Houdini Dog strikes again!

[Queen of the chickens]

Our rescue Samoyed has broken into our chicken coop and run more than once. She has killed chickens in the past so we rebuilt our run last summer using cattle panel wrapped in chicken wire. We have double locks on each gate as well. We believed there was no way for her to get into the run, however she has done it now. . .twice! As hard as it is to believe, that 45 lb. dog with her winter coat can squeeze through a 4 in X 6 in opening in the cattle panel! She pushes the chicken wire out of her way (chewing through if she has too to free is from the zip-ties we use to secure the chicken wire to the fence) and then goes in. Fortunately, the last two times I have found her wandering around the run and the chickens sleeping peacefully on their roosts in the coop. I'm not sure why she has not gone into the coop the last two times. She has done so before. I am sure she could smell them. I know she could fit through their door if she fit through the fence. I also find it hard to believe that I "caught her just in time" both times. In any case, I am glad she didn't kill any.

I am fond of this dog and don't want to get rid of her, but no matter how vigilant we are, eventually she slips out the door with out being seen. She would never go near the coop if I am outside, but if she knows I'm not out there, that's right where she goes. Any ideas on what more we can do to secure the run and/or train her to stay away?

 

[sourland]

Electric fencing would probably be very effective in this situation. Samoyeds have a strong prey drive so I doubt that she will ever be trustworthy around your birds unsupervised.

 

[Queen of the chickens]

You are right. We have one we can set up, we have just hesitated because there's not a convenient way to wire the gate. Worried that she will just go through it and avoid the fence. I think sometimes they can sense the electric current, or lack there of. She really isn't a good farm dog and I am hoping my son will be able to take her with him when he is out of college. Her daughter (which we also adopted) is a mix of Samoyed, Old English Sheep Dog, Min-Pin, and other breeds too diluted to show up on the DNA test. Because of those other breeds, and because she was raised as a puppy with them, she is much more trustworthy. She likes to chase them, and I'm not saying she wouldn't catch and kill one, but she doesn't seek them out and minds when I call her back. In fact two years ago when she was barely more than a pup she found a baby chick that had escaped the run. I saw it about the same time she did, but she was quicker picking it up in her mouth. I told her to "drop it" and I must have sounded serious because she spit the chick right out. The chick was fine, just a little slobbers on it. The expression on her face was pretty comical!

 

[beefmaster]

as said about all you can do is put a hotwire round your coop an run.you might can try getting the dog shocked by the hotwire once its installed.

 

[sourland]

A piece of meat on the fence is enough to get the dog to investigate. Once shocked is generally enough for even a high prey drive dog.

 

[Queen of the chickens]

Good idea.