Help with my dog who wants to eat my chickens!

[getaclue]

sourland gave you some good advice. Invisible fencing, and a shock collar, with training are a good solution.

 

[Sueby]

You said he knows basic obedience, so he is smart and trainable. This is a good sign. For any new skill start without any distraction. Maybe pick a quiet room in your home. Grab a lawn chair and an old towel and lots of treats and maybe a leash depending how things go. Lay the towel on the floor next to the chair and take a seat and wait. Any time your dog comes and stands on the towel reward him, pet him, give him a treat. You must stay calm and seated the whole time. Eventually your dog will learn you want him to be there by your side. Once he gets this figured out do not reward him until he is sitting next to you on the towel. Once he gets this figured out do not reward him until he is laying down next to you on the towel. This could take a few weeks. A training session is done when your dog is bored and no longer engaged, maybe 10-15 minute sessions 3 times a day. Your dog is learning to be calm and still and the towel and lawn chair anre now visual cues to help achieve this desired behavior. Next move. Do this is a new room of the house. Maybe a familiar person strolls in and out of the picture. Eventually move outside. Pick a part of the yard with the least distraction. Eventually move to where the chicken run is visible at a distance, eventually sit in the lawn chair and spread out the towel next to the run fence. One day you will not need the chair or the towel or to be present with your dog. It will take time and consistency. It will not be perfect. Chickens making sudden movements will likely always be exciting. Hopefully your dog will be less excited and see that you do not find the chickens exciting and will not need to bark constantly to alert you to the boring chickens.

Very interesting, I am going to give that a shot. He is definitely trainable, it's me that had no clue how to go about it. Thank you!

 

[Sueby]

sourland gave you some good advice. Invisible fencing, and a shock collar, with training are a good solution.

He can't get to the pen so it's not that I need to teach him to stay away from them, I just want him to be calm when he sees them across the yard. I'm not sure I'd trust myself with a shock collar. He is never loose in the yard, he would be gone in half a second if he saw a chippy, no matter how well he was trained! He is either in his pen that has a doggie door to the house or on a run (with his collar & harness clipped together because he has been known to chew through the harness or back out of the collar to get to me, lol).

 

[chkva]

I wish Patrick could catch the chippies like yours catches mice! We have so many of the little buggers around here, we could do with a few less.

All in all it's not a big deal, I would just love for him to be chill with it all.

I didn't even know that the beagle could hunt mice until one night when she did it. She was an owner surrender because she could no longer hunt and became gun shy all of a sudden (according to owner). They basically had her living outside for a few years because she couldn't hunt so it has taken a lot of training to make her a house dog. She now sleeps in the bed and gets fresh eggs for breakfast... I believe once they have that hunting instinct you can't break them of it. I know you can give dogs melatonin to calm them down, I give it to the beagle in thunderstorms. Maybe offering treats when he doesn't act a fool will make him realize you don't like when he's barking and such.

 

[Sueby]

Aw, poor girl! Thankfully she has a good life now. Clearly she can still hunt those mice!

Patrick is young still & was an outdoor dog, we believe either a stray or just tied outside. He was 12lbs (now 28), has lots of battle scars, is missing the tip of his ear & was very obviously never in a house as he was petrified of the TV, the fan, a candle, water & food bowls, slippery floors, etc.

He had it rough so I don't want to be too hard on him when in reality it's not that big of a deal, he will never get to the chickens to kill one. I just want it to not get him so worked up & stressed out. I'm going to give PirateGirls calming training a try now that I know how to start. I think he could use that on more than one level. LOL.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions, thank you all for taking the time to read & comment.

 

[Raptorsgocluck]

I had this same issue with my Pitt mix. He would constantly freak out and bark at the chickens wanting to use them as squeak toys. He will never be trusted with them but I got him to a point of kinda ignoring them when they are within sight. Basically used a step program where (always on a training leash) got him to sit and relax from a good distance with the chickens in sight. Giving a treat and praise when he was being good. Moved into the fence with the chicks and did the same. Over time (weeks) moving a little closer to the flock each time we went out. He would try to run at them and I just had to keep yanking on the leash getting him to sit quietly and just look. Always praising and giving treats for being good and sitting relaxed. Eventually I would call the chickens over (holding the dog by the collar) and let them eat a few feet away while praising the dog for being good and relaxed. After he got used to that I walked him around the chickens and every time he went to lunge at them Yank the leash. Always praising and treats after a successful close pass of a chick without lunging at it. Now every time I feed the chicks I get him to lay down and hold his collar and they get right up against him while constantly praising the dog. He wants to go at em and would if I turned my back. But it's still a work in progress. Took about a month and a half of working with him to get to this point. Baby steps and constant praise for good behavior are the key. The whole process is time consuming but totally worth it. Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[Sueby]

That is awesome news, there might be hope yet, lol. Thank you so much for sharing what you did, I will work on that too.

 

[Sueby]

Now if it would only stop raining so I could sit outside & work on this with him...

 

[Raptorsgocluck]

Actually working with him like that helped a HUGE amount with training him and his overall attitude. Just walking him down the road he responds so much better to commands and won't try to chase after a squirrel or make friends with someone passing by unless I let him. It was a lot of work but it payed off a huge amount in the long run.

 

[PirateGirl]

Now if it would only stop raining so I could sit outside & work on this with him...

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