I have two Rottweilers a male and a female,The female is older and calm my male is young and a bit energetic, but they are both good dog's, I am getting ready to get my Chickens and my Rabbits and I am wondering how should I do the introducing, I plan to have the birds free range and since I live int he country my dog's do go off lead in the yard, Any Tips.
Most people would resign themselves to introducing them to the dogs, in a bowl and prepared with carrots and peas. I think if you held the chickens in your arms and someone else let the dogs into the yard, so the dogs could see you being protective of the chickens, they might understand that the chickens are to be protected against threats, too.
My Female is 5.5 yo and my male is 1 yo, I am hoping that all will go well, I ll Def have them on lead for there intro and for ever long as it takes, I know my boy will sit and stay if I tell him when the wild turkeys pass though the yard. And yes my female was fed Raw for 5 years of her life which was whole Chickens along with other meats, She is a very good dog and I don't think ill have a problem with her my male is very active he may be a problem but he does listen so well see.
on lead for sure. work on teaching a good reliable recall and a 100% "leave it" command. Work the dogs one at a time, on leash. Start at a distance where the dogs just start to notice the birds. Work until the dogs are ignoring the birds and focused on you. Then move a little closer and repeat. If the dogs can't keep focused on you, back up a little bit. Once the dogs are steady, you can let the birds out if you intend to free-range, but keep the dogs on leash. Not all dogs can be trusted off-leash. And I never trust them unsupervised. If the birds are out, the dogs are contained or supervised. If the dogs are out alone, the birds are contained. It takes a long time and a lot of work.
We trained our rottie in a day. Basically a very strong "leave it"- on leash for as long as it takes to get them to ignore the chickens. I might start with the chickens in a run if I were you... The rabbits will be much harder I think. Something about rabbits just seem to make dogs eat them... I would do one dog at a time. Rottie's love structure and discipline and they love having things to guard. So the discipline will get you to the point where they guard the chickens. Mine guards the chickens even from hawks and flying things. he takes it very seriously (you know how they are...) I found training any kind of terrier much harder than a rottie. Rotties love to be bossed and told what to guard. i would do one dog at a time, on a leash and just be totally dedicated to it for awhile. Either contain the chickens at first or the dogs are totally on leash any time they go out for anything for as long as it takes. Seems easier to throw up a little yard for the chickens.
How this will go really, really depends on your individual dogs temperments. I have had rotties for years. My current male really couldn't care less about the chickens, he's a smart dog, he knows they belong to The Boss and are not his to touch. My previous female, prey drive like no other, she would have happily slaughtered all she could catch, if she had access. I would recommend keeping the chickens in a safe coop/run at first until everybody settles in and you've had ample time to train the dogs and observe their reaction. Their response will tell you whether you will ever be able to free range chickens and dogs together without casualties.
