How to stop a dog?

[Firefly]

What about herding breeds who've had stock training? Is it still unwise to leave them unattended with the chickens?

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Hope knows its wrong, I caught in her a field omce with a chicken and the whole time she has her tail tucked and ears down. it was even way before she could see me running.
As long as she is on the chain she is fine with them, they can come close to her, and she won't do a thing to them.
I think for the most part she is just playing, but I won't have that. She was here first, way before the chickens, but they are here to stay. My 2 smaller dogs in the house are fine with the chickens, but Hope isn
t when she is off the chain. The chickens are only out when I'mt here to watch them, but Hope is very fast, which is how she got them before.

 

[Chelly]

I'm not going to be much use, but I did see a website once about dogs who take care of chickens, you do have to train them, and the training takes a while, and involves you putting the dog DOWN everytime it looks interested in chicken! i remember you have to put the dog down on its side, not too rough, but not gentle either, and FIRMLY let the dog know that the chicken is NOT dinner or TOY!
It takes a while to train them, but I believe it can be done.....

Good Luck

 

[Freebie]

Quote:
I believe most herding dogs are trained to work with the handler. So they would not really be unsupervised at all. So in my opinion, no, I would not leave them unsupervised with any dog of my dogs.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Quote:
EXACTLY!!!!! No kind of training is going to change a dog from being a D-O-G!. You can't program them to do what. They like you and I have a certain genetic make-up. These genes along with environmental factors = how a dog will react in certain situations. Ever seen the show on the WE network "SNAPPED" Sometimes a dog just snaps. May only happen once in an entire lifetime, may not happen ever, but I'm a realist. It could.

My dog is trained to alert to things that send me into anaphylatic shock. (She taught herself about one of my students seizures.)She will run house to house to allert neighbors or room to room to allert teachers at my school if I am alone.

Not once have a ever done anything to her because she did "bad" She's never been swatted for wetting the rug. Those were my mistakes, not hers. I wasn't paying attention. She has never worn a "choke collar" and I will put a "zap collar" on my mother before I'll put it on my dog. (not really but you get my point) I think the Dog Whisperer is a sadist.

IF she were to hurt my chickens, that would be my fault as well. 1) because I didn't keep her from something I knew excited at primal part of her make up 2) because I know that even though she doesn't mean to, she could hurt them.

Bottomline, she's a D-O-G!

 

[GoPups]

I have two very high prey drive ex racing greyhounds, so the dogs and the chickens never come in contact with each other. It would just be stupid on my part. They don't mind the chickens much anymore and they leave the pen alone now when they are outside, but I guarantee all of that would change if my chickens were free range. There's no way to undo their racetrack training on top of the thousands of years of the chase instinct being bred in.

My first suggestion would be to keep a fence between your dog and your chickens. Problem solved. If that isn't an option, how about a muzzle? My dogs are used to them and wear them all the time. They'd still be able to pin a chicken down if given the chance, but they wouldn't be able to use their teeth. Seems easier and less stressful than putting the dog on the ground and making her submit to a chicken.

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Thanks for all of the tips. My chicens and ducks are kept on both sides of the yard, but I will see if I can make a pen for my dog. I've never put a muzzle on Hope before, but I can try that. I don't think she would ever submit to a chicken. She is pretty strong minded.

 

[ChrissyNC]

It's such a hard call when it comes to dogs and chickens, or dogs and anything that might be susceptible (sp?) to attack. You have to go with your gut, only you know your dog and how it behaves. I have two dogs that I have left unsupervised with my chicks for several weeks now with no ill effects. On the other hand, there are so many dogs I could name off the top of my head that I wouldn't leave alone with ANYTHING, let alone a chicken. But I know that if my dogs were to attack my chickens, it would be my fault, not their's, so my decision to let them out together didn't come without careful thought, consideration, training, and lots and lots of initial supervision.

Here is one of my chicks chilling on the back of my two yr old shelter mutt, Fernie.

 

[Hotwings]

I don't think herding dogs would be of much use as they herd by intimidating eye stares. Chickens don't want to be herded and when they don't respond this can cause a herding dog to get alittle stronger. Cattle and sheep, goats and etc tend to react to the eye contact of a herding dog.

 

[backyard redneck]

Question:
If a neighbors' dog broke off a chain and came to your yard and killed chickens (not ate them-but killed and bloodied them), would that dog continue to do whatever it could to break away again and again to come back for more "free" chicken meals?