How do I introduce my dogs to my chickens/chicks?

[ragerkid2]

I have a doberman and a min pin... How should I introduce the dogs and the chickens??? My chicks are about 5 and 3 weeks old they will be free ranging all over the property as well will the Doberman (whenever we are out side she will be), the min pin is old and will stay inside most of the time. (only to go out to Pee)

 

[fshinggrl]

My golden retriever sees the chicks from day one and I would not trust her alone with any.chicken. good luck.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
X2
When I'm there, yeah sure. My dogs listen. When I'm not there? Too tempting. Love my dogs, love my chickens. Keep them seperate.

 

[Dutchgirl]

Our Standard poodle would not dream of catching a chicken. He wanders alone with them daily and is more interested in eating their food than eating them.
At first he did want them, but he learned that we were VERY angry if he chased them. He does chase the rabbit, though, and I would not trust him with her. Our dog is actually terrified of the duck. I've tried holding the duck next to him and touching him with the duck, but he flinches and runs away.

He's a scaredy-cat, really.

 

[Kassaundra]

We have a lab/rot mix who I would trust implicitly w/ the chickens she is actually afraid of them. We have a wiener dog who is absolutly untrustworthy, he is a velcro dog w/ me and is devastated if I show any displeasure in him at all, but that does not stop him, even though we do not free range 2 girls got in his area (seperate occasions) he attacked and killed them both (and he is only 11 lbs.)

 

[Hinotori]

I taught my dogs the "Mine" command from the moment I got them. Mine means they can't ever have it. When I brought home the chicks I showed them and told them mine. I repeated this regularly.

My mixed boy dog finally got over his fear of them but he's totally uninterested in them. My old 12 pound schipperke took a vibrating collar and weeks to get her to quit barking and digging to get them. She was untrustworthy around them. My german shep likes the chickens a lot. They have always interested her. They can climb over her and she just let's them. Im teaching her how to herd them to help me round them up from ranging.

So it all depends on the dog itself. Some just really really want that chicken dinner.

 

[gritsar]

Not trying to sound like a smart butt here, AT ALL, but all you have to do is go read the Predators and Pests section of BYC. See how many times the beloved family dog that ALWAYS listened, ALWAYS loved the chicks one day turned into the worst predator ever.

 

[Pinx]

My Boxer is fine with anything if I am around, he acts like he doesn't even notice them. If a dog happens to come up to the fence or someone he doesn't know comes up, he attacks the first thing he can get to ( I guess out of frustration), Usually its my doberman that he gets because... well she is there. So he will NEVER be allowed around any of my chickens unsupervised, to many variables and he is already half cocked. lol

My Doberman has a high prey drive.I have been slowly introducing her to the chicks... I was sitting right there with her on one side and the chicks right in front of me. I was watching EXTREMELY close cause I don't trust her, well she did it. She snatched up my silkie... I yelled "hey" she looked at me with 2 black little chick legs hanging out of her mouth. I told her to drop it and she spit out a sopping wet little chick that was traumatized. (Chick is now 7 weeks old.) SO I have decided she doesn't get near the chicks unless she has a muzzle on, just to be safe. I have already kicked around the idea of finding the biggest baddest, turkey, goose or whatever to pen her up with for about 5 minutes, put a muzzle on her and let that bird put the fear of God in her.... but I don't have a bird that could do it lol.

I think its to risky to leave a dog with an animal like chickens. A friendly game could turn into a blood bath very easily.
Now I'm not saying that there aren't dogs that can be left alone with chickens.... but I'm not going to trust any dog around my flock.

 

[Montanamom]

I would not trust any of my dogs. Our rat terrier is mild mannered about the whole thing but our pomapoo has been having a bark fest for 5 days. So we have had to move our chicks to our bathroom and shut 2 doors to calm her down.Still to cold to move them to the hen house yet.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Quote:
X2! There are stories about dogs good with chickens, for every one of those there are countless more about the dog who one day slaughtered all the chicks/chickens resulting in yet another sad post on this forum.

I've had a couple dogs who were good with the chickens, the rest were not. These days, for the sake of the chickens, I prefer to keep dogs and chickens completely separate.