How to keep our dog from getting ou of her pen and killing our chickens

[Cassidy]

Hello,
Last week our dog got out and killed over half our free ranging flock this is the second time she has done this we had her in a cattle pannel pen with holes to small for more then her head to fit out of and we know she did not dig under because there were not anhy holes so the only way is for her to have climbed the fence like a latter my dad put a line of electric aroinf the top how do we keep her from doing it again?
Thanks
Cassidy

 

[aoxa]

What kind of dog? Is she supposed to be a livestock guardian dog, or is she just a family pet?

 

[HEChicken]

I can think of two options. One would be to cover the top of the pen you have her in so she can't climb out. The other is to invest in a dog run. Those usually have either chain link or welded wire and are covered in addition to the sides. The advantage to these is the holes are too small for about any dog to get through (dogs can go through a surprisingly small hole, and if they can get their head through, more often than not the rest of their body can follow. I have a friend whose two Great Pyrenees pups were able to get through a cattle panel until they were six months old).

If you look on Craigslist, you will often find dog pens going pretty cheap. I got a 6x10x6' high pen for $60 that I am using as a temporary turkey pen, and last week I got a 6x8x4' high pen for free, that is now serving as a temporary chick run until they are big enough to join the rest of the flock.

 

[FireTigeris]

I trained my dog but my pen is dog proof too-

https://picasaweb.google.com/109719199690586630787/Chickens#5720640951452476578

she is a greyhound and leash trained with correction and praise.

The pitbull got the exact same training (but is in teen phase and a stubborn dog in general) except I used treats when she was fully focused on me, and only me.

I also do barrier training - kinda like this is demonstrated -

mine are not that well off yet...

 

[Cassidy]

What kind of dog? Is she supposed to be a livestock guardian dog, or is she just a family pet?

She is a shetland sheepdog hound mix family pet

 

[Cassidy]

I can think of two options. One would be to cover the top of the pen you have her in so she can't climb out. The other is to invest in a dog run. Those usually have either chain link or welded wire and are covered in addition to the sides. The advantage to these is the holes are too small for about any dog to get through (dogs can go through a surprisingly small hole, and if they can get their head through, more often than not the rest of their body can follow. I have a friend whose two Great Pyrenees pups were able to get through a cattle panel until they were six months old).

If you look on Craigslist, you will often find dog pens going pretty cheap. I got a 6x10x6' high pen for $60 that I am using as a temporary turkey pen, and last week I got a 6x8x4' high pen for free, that is now serving as a temporary chick run until they are big enough to join the rest of the flock.

I know the rest of her body cannot fit out because she never gets mutch attention sadly and when we come anywhere near the cage she trys her hardest to fit out but only gets her head stuck my dad also saw her climb most of the way out

 

[donrae]

If you don't spend time with the dog, sounds like she's pretty miserable....why not rehome her?

 

[Cassidy]

If you don't spend time with the dog, sounds like she's pretty miserable....why not rehome her?

Well you see my mom wont let us and nobody else would take her you cant have her as a house dog and you cant keep her in a pen she gets attention i worded it wrong just its not easy since her pen has no gate and you have to climb over the fence to get to her so when im out with the horses i take her a treat and scratch her head for a little while prolly three or four times daily and we are going to move her poen closer and start taking her on walks more often we do nthe best we can and also were not home very often she is still a happy dog it so hard to explain

 

[Nicole01]

My neighbors dog has almost wiped out my flock a few times. They also stated that they will not pay for any loss poultry from their dog. I have a big issue with this. This dog will bite me as well.

I'd be securing the dog or the flock in some way. We keep our two big dogs inside the house unless we are outside with them. I'm all for free ranging and we are fencing in our property, so the neighbors dog/s can not eat/kill our flock.

Either pen up the dog or flock in a secure run. This will not be cheap either. We are going to spend at least 5 grand if not more on a fence. It's not fair we need to do this.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

My advise would be to train the dog, someday in the future someone may forget to lock her in the very secure pen and she kills all the chickens again. Take her on walks, train her to do all the commands, sit stay heel, then work with her off the leash. Your chickens will never be safe with a wolf amongst them.