vacation with us. She is just an all around dog. She does like to run outside and bark and has to on a regular basis, but I like that. Say what you want, and there are a lot of small breeds that aren't for me, but there are plenty of great ones out there.
There are many foo foo small breeds out there, but also plenty of very intelligent, working type dogs. My Cairn Terrier has been roaming the same fields as coyotes since she was young. She lays with the chickens (not eggs). She is the smartest, best dog I've ever had, and has been my best friend for life. She is getting older now, and Idk what I will do without her.
I got two Border Collie/Great Pyrenees mixes and I can tell you they come with issues of their own. Pyrs are very large, very physical dogs. My 80 lb cross male can hurt you with one friendly swipe of his paw. They play fight and chase one another roughly on a regular basis. My female has more collie in her and always wants to jump up and kiss you on the mouth, and they both have issues jumping up. They are very good dogs too, and very smart, but come with big dog issues and I have to keep them up a lot of the time until I get a fence up. I know they need full freedom before they will calm down fully, and I am working on that. They are trained to stay on the property, but need monitoring, especially the male, who wants to dart off after what he sees as a problem or a friend. Honestly, LGD's ARE NOT BRED FOR CHICKEN'S, nor are Border Collies, or Cairns, or any dog I know of. Any breed will take effort, even if you find a gem. If you want a coop dog, you make the coop it's home. I got bigger dogs to protect my kids and and smaller dog from other DOGS in my new neighborhood, more than just for the birds, or fear of wild animals.

 

[Grateful Ed]

MUTTS! ....really?
The three guardian dogs i have now are mixed breeds.
I think any dog can be trained to not to kill chickens, and be protecive of your yard.
I started with an Austrailen Shepherd who just naturally guarded the property from anything he knew did not belong. Most dogs do this by instinct. Got him as a pup and he was repromanded at an early age to know chickens are part of the yard and not playthings. He (Momo) trained 2 of the dogs i have now to do the job. Its really quite simple.
1. Keep the farm clear of what does not belong.
2. Leave the chickens be, they are not playthings.
Current dogs i have now are,
Austrailen Cattle Dog/border Collie mix
Austrailen shepherd/Pit Bull mix
3rd dog is a German Shepherd/Lab mix adult rescue. She is learning from the other 2, but her favorite thing to do is chase butterflys and moths. Go figure...
Below is last summer, Momo at age 13 (since passed away) and June the butterfly chaser with some of our guineas.
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Nothing wrong with mutts, they're good dogs! I'm not knocking any breed of dog, I'm just stating my preference!!

 

[Grateful Ed]

My teeny mutt alerts us to everything. She isn't necessarily protective of the chickens, but she lets us know if there are stray cats, squirrels, large birds, small birds, lizards, airplanes, the mailman, the neighbors, bicycles, children, motorcycles....

Wait - I guess she's just noisy and high strung.

Not a great guard dog, but she killed an opossum a couple of years back (before we got chickens). She is GREAT with the chickens because she knows her place with them. But I do NOT trust her around chicks!

It all goes back to your needs. I live in a semi-rural area. There is no need for my dog to run off coyote or anything like that. Anything steps foot (or paw or talon) in our yard, little high-strung Hattie runs em off or lets us know.

Such a spaz.
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Hattie is a beautiful dog, she kind of looks like our Doby dog with shorter hair. We lost her a year ago just before Christmas. She was also a mutt and a damn good dog! We miss her high strung ways....