How to introduce to the dog?

[imzadi]

Thank you...that is a great response.

 

[MamaManda]

I totally agree with Cintrarchid. They know what they're talking about. Your dog is in control, not you. She needs to be quickly and forcefully reprimanded at even the slightest excitement around the chickens. (At first.)
I have a large 2 year old Golden Retriever that required intensely supervised training time before he was allowed to be in the yard while my hens free-ranged. We started with heavily monitored yard time, where we didn't even permit him to look at the chickens. If he showed any excitement or interest, we reprimanded him heavily using his name, loud voice and forcefully turning him away from the chickens. When he had learned that he was not to look at them (He would come around the corner, and if a chicken was there, his gaze and body would drop, and he would trot right by. Good Boy) we began letting him walk, unleashed in the yard, keeping the chickens on one side of the yard, he on the other, and us in the middle. If he came toward us, we sent him away with loud reprimands. He has been allowed full range of the yard with the chickens for the past year now, and is very well behaved around them. He lets them eat with him out of his food bowl when I give him scraps, and even lets one of the roosters that have been banned from the hen house sleep with him now.
He did once kill one of my quail when we first got him, and I witnessed the accident. My daughter opened their pen and one flew out. The dog ran over to it, and dropped his paw on it's head, which killed it, as they have very fragile necks. I do not think he was trying to kill it, and was just curious, but a kill is a kill. I spoke with a professional trainer who told me to securely tie the bird to the dogs collar and leave it there for at least 3 days, or until it began to smell quite bad. Which I did. He did not like it, and looked quite miserable most of the time, and I am not sure how much that affected his training, although I would guess it helped.
Good luck with Roxie!