great pyrenese

[Beekissed]

@Bee... now that is a good description of a "HOW." The details are great. That is what us non-dog trainers need! Thanks.

I can see that working but I believe he would need a shock collar on. I don't see "MY CHICKEN!" working. I can see him with the chicken in his mouth running across the field with me chasing him with my gimp knee hollering "MY CHICKEN!!! BRING BACK MY BLASTED CHICKEN!!!". hahaha The rest is do-able. Thanks. I'm sure Devil Roo would love to help me out. LOL

I had to laugh right out loud at the mental picture of that...... The "my chicken" only works if you have already established that some things are yours and not for touching.

My food. My cat. My chair. Some folks use "leave it" but I use "My _____".

"No licking" is another...Jake is a compulsive licker and had to be trained on it.

 

[Triple Willow]

       I had to laugh right out loud at the mental picture of that......    The "my chicken" only works if you have already established that some things are yours and not for touching.    My food.  My cat.  My chair.  Some folks use "leave it" but I use "My  _____". 

"No licking" is another...Jake is a compulsive licker and had to be trained on it. 

Oh yeah, I had to laugh just thinking about it. lol Ohh my dog is a licker too and I hate that. How in the world did you break him from that?

...we have a "don't bother that" but I don't know if it will translate to chickens or not.

 

[Beekissed]

When he was just a pup he'd start licking and I'd time my grab right when that tongue was sticking out and I'd grab his muzzle, trapping his tongue between his own teeth, press down, shake his muzzle and say sternly "no licking!". All the while the dog will struggle to get away but that annoyance they feel just reinforces the negative reinforcement of the correction. It was the funniest thing to see that tongue sticking out of his muzzle and flopping up and down as I did a quick shake and "no licking" but it didn't take long before all I had to say was "no licking" and now I don't have to say it unless he really gets excited and forgets himself...very rarely does he forget. He now knows he is only allowed to lick when I offer my cheek to him and allow it. He is still not allowed to lick anyone else, though.

I had to train him on this for Lucy's sake too...he kept licking one of her ears until it was red and raw which, of course, necessitated licking it even more, in his eyes...she has an ou-ie and it must be licked, can't you see? Silly dog. I think Border Collies are prone to obsessive behaviors if you let them have free reign.

 

[nzpouter]

I have a Aussie-Lab mix. He is a very smart dog, perfect manners and all around great dog. He was 8 when I brought the chickens in. He will hang out among the birds, lay around with them, walk around them and usually never bothers them. But he can not be trusted alone with them at all. Especially if they start squawking or flapping their wings he gets excited and will go after them. One day for whatever reason he picked out one certain pullet and went after her. He acted like he did not even have ears, he was on a mission to get that pullet even running right past all the others to get her. Just as I caught him he had caught her and had her in his mouth. He does seem to keep everything ran off except stray dogs. When he is in his pen he is about 3 feet away from one coop/run so he also gets a lot of exposure to them that way. I believe the only thing that will work is a shock collar but I just haven't invested in one yet. Maybe now that the weather is better I will get around to that.

we try to learn all the signs dogs that pass through our gate shows towards birds and other animals before we even let them walk on leash among them. Plenty of things that'll set them off where we are but we stop them as soon as they show their interests, they learn to know what they can/ cannot hunt around here after a while.
The pullet that your dog zeroed in just reminds me of something... my dogs can hunt rats and swamp hens among my ducks without touching any of them and their ducklings...

 

[Triple Willow]

Ahh Jake was trained on chickens as a puppy. If I'd had the chickens when this dog was a puppy I bet he'd be fine now... maybe hopefully. He is really a good dog.

 

[Triple Willow]

we try to learn all the signs dogs that pass through our gate shows towards birds and other animals before we even let them walk on leash among them. Plenty of things that'll set them off where we are but we stop them as soon as they show their interests, they learn to know what they can/ cannot hunt around here after a while.
The pullet that your dog zeroed in just reminds me of something... my dogs can hunt rats and swamp hens among my ducks without touching any of them and their ducklings...

How do you stop them when they show interest in something?

That is what my dog did. He ran through the whole flock a couple times after that one pullet and didn't touch any of the rest of them.

What is a swamp hen? Never heard of them.

 

[nzpouter]

just a firm "leave it!" they're still on leash at that time.

Swamp hens/ pukeko/ ducklings killers...

 

[Beekissed]

With cattle dogs those early warning signs are easy to recognize....they get that "look" in their eyes, the head goes low, the ears go forward and you can feel that body tense and start to quiver. With other dogs the head comes up, with the cattle dogs the head goes lower, the eyes lock on...almost a dead stare. I think their stare is sometimes scarier than when bigger breeds show that sort of attention...collies have that stare down pat. They get very still right before that explosion happens...watch for that calm before the storm.

 

[Triple Willow]

just a firm "leave it!" they're still on leash at that time.

Swamp hens/ pukeko/ ducklings killers...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/6224071/[IMG][/QUOTE]

Okay, I see you are in New Zealand. I didn't think I had heard of a swamp hen. That's wild! Do you guys eat those things? lol

 

[City farm]

@Beekissed
 thank you so much you have been very helpful. I will wait and see if predators are even a problem but if so I will consider the lab mix!

Not sure if you have heard of this product? Someone has probably mentioned it along with different breeds.. We don't have any
other preditors other than hawks.. We are not that close to a open area for the cyotoes to come into town.. All though I have heard
they do..we had a small German Shepard that was amazing.., now we have a border collie that is always on alert. When we let the flock
out I put our new German Shepard up.. Her prey drive is high.. Do not want to take a chance..hope you find what you are looking for.. I will
reading your thread..

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...+guard+predator&sprefix=Night+guard+p,aps,717