How To Train Your Dog Not To Kill Chickens

[ket806]

Also love all the advice always up for new training methods!! What works for one dog might not work for another

 

[Orchard Farm]

My dog would love a delicious dead chicken tied to his neck

 

[Orchard Farm]

Catahoula bulldogs make great livestock guardians!

 

[ket806]

Catahoula bulldogs make great livestock guardians!

Beautiful! I have 2 pit pups I'm training right now! Had a catahoula LOVED him but he passed. Would love another though!! Stunning picture love the big smile haha

 

[Blackcrest]

I'm new to the chicken life. And I have a very chase and kill dog. I have a chow chow. who while run down anything his size or smaller and he has killed cats. and one of the neighbors pheasants. Which i paid for those animals but with the new addition of my house hold. I was concern. and when it came to release them in their coop. My dog's area is right beside it. and sure enough he was trying to get in the cage to the point of trying to dig up and bite through the cage. I walked over to him as he was trying to get in. I gave him a good punch in the muzzle and told him no. After reading this thread. I thought i would see what he would do if he had a chance with the birds. I placed him in the coop with the chicken out and their door closed. So it was just him and 4 girls all alone. As i walked way. I watched my dog.. and he looked every where but where the chicken where. Vulture the escape artist and brave one. Walked near him. he actually turned his back to them. I left him there for about 15 mins. and got him. I rewarded him for being a good dog. Peanut butter smoked ham bone And gave the girls a double handful of corn. everyone was happy but my big fat hen mama. who was going out of her way to let me know dog and maybe myself was not welcome for awhile. So i don't know depending on how strong willed or thick your dog is.. I do know when i was a child my beagle killed a chicken on the farm. and my father tried the whole chicken around the neck. and about a week after the chicken came off my beagle killed more birds. so my dad had to put it down. But wish you luck..

 

[patvetzal]

While I agree 100% with Ket, I also feel that many owners don't realize just how much their dogs are capable of learning, WITH the right teaching method. I have used (tried) many methods over the past 55 years of dog life but until we got our Golden (already had chickens) never thought I would find a method as simple as our E collar.
He wears it all day as his regular collar but its the call feature that gets used 99% of the time. (we live in 80 acres of bush on the side of a lake) Chickens free range whenever there is nothing in the garden for them to damage. In the past two years he has killed one wild goose gosling while retrieving it and retrieved one fully grown RIR hen that got trapped in the garage. Made the hen quite mad, now she chases him if he comes near.

 

[Scott H]

Just have to add in, I have grown up in the hunting world as well as livestock, and you would NEVER want your working dog to kill ANYTHING! The dogs purpose AND breeding was NOT to kill back yard chickens OR ducks! Their PURPOSE is to AID their owner in something WE bred and trained them to do for OUR sport! For example our pits were bred and trained to hog hunt. NOT to KILL the hog but to TRACK it and keep it confined for US to KILL! Another example our German shepherd was bred and trained to herd livestock NOT kill them! Or our daucshund whi was bred and trained to hunt BURROWING prey NOT flying, but YOU tell me, whi has ANY toy breed to do ANYTHING they are bred for(besides the people who show in that sport)?!! A bird dog was bred and trained NOT to KILL birds but to DIRECT us to them and RETRIEVE what WE killed. I am sorry but NONE of our animals were bred or trained to specifically hunt or kill backyard chickens or ducks and more then HALF of y'all have them as little play pets which goes AGAINST their breeding/training y'all are trying to throw at us! Dogs NEED a leader and NEED to be praised/punished THAT is what they have KNOWN for decades! I am sorry but you can NOT sit there and say "oh I don't ever punish my dogs or scold them" I'm sorry but that's b.s. because you sure did! You had have done some training at some point whether it be not to get in the trash or eat of the table I poop or pee on the carpet! You teaching them NOT to do those things is SCOLDING! Dog thrive for attention and MUST be trained in some way shape or form or they are RULEING YOU!!! That is a dogs job is to obey! Now you tell me a hunter that wants their bird dog to slaughter their birds they are hunting??? You can't because NO hunter wants that! They want the sport THEY want the kill the dog is there to do as told!
I will get to my point--
Point is NO ONE wants to have their backyard chickens and ducks slaughtered by their own pets and NO breed has been SPECIFICALLY bred/trained to kill back yard poultry and water fowl. Also 98% of dogs today are NOT used for what they are "bred/trained" for! Really people?! Come on all your dogs are mostly pets and lap dogs unless you actually get them to do their job and no matter what their job is NOT killin your birds.
~~~
Everyone traines their dogs different and has them for different reasons but when it all boil down to it we ALL have them to make us happy in some way or form!!!
Ok I am off my box so sorry guys I just wanted to set a lot straight! We are supposed to help each other not attack each other because you don't like the way someone does things. When you ask for help you take in everything people say but in the end YOU choose what is best for you WITHOUT all the negative feedback from people!

Agree completely! My bird dogs would not kill a bird. They would sometimes catch a game bird but then bring it to me unharmed. Saying it's a dog's instinct and there is nothing you can do is crap. Humans have molded dogs instincts for thousands of years to get them to do a job for them, i.e. herding, hunting, searching, etc.
I have always treated my dogs like a member of the family but they have to obey rules or there's going to be an issue.

Our current dog, a standard poodle, was born an alpha male and is the first dog I had to use an e-collar on. Within 2 minutes after putting it on him he suddenly knew the rules! The collar has a rheostat so you can set the level of correction. He used to chase any other dog that happened by into the next county and not listen to me at all while he was doing it. I put the collar on and the next time it happened I called him as I held the button down and slowly turned up the voltage until he did a big U turn and headed back towards me. As he headed back, I gradually turned the correction back to zero. Couple of those "training sessions" and we came to an agreement and he listened to voice commands.

 

[Mac14]

Agree completely! My bird dogs would not kill a bird. They would sometimes catch a game bird but then bring it to me unharmed. Saying it's a dog's instinct and there is nothing you can do is crap. Humans have molded dogs instincts for thousands of years to get them to do a job for them, i.e. herding, hunting, searching, etc.
I have always treated my dogs like a member of the family but they have to obey rules or there's going to be an issue.

Our current dog, a standard poodle, was born an alpha male and is the first dog I had to use an e-collar on. Within 2 minutes after putting it on him he suddenly knew the rules! The collar has a rheostat so you can set the level of correction. He used to chase any other dog that happened by into the next county and not listen to me at all while he was doing it. I put the collar on and the next time it happened I called him as I held the button down and slowly turned up the voltage until he did a big U turn and headed back towards me. As he headed back, I gradually turned the correction back to zero. Couple of those "training sessions" and we came to an agreement and he listened to voice commands.

I'm glad he changed his mind.

 

[Scott H]

I never liked the concept of E-collars but I had to do something about this black standard poodle, Jake. Physical correction did not phase him as well as any pinch or choke collars. I did a lot of research and found the Dogtra collar line to be what I was looking for. They do not have stimulus "settings" like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 but a rheostat that has infinite settings from 0 to 100. To teach him to heel I had the stimulation so low I could not feel it on the palm of my hand. But when he went after another dog it was amazing how much stimulation it would take to get him to turn around! But is was his choice. The quicker he obeyed the less shock he felt. Also, with this kind of training, all I had to do is praise him when he obeyed, never had to raise my voice in anger. He's 11 now and we will still put it on him in certain situations such as a public campground or such, instead of a leash.

 

[thumper4269]

What is it about standard poodles? ;-) I have lost 2 chickens to my poodle.. My chickens are in a secure run with an electric fence around it to keep dogs and other things from bothering the chickens. I have lost 2 to the dog because the stupid chickens found a little spot to get out and ran into the dog. I have 4 dogs and only the poodle kills them. This is an obedience trained, rally titled therapy dog who just plan wants to kill these birds. Some dogs trained or otherwise can never be trusted to be with small critters.