How to introduce dogs to chicks?

[Hanna710]

But not come, sit, stay, leave it?
Multiple peopled inconsistency is tough.

They know sit, stay, and one knows leave it but I'm the only one actually attempting to train them in the house

 

[Hanna710]

I just always make sure that my dogs watch me taking care of the other animals and I showed them the other animals up close everyday. I am assuming that your dogs are well trained. When you start allowing the chicks to free range when they get bigger, you can take the dogs out with them but have them always leashed and do that for a couple months until you know for sure that they will not react to the chickens. I always wait till the chickens are bigger, maybe around four or five months before I let my dogs around them, because you don’t want them to accidentally get stepped on.

We are definitely not letting then walk around them freely

I just always make sure that my dogs watch me taking care of the other animals and I showed them the other animals up close everyday. I am assuming that your dogs are well trained. When you start allowing the chicks to free range when they get bigger, you can take the dogs out with them but have them always leashed and do that for a couple months until you know for sure that they will not react to the chickens. I always wait till the chickens are bigger, maybe around four or five months before I let my dogs around them, because you don’t want them to accidentally get stepped on.

I agree with not letting them walk around them like that so the chicks will probably be in our hold or on my lap to minimize risk.

 

[Hanna710]

Exactly!
I was gonna say that, but asked for thread title to be corrected instead.

Definitely gonna fix that hahaha

 

[briarandwillow]

Your dogs will be fine! I raised Briar in a household where I was the only one training her, and she knows her commands. Just make a point of doing the chicken introduction a few times a day for a few weeks, and even once they're past the point of needing to be on leash keep them on it so you can step on it if you have to.

 

[boltonsue]

Hello, I'm raising my first batch of chicks soon and was wondering how I get my dogs (who have never been around many small animals) used to them from a young age? They are boxers and aren't aggressive twords other animals unless they feel threatened, and we are thinking if we introduce them young they can get used to them by the time they are older. Any tips or help?

We’ve got a Frenchie who was five years old when we brought home 18 baby chicks. We put the chicks in the large pen in the garage my husband made and had Myrtle ( our Frenchie) go out and meet them. We let her stand on the edge of the boards and look down on them and calmly told her to be nice. She was super excited so I picked on up and let her sniff it while very calmly telling her to be gentle. She sniffed but was very good with the chicks. I should mention Myrtle is very well behaved. Every day we spent hours out there together. Now our ladies are a year old and they’ll actually ride on myrtles back. They love each other and get along famously!! Good luck!!

 

[sciencegrrrrl]

Our boy Ziggy with part of the flock grazing behind him. When they are in the run, he stares at them for a creepy long period of time. When they are out, they are smaller dogs whose butts smell funny

 

[Rdasinger]

We introduced both our dogs to the chicks on a leash, while working on training. That took about 2 months, working with our big dog everyday. The other dog is smaller and was out grown by the chickens and she lost interest. But she has gone after them from time to time. I am going to be honest, it is not easy. You will have to be constantly alert...like for example after almost a year my big dog has started to mouth one of the chickens by the neck. Fortunately we never let them alone and he is good on recall.

 

[Grannys Peeps]

Well, I had 6 chickens and a boxer that was 6 years old and a poodle that was 13 years old and my sons dog that was a small dog that was a hunting type. When I got my baby chicks I had them in a my dinning room in a tall box with small places for them to peak out of and the dogs loved watching them through the holes. My dogs knew when I said something like no or baby and they feel in love with my chickens like I did. It just took one peck from them to keep them away. Now that being said, I would let the chicks and the dogs learn each other. I could let my chickens out and they all ran around the yard and the dogs were like their over seers. Never had a problem and you may or may not. I had chickens, dogs, squirrels all in my yard at once sometimes. Boxers are loving dogs and if you have never had one you can not understand their protecting of smaller animals.

 

[BulldogsandChickens]

If you look at my reply to the other posts it explains a lot more. Our dogs are boxers and such big babies, and the dogs won't be unsupervised around the chicks. We aren't planning on free roaming them but instead we have a large area that is fenced off from other animals and we will be getting/building our coop soon seeing as we still have some time until we hatch the eggs and they are big enough to be outside by themselves in said area. We just want to be cautious in case one slips out of the area or something happeneds where our dogs would have contact.

Boxers are the sweetest breed! I have had boxers and now have boxer/bulldog mixes. As sweet as they are mine love to chase anything!! Good luck with the training. I would rather be safe than sorry so I rotate yard time.

 

[Rise722]

Since I have a Golden...I just put her on a down and let the chicks crawl all over/around....she wouldn't hurt a fly.....and she minds me on the first command...beautiful dogs...