Great Pyrenees/anatolian got a chick

[CedarRanch]

I’ve been working with my boy for months now. He’s 10 months old. Around 7 months old he began chasing chickens, never killing just playing. At that point we fully separated dog & chickens. He was only around them with me and then immediately back on the chain or fenced in. A few months of this went by and he showed great behaviors and has since been allowed near them without as much supervision. We’ve not had any other incidents with any of our full grown flock. However we had a silkie chick get out of the coop and disappear. We never saw him with it. A few days later the head ends up on the porch. Recently another chick ran out of the coop while I was gathering eggs and he was outside the door waiting for me, saw the chick and immediately tried to get it. He was very clearly trying to attack/kill. I was able to recall and chick was put back into the coop. Is it possible this is just due to the size of the chicks? We just got rid of our family dog because after 2 years of training we could not break her of killing our birds. I’d like to avoid that here but finding that he DID kill our chick makes me wonder if he’s still redeemable. Obviously we will be separating again and going back to training. Just curious if he attacked the silkie because it was so different from the other chickens we have. He does a great job with deterring hawks, vultures, and other aerial threats. He also alerts with coyotes. He’s showing great potential but having a dog that we absolutely could not break of killing has me on edge since he has now killed too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

He needs to be taught to leave the chickens alone. The more he's left in the company of them without constant supervision the deeper the behavior develops. He's still a pup, and needs more training and supervision. Not all have the instincts, nor know what's to be guarded. There are a few threads in the Livestock forum about keeping livestock guardian dogs. Perhaps there's some folks that can give some better advice. I've taught other breeds to leave the chickens alone, but I've never trained one to guard them. I have read it takes a while before people actually leave them with the stock full time.

 

[SourRoses]

Today we watched our neighbors Livestock Guardian dog torture one of his geese.
We don't have a solid way to communicate with the neighbor who wasn't home and we aren't brave/dumb enough to go confront a strange dog.
So we were asking ourselves the question... "Why, why, why does he leave the dogs alone out with the flocks when he's been witness to them chasing the chickens and sheep so often?!" (apparent by the yelling).

IMO it seems like too many people buy into a breed hype. When the behavior of any dog probably has more to do with the relationship it has with humans.

My last Jack Russell terrier was incorrigible on every obedience matter, despite our family having lots of experience with the breed. I did eventually teach him to stop leaping at the chick brooder when I was handling them by showing extreme possessive behavior (growling, not letting him come close to "my brooder" at any time). In that case, none of his interest behaviors were cute or acceptable. And he did finally learn and kept his distance when I was handling chicks, no matter how fresh and squeaky they were.
So I think that the problem starts a lot sooner than the actual chasing. It starts with little tests to see what you mind. Even with a fence between, your dog should not be showing any interest in the flock, long before you try them back together. And not unsupervised either.
* Not a trainer, just opinionated.

 

[Penpal]

Have you taught your dog "leave it". He shows interest in a chick or hen and you say the 'leave it' command. Not "no". No is too vague and common.

Dogs this size take a long time to grow up. On the positive side, you still have time to train him. On the negative side, it's going to take longer than with a Dobermann or border collie.