how many of you let your chickens free range...and have a dog??

[calboy147]

I let my chickens free-range out with my dogs and I have never had an issue. However, I worry about my neighbors dogs or random stray dogs that will pass through. If a dog is not trained to respect small animals at a young age then they will most likely have a very strong prey instinct to chase chickens. My golden retriever/irish setter mix was never trained around chickens when he was a puppy, but we had rabbits at the time and he quickly learned that they need to be respected. When I got my first chicks I gradually introduced him to the chicks and he treated them exactly how he treated my rabbits. Even though he has that bird dog instinct he knows that the chickens are family and accepts it. He will chase the ravens away and hawks which is a plus

My second dog grew up with the hens so he always had them around and never thought much of them. He is a husky greyhound mix and will chase anything small, besides my chickens, rabbits and the cat. But if he sees a stray cat then he will take off after it. He loves to chase things but I'm glad he grew up with the chickens around. I have a feeling he would have been harder to train to resist chasing the chickens.

You also need to consider wild predators when free-ranging your chickens. I live in Alaska so we have foxes, hawks, owls and other predators. Just be aware of the predators in your area. last summer I became way to comfortable with my chickens free-ranging. So this year I let them out early spring and lost a beautiful buff orp hen to ravens. Now I make sure to keep an eye out for ravens and if I see one I just let the dog out and he takes care of it. I guess in a way dogs can be helpful, or they can be destructive it depends on the personality of the dog and how they were trained. Its great if your dog has a good recall that way if they do get too excited you can hopefully recall them and get them back under control.

My flock and my sorry excuse for a dog spend all day everyday free ranging. with the exception of days i will be gone till after dark. The birds do not mind him unless he is in hyper drive chasing a tennis ball. And he is to arrogant to pay them any mind. Actually, i guess i have discovered his one redeeming quality.
Well that and he is cute as a bug's ear.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This is an old thread, but .... my flock free-ranges every afternoon from about 3:00 until they put themselves away at dusk. We have a Sheltie that I absolutely trust with them, and the chickens pretty much think she is one of them. Partly this is due to the fact that she enjoys their scratch as much as they do. I keep telling her corn isn't good for dogs, but she doesn't listen. Once in a while she plays a little game we call "bowling for chickens," which is exactly what it sounds like. She likes to run through the middle of a clutch of hens just to watch them scatter, and then she runs off laughing her fool head off. The hens then pretend she didn't frighten them at all. They are all a bunch of goofs.

 

[Tytsofie]

I’ve been a farm kid for 22 years, and we have many dogs! I would say that if this is your first flock, set the coop up outside and let the dog sniff around the coop and look inside before the chickens go into it so he can get a sense of whats going on in there (or curiosity will be irresistible). I have surprisingly never had a problem with dogs, they understood that the chickens are important too. I truly think that if your dog is a family dog then he will be of no worry. And even if the dog does get too playful, the hens (or rooster) will let him know and he may get a scratch (happened to my loveable yet doofy Cane Corso). I hope this helps.

 

[Willow2253]

Mine free range in about an acre. I have 2 dogs. One is a terrier mix, and the other is a border collie. The border collie was raised around chickens, so she’s been trained to behave around the birds. The terrier was introduced to our chicks when we got them, but always with supervision and he was always restrained. We had the chickens in a pen until they were a few months old and the dog wasn’t allowed in unsupervised. It took a few months of supervision and correcting behavior but now he’s perfectly fine around them, and until we got the border collie he would just follow them around. Every once in a while one of them will pester the chickens, but a peck on the nose usually sends them away. We still keep an eye on the dogs around young chicks but overall they’re well behaved.