First of all, either the dog or I need help. One of us is obviously
having a failure to communicate. (if ask the wife, she would agree it's probably me).
So we rescued a pit-mix puppy from the local animal shelter, he's about 10mths to 1 yr old now. He's a really great dog and also a very smart dog. We have free-ranging chickens at the house cus' we're country pumpkins. When I introduced the dog to the flock, he didn't show much interest and when he started to sniff or show any interest, I would say (loudly) "Leave IT", and he would back away, and now just shy away completely. So far, he has not bother the adult chickens, he leaves them alone. However, he's got this really bad fetish with baby chickens, this Spring we started having baby chickens and so
far he has killed almost all of them, like 20+. He will go out of his way to chase and then eventually maul any baby chickens he sees to death.
Here's my predicament with our dog:
Problem #1: he will leave the adult chickens alone and will only go after baby chickens, does not eat them, only mauls them until their body becomes lifeless, then next baby chicken.
Problem #2, he "understands" and "acknowledges" the work "Leave IT". He will run away as soon as he hears these two words.
Problem #3, IF I'm in the yard or he knows we're outside, he will NOT bother the baby chickens.
Problem #4, dog will only go baby chicken hunting when it's "quite" outside and nobody is around. <= sneaky little canine!
Training so far:
Walking on leash with dog, he doesn't bother the chickens. He knows the words "Leave It". I've had a baby chicken in his nose/in front of his face and he will look the other way, as if he either "knows" I'm going to yell at him for looking at the baby chicken or he "pretends" he doesn't have any interest at the baby chicken.
I am not sure about the dead chickens around his neck training, doesn't sound inviting to me or having the kids see their dog with a stinky dead chicken tied to its neck. I'm open for shock-collar solutions but also don't want to invest a lot of money for something that's only a band-aid solution.
My question is, how does one deal with a dog that only kills baby chickens when nobody is around? Love the dog and he's great with kids, guards the house well and keeps stranger and critters away but just can't handle him annihilating my flock of chickens.
I open for any suggestions/help.
Thank you.