How do I get my dog to stop attacking?

[Beekissed]

If you are willing to put in some real intense work with this dog, this could work. If not and this seems like too much effort just for idyllic days in your hammock with all the animals living in harmony....then the secure bird pen seems to be the way to go.

I have many serene days with my high prey dogs and my free ranged flock, but this took a little work on the youngest dog. Now? It's a full on chicken/dog exstravaganza each day at my house.....I never have to worry about dog on bird slayings while I am at work or on vacation.

 

[cat]

Hi, I have a boerboel, large African mastiff. She was removed from a dog fighting ring and was very aggressive to any animal when she arrived here, especially ones that flapped and squawked in an enticing way! We spent a while observing her on a leash, watching the stages she went through BEFORE she tried to go after the birds. What we found was she would see them, go very still, watch them intently, start to shake with excitement, then lunge. Your dog may have different responses but the trick is to watch carefully to see the beginning of the behaviour not the end. It is at the beginning when the behaviour is at its lowest energy you need to apply the correction.

We used a shock collar - used properly it does not break a dog's spirit, it works as a remote correction that the dog associated with the behaviour and state of mind he is in at the time its given, rather than the human. If the dog hears the human say no then gets a shock he will work out the connection is the human, and misbehave when mum and dad aren't around. The idea is for him to think there is a direct link between him fixating on the chicken and the shock.

People want to use the lowest shock possible because they think this is kinder. Good collars are not designed to electrocute your dog and in my opinion it is kinder to give them a wallop with the collar once or twice than keep annoying them with a mild one that has to be repeated over and over. That being said, that is only my opinion and you use what you feel is appropriate. A good way to reassure yourself is to put the collar round your hand and get someone to shock you, it is just that - a shock - not some excruciating pain.

We put our chickens in a run so they were protected and left the dog off the leash so she was able to behave in her normal prey drive. As soon as she began to hone in on the chickens - sniffing round the run and trotting about is normal, zeroing in on them and going still is hunting behaviour - we zapped her. We did not say anything to her so she didn't know it came from us.

After the first zap she squeaked in shock and ran as far away from them as she could get, there was no doubt she knew it was the chickens who got her. We supervised her everytime she was allowed in the yard and she consistently avoided the chickens but was happy to play away from them. We left the collar in place and carried the remote in case we needed a reinforcement. About a month later a chicken escaped from the run and flew right over to her. Luckily we had the remote with us and as soon as she went still and fixed her gaze I zapped her. She ran away from the chicken immediately.

That was it - we now have 20 chickens who free range in the yard with her free at all times. We have never had another incident - its been more than 2 years. The latest batch of chicks used her as a perch during the summer and routinely eat her food and sit on her. she is not afraid of them, she made the connection between the unwanted behaviour and the shock.

Hope this gives you some encouragement that despite what everyone says it can be done. It takes effort and dedication and you have to be honest with yourself about whether you are prepared to put the time in, but it absolutely can be done.

 

[jeremy]

To those of you who said that a rooster couldn't keep a (smaller) dog away, try telling that to my Cuckoo Marans roo.

He held off 2 strays a few months back all by himself, making a racket until we ran out back to see what was going on.

I didn't lose a single hen and he only had some missing tail feathers.

 

[GBov]

We did something similar with our dog Cat, only they had an electric poultry mesh fence as well as us having a shock colar on the dog. By the time she got zapped by the fence and gotten a belt or two from her collar (WITHOUT being able to see us) she was convinced that chickens BITE

and bite HARD so she would stand about 5 ft away from an escaped chicken and bark at it but wouldnt get close enough for the chicken to hurt her

Oh, and chickens bite when she just stared hard at them through the fence too so it only took two belts to get that idea across too!

Gotta love them biting chickens

And I have read of beating the dog with the dead chicken till it falls to little bits being MOST effective! But I like my shock colar better, less mess

A high prey drive isnt impossible to work around, good ratters were (and are) taken into farm yards with loose chickens all teh time and they NEVER went near them, just killed rats. And whippets and grey hounds were (and still are) used to corse hares and rabbits and yet trained to leave the farm yard animals ALONE! Dogs can learn to kill one and leave the other alone, it just takes work.

Good luck with your dog and chickens!

 

[pips&peeps]

I have a schnauzer and a labrador. Neither of them would even think of trying to get one of my birds. Get a bigger stick!

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Your dogs are Hunting dogs. J
Just being small does not make them bad at hunting. My miniature Dachshund is the best hunter I have ever seen. Mice, rats, rabbits, chickens are all toast if she gets them. In fact, Dachshunds are so good catching and killing things that the AKC has developed a competition for Dachshunds and other terriers/small hunting dogs called Earthdog. It's a tracking/hunting contest. My dachshund's intesest in small animal carnage is a desirable trait that a breeder would select for. Your dogs breeds are similar. Breeders have taken generations of dogs with hunting traits to make your dog into what it is. You can train to an extent, but hunting (ratting) dogs are made to kill small animals. It's unfair to expect them to change thier whole nature. I like my Dachshund's nature. Rats don't invade my henhouse for very long with my Doxie around. Your dog's prey agression has a purpose, is what i'm getting at. Keep the dogs & chickens seperate.

Also, and this isn't directed at you or anyone in particular, but can anyone explain to me why everyone wants to mix thier dogs in with chickens? I don't get it. Why not just keep the dogs and chickens seperate?

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Hey, I was reading some posts and thought I might shed a little light on why the dog "loses interest" in the dead birds and moves on to the next one. Back in the 17 and 1800's when rodents were a huge problem, a terrier would be set on a rat nest. The dog was supposed to grab and kill as many rodents as possible before they could get away. That was the terrier dog's job probably the only reason the farmer would keep him. If the dog stopped to fool around with one rat, the rest would get away. They even used to stage pit competitions to see how many rats a dog could dispense in three or four minutes. So, again, the terrier is acting instictively.

 

[cat]

Quote:
Lots of people simply do not have the space to keep their dog and chickens separated, especially those with backyard chickens. I have quite a lot of space but I have no wish to go through what to me feels like an artificial separation system of gates and fences. I rely on my dog to guard and protect my chickens from predators, human and animal!

I understand what you are saying about prey drive, I completely agree with the whole breed bias towards hunting, however what many of us are saying is that even the most determined dog can be taught to channel their prey drive in a desirable way. After all, male dogs will scent mark their entire territory several times a day, it is an overriding biological instinct easily as strong as the desire to hunt, however most people find it relatively easy to train their dog not to pee all over the house!

Here in Ireland plenty of us still take our ratters hunting, but they are expected to live in the farmyard with the chickens and keep rats away from them and away from the feed room without ever harassing the chickens. A ratter that can't do that would find itself on the wrong end of a shotgun.

We had a dackel (dachshund) who was a terrific hunter but she knew the difference between a pet and a pest.

 

[Beekissed]

fancbrd4me02]Your dogs are Hunting dogs. J
Just being small does not make them bad at hunting. My miniature Dachshund is the best hunter I have ever seen. Mice, rats, rabbits, chickens are all toast if she gets them. In fact, Dachshunds are so good catching and killing things that the AKC has developed a competition for Dachshunds and other terriers/small hunting dogs called Earthdog. It's a tracking/hunting contest. My dachshund's intesest in small animal carnage is a desirable trait that a breeder would select for. Your dogs breeds are similar. Breeders have taken generations of dogs with hunting traits to make your dog into what it is. You can train to an extent, but hunting (ratting) dogs are made to kill small animals. It's unfair to expect them to change thier whole nature. I like my Dachshund's nature. Rats don't invade my henhouse for very long with my Doxie around. Your dog's prey agression has a purpose, is what i'm getting at. Keep the dogs & chickens seperate.

Also, and this isn't directed at you or anyone in particular, but can anyone explain to me why everyone wants to mix thier dogs in with chickens? I don't get it. Why not just keep the dogs and chickens seperate?

I free range and my dogs guard my flock from predators. If the dogs cannot reach the chickens, then they cannot reach anything eating the chickens.

My chickens have a better life when they are allowed to forage naturally for supplements in their diet. My dogs have a better life when they are able to roam throughout my acre of ground. My animals have a better life and I have not had one bird killed by any predators~nor my dogs~using this system. That means I am happier and have a better life!

I have hunting breeds who have never look twice at the chickens, one never did and the younger one took one day to train. Your assumptions that all hunting/high prey dogs are just naturally going to kill small animals is just that~an assumption. Most hunting breeds have been watered down to be pets and even though the instinct is still there, it's not quite as strong in some breeds anymore.​

 

[tazcat70]

I have a Yorkie who is trying to turn my flock into naked necks. I haven't read everything yet, but I wanted to comment about the taking of manhood. I recently got mine neutered and it did not slow him down.

Ok back to reading.