As are a lot of things on here, it's all a matter of opinion. Some people feel strongly one way. Some feel strongly the other way. No one is 'right' and no one is 'wrong'.
How to get family dog not to eat the chicks.
- Thread starter Hatrick
- Start date
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I would agree with you entirely. There are many ways to do a thing... your way... my way... their way...lots and lots of ways. Pointing that out is a nice gesture, giving us all something to consider.
Opinions do differ. I admire your efforts to make peace and recognize all sides.
I would also respectfully suggest that their are assuredly 'wrong ways' to do anything, and that includes bringing chickens and dogs together. Let us all just make sure we know the difference.
I would agree with you entirely. There are many ways to do a thing... your way... my way... their way...lots and lots of ways. Pointing that out is a nice gesture, giving us all something to consider.
Opinions do differ. I admire your efforts to make peace and recognize all sides.
I would also respectfully suggest that their are assuredly 'wrong ways' to do anything, and that includes bringing chickens and dogs together. Let us all just make sure we know the difference.
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I never heard of that one! Funny!
I never heard of that one! Funny!
- Feb 4, 2009
- 30
- 1
- 22
I do want to apologize if I came off as one of them "know it all", "do it my way" types!( I know they drive me nuts)
I guess it just bugs me when I hear labs, bird dogs or dogs in general cannot live happily with chickens or other poultry.
I see it everyday and I know it can happen!
Just wanted to spread some hope!
Oh and the "mine" training!
My 7 month old lab/rotti has figured out the eggs are "mine" too!
I will have eggs with my toast!
I might have to start selling a few again!
Life is good!
I guess it just bugs me when I hear labs, bird dogs or dogs in general cannot live happily with chickens or other poultry.
I see it everyday and I know it can happen!
Just wanted to spread some hope!
Oh and the "mine" training!
My 7 month old lab/rotti has figured out the eggs are "mine" too!
I will have eggs with my toast!
I might have to start selling a few again!
Life is good!
My lab/beagle mix dog Snoopy came from a city home with only limited exposure to cats. He quickly learned that the cats were pointy as someone else said and learned to avoid getting whacked upside the nose. He does still try to play with them from time to time but he always stays out of paw reach. His next encounter was the horse and two goats. He enjoyed chasing the goats a bit but not to the point where the goats were particularly upset. He avoided the horse for a long time and finally got to the point where they will touch noses in greeting but otherwise have no interest in each other.
So then came the meeting I was most worried about, Snoopy and the chickens. I'd had him for about 3 days at this point so there wasn't much of an established dominance yet. I had Snoopy on his leash and I walked down near the chickens. Snoopy didn't even look at them. Later on he did sniff at a couple out of curiosity but nothing more than that. He is actually very put off when they squawk. Now, about 6 months later he still has very little interest in the birds. He will occasionally run into a group of them but my chickens just calmly move out of the way and he gets bored and goes to find something else to do. Now the funniest thing is that he is terrified of chicks! If I have them out on the living room floor or free ranging outside, they seem very attracted to him and will run at him. He turns tail and books it out of the area as quickly as possible.
With my cats I have to be more vigilant about chicks and baby bunnies. I have discovered though that if I bring them over, in my hand, to the cats and tell the cats this is the new baby and pet the chick or bunny in question, my cats get the idea that this animal is a family member and if they do anything mean to it they will have to contend with me. The only time that this didn't work is when I had a chick that wanted to be with me all the time. I'd be on the couch with the chick against my neck and my female cat Cara would get jealous of the attention the chick was getting. She would come over and give me disapproving looks and then when she could get in close enough she would poke the chick, closed paw, but definitely hostile. She just didn't want to share her mommy like that, she is very attached to me and must be the center of all attentions.
BTW, Snoopy, Beagle cross that he is, is terrified of rabbits so I don't buy into the breeds being hopeless because they were bred to hunt, birds or any other animals. I think it is just as much about the animal in question, age of the animal, and training, training, training. I got away with not having to train Snoopy anything special because he came to us as just an awesome dog. I have left him alone with the chickens many times and he has never once tried to hurt one. This from a dog who had no experience with most animals in his entire life. He is just an all around good dog, a nice mix of Beagle and Lab.
So then came the meeting I was most worried about, Snoopy and the chickens. I'd had him for about 3 days at this point so there wasn't much of an established dominance yet. I had Snoopy on his leash and I walked down near the chickens. Snoopy didn't even look at them. Later on he did sniff at a couple out of curiosity but nothing more than that. He is actually very put off when they squawk. Now, about 6 months later he still has very little interest in the birds. He will occasionally run into a group of them but my chickens just calmly move out of the way and he gets bored and goes to find something else to do. Now the funniest thing is that he is terrified of chicks! If I have them out on the living room floor or free ranging outside, they seem very attracted to him and will run at him. He turns tail and books it out of the area as quickly as possible.
With my cats I have to be more vigilant about chicks and baby bunnies. I have discovered though that if I bring them over, in my hand, to the cats and tell the cats this is the new baby and pet the chick or bunny in question, my cats get the idea that this animal is a family member and if they do anything mean to it they will have to contend with me. The only time that this didn't work is when I had a chick that wanted to be with me all the time. I'd be on the couch with the chick against my neck and my female cat Cara would get jealous of the attention the chick was getting. She would come over and give me disapproving looks and then when she could get in close enough she would poke the chick, closed paw, but definitely hostile. She just didn't want to share her mommy like that, she is very attached to me and must be the center of all attentions.
BTW, Snoopy, Beagle cross that he is, is terrified of rabbits so I don't buy into the breeds being hopeless because they were bred to hunt, birds or any other animals. I think it is just as much about the animal in question, age of the animal, and training, training, training. I got away with not having to train Snoopy anything special because he came to us as just an awesome dog. I have left him alone with the chickens many times and he has never once tried to hurt one. This from a dog who had no experience with most animals in his entire life. He is just an all around good dog, a nice mix of Beagle and Lab.
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I have a Basset Hound who is 7 years old and just loved to be around the chicks and chickens all the time. Then one day, we had several that were killed and couldn't figure out who did it. Then it happened again......and we started to wonder if it wasn't OUR dog. Sure enough, it was. We have to keep her on a tie-out now or she finds a way in.....digging under, pushing through HARDWARE CLOTH stapled VERY securely........etc. I don't trust any dog with them, I think it is their instinct to "play" with them by putting them in their mouth......if not just to PLAY kill, then to kill-kill......kwim! It is just their nature.
To each his/her own.
I do not trust my dog on behalf of my chickens.
If you can say that you would bet your life that your dog would never hurt your chickens then you should feel confident.
Otherwise..............
Every dog's owner that has mauled a child has seemed shocked that their dog could do that.
The point is that if you are 99.999% sure that your dog is safe, be prepared for the 0.001%.
My lovable, potential axe murderer.
I do not trust my dog on behalf of my chickens.
If you can say that you would bet your life that your dog would never hurt your chickens then you should feel confident.
Otherwise..............
Every dog's owner that has mauled a child has seemed shocked that their dog could do that.
The point is that if you are 99.999% sure that your dog is safe, be prepared for the 0.001%.
My lovable, potential axe murderer.
Heck, everyone who is sensible expects the unexpected from their animals......and even an electric fence is never 100% safe unless the electric never goes out at your place, or the battery never runs down or your solar unit finally gives up the ghost!
No one can trust any method to "protect" your animals, as many posts on here verify.
You also never know if your next door neighbor, usually a calm, unassuming man, will snap and murder you all in your sleep!
You just monitor behavior patterns, try to subvert any potential deviations from the normal pattern and then you hope that nothing happens to make your normally well-behaved dog snap into a blood crazed wild animal.
Just like taking said dog out in public. You may feel like you are safe with your dog on a leash and "supervising" any encounters with other creatures such as children, other dogs, cats, etc. But it only takes a millisecond for that dog to snap at someone and rip open a vessel. That's all you have......the hope, from past experiences and patterns, that your animal will NOT rip a child's face or throat before you can pull him back....especially a very large dog.
If one were to let fears of what could "potentially" happen at all times, one would never set foot out the door....nor let the dog do so either. Life is about living....with reasonable expectations that your judgement is pretty sound, but realizing that nothing is 100% in this life, except that we are all going to die. Chickens die. Dogs die. We all die. Get over it and enjoy living with the dog you trust, the neighbor you trust, the chickens pecking through the open spaces....
No one can trust any method to "protect" your animals, as many posts on here verify.
You also never know if your next door neighbor, usually a calm, unassuming man, will snap and murder you all in your sleep!
You just monitor behavior patterns, try to subvert any potential deviations from the normal pattern and then you hope that nothing happens to make your normally well-behaved dog snap into a blood crazed wild animal.
Just like taking said dog out in public. You may feel like you are safe with your dog on a leash and "supervising" any encounters with other creatures such as children, other dogs, cats, etc. But it only takes a millisecond for that dog to snap at someone and rip open a vessel. That's all you have......the hope, from past experiences and patterns, that your animal will NOT rip a child's face or throat before you can pull him back....especially a very large dog.
If one were to let fears of what could "potentially" happen at all times, one would never set foot out the door....nor let the dog do so either. Life is about living....with reasonable expectations that your judgement is pretty sound, but realizing that nothing is 100% in this life, except that we are all going to die. Chickens die. Dogs die. We all die. Get over it and enjoy living with the dog you trust, the neighbor you trust, the chickens pecking through the open spaces....
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And therein lies the problem, it seems. There is a gulf between what is deemed common sense, and what is idealistic. Some people get trapped on the wrong side of that gulf.
These threads always produce many comments from people who claim,"My dog would never, has never, and will never misbehave...."
The reasons for this confidence are many, too.
But they also evoke comments from people who have made those claims - and then learned about the unexpected the hard way. By ignoring the sensible and expecting the idealistic, rude awakenings result. That cannot be overlooked. In short, not everyone recognizes the sensible path. Your comments recognize that very well.
Given the frequency of these threads, we should risk redundancy in favor of repeating this lesson as many times as it takes to sink in.
Say it again, kiddo.
And therein lies the problem, it seems. There is a gulf between what is deemed common sense, and what is idealistic. Some people get trapped on the wrong side of that gulf.
These threads always produce many comments from people who claim,"My dog would never, has never, and will never misbehave...."
The reasons for this confidence are many, too.
But they also evoke comments from people who have made those claims - and then learned about the unexpected the hard way. By ignoring the sensible and expecting the idealistic, rude awakenings result. That cannot be overlooked. In short, not everyone recognizes the sensible path. Your comments recognize that very well.
Given the frequency of these threads, we should risk redundancy in favor of repeating this lesson as many times as it takes to sink in.
Say it again, kiddo.
- Feb 4, 2009
- 30
- 1
- 22
Quote:
And therein lies the problem, it seems. There is a gulf between what is deemed common sense, and what is idealistic. Some people get trapped on the wrong side of that gulf.
These threads always produce many comments from people who claim,"My dog would never, has never, and will never misbehave...."
The reasons for this confidence are many, too.
But they also evoke comments from people who have made those claims - and then learned about the unexpected the hard way. By ignoring the sensible and expecting the idealistic, rude awakenings result. That cannot be overlooked. In short, not everyone recognizes the sensible path. Your comments recognize that very well.
Given the frequency of these threads, we should risk redundancy in favor of repeating this lesson as many times as it takes to sink in.
Say it again, kiddo.
Oh Davaroo, your funny!
A person comes on here asking how to train their dog not to eat chicks.
Now, according to some of these posts, it is possible for dogs and chickens to live together in peace!
Myself, I have a farm, my dogs have to run free and I like watching my birds run free, this is a subject I have been dealing with my whole life(and I'm old).
Yet it looks to me that you have given up!
It that successful thinking?
And therein lies the problem, it seems. There is a gulf between what is deemed common sense, and what is idealistic. Some people get trapped on the wrong side of that gulf.
These threads always produce many comments from people who claim,"My dog would never, has never, and will never misbehave...."
The reasons for this confidence are many, too.
But they also evoke comments from people who have made those claims - and then learned about the unexpected the hard way. By ignoring the sensible and expecting the idealistic, rude awakenings result. That cannot be overlooked. In short, not everyone recognizes the sensible path. Your comments recognize that very well.
Given the frequency of these threads, we should risk redundancy in favor of repeating this lesson as many times as it takes to sink in.
Say it again, kiddo.
Oh Davaroo, your funny!
A person comes on here asking how to train their dog not to eat chicks.
Now, according to some of these posts, it is possible for dogs and chickens to live together in peace!
Myself, I have a farm, my dogs have to run free and I like watching my birds run free, this is a subject I have been dealing with my whole life(and I'm old).
Yet it looks to me that you have given up!
It that successful thinking?
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