I have a dog that keeps killiing my chickens..short of shooting the dog what should I do?????

[siggg40]

Does anyone have any experience in how to train and old dog to stop killing chickens????? I've tried to socialize the Dog with a chicken and nothing is working...I thought I had broken the dog from this but today I bring 6 new Buffs home and after an hour and Half i walk back to find 5 dead chickens.....I'm running out of options here....cant give the mut away hes a 8 year old rescue.

 

[Righteous Rstr]

SIGGG40,
I have had bulldog since I was 16 I HATE what I'm about to say but it's true. If it runs and screams dogs
chase and kill them. If the dog was caught before blood was spilled maybe, it's a fact of life sorry bud.
My little red shredder gets put on his run before goats, geese and chickens get let out. It surely is a pain
but it's that or the dog gets gone. That really stinks Actually I had fairly good luck tethering a 5 gallon
gas can to the dog(not this one) we started by getting a very wide collar, filled the plastic can full of water
letting him pull it like a sled as the chase got old he slacked off so you let a gallon out it gives the bird a
big advantage but after we felt he was over it and let him go he started right back in again. I also got a tri-
tronics radio control collar for aversion training $500 wasted. Hate to have to tie up dogs but what can
you do ? RR

 

[FridayYet]

I don't trust either one of my dogs unsupervised around the chickens. Do you have a way to separate them when you are not around?

 

[centrarchid]

Does anyone have any experience in how to train and old dog to stop killing chickens????? I've tried to socialize the Dog with a chicken and nothing is working...I thought I had broken the dog from this but today I bring 6 new Buffs home and after an hour and Half i walk back to find 5 dead chickens.....I'm running out of options here....cant give the mut away hes a 8 year old rescue.

Training is a long-term process. Many people here have several methods work. Do search on training dogs. People to consult first are those that have been successful as they can tell you how things do work, not how they can not work. Good luck and be patient at every step.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I have an 11 year old dog. He's a good boy and would probably leave the chickens alone but he wasn't raised with them and I wouldn't trust him totally. That being said, he's never killed any of my chickens as I won't give him the opportunity. The chickens are in a secure run and he can't get at them.

I'd recommend your chickens be in a run or paddock unless he's in the house and won't be outside with them. If he needs to be outside, have him on a leash or lead. If you don't let him get to the chickens, he can't kill them.

 

[centrarchid]

I have an 11 year old dog. He's a good boy and would probably leave the chickens alone but he wasn't raised with them and I wouldn't trust him totally. That being said, he's never killed any of my chickens as I won't give him the opportunity. The chickens are in a secure run and he can't get at them.

I'd recommend your chickens be in a run or paddock unless he's in the house and won't be outside with them. If he needs to be outside, have him on a leash or lead. If you don't let him get to the chickens, he can't kill them.

This is excellent near term advice. Getting dogs poultry safe doable and ideal, even with dog having history of killing birds. Starting with adult is not best option in my opinion but is easier with respect to simply stopping dog causing harm.

 

[Righteous Rstr]

Flockmaster ,you claim to have trained dogs not to chase chickens,I'm curious which breed(s).
I have a bull dog even though I swore them off when my last dam passed. I rescued a Rott/chow
literally as he was 5 minutes from death, Binky was the best all around herder/guard dog ever !
A drunk ran him down with me 6' away ! I will be trying to find something similar ? Thoughts??

 

[centrarchid]

Flockmaster ,you claim to have trained dogs not to chase chickens,I'm curious which breed(s).
I have a bull dog even though I swore them off when my last dam passed. I rescued a Rott/chow
literally as he was 5 minutes from death, Binky was the best all around herder/guard dog ever !
A drunk ran him down with me 6' away ! I will be trying to find something similar ? Thoughts??

I claim to have trained Black and Tan Coonhound (many), Red Bone Hound (1), Dalmation (several), Border Collie (1), Labrador retriever (1), and two German Pointers (currently in use as poultry guardians). Trained comes in degrees. I strive for where dogs can be left with birds unattended for extended periods with chicks in low light conditions without hen supervision. Dogs must still be interested in birds to respond disturbances caused by predators. For me, dog that does not kill birds early is not effective for my uses later.

I like to start with pups and until last two dogs were valued first for some other purpose, usually hunting. Surprisingly, Dalmations sometimes make very good gun dogs. Dalmations were used in part for quail so distinguishing bird species possible.

Do search on "training dog". Several parties here have very good procedure for training.

 

[Harpy Hawk]

well here's the thing: dogs see the all the members of their world as either pack mate, predator, or prey, your dog sees the chickens as prey, you need to get him to see chickens as pack mates, here's what you can do. take the dog for a LONG walk, tire him/her out, once your done with that you show him the chicken. now here's were you have to make sure you do this right, so listen very close: make sure you feel calm, cool, and confident. you dog can instantly sense fear and when he does he will tear into the chicken, so make sure you are calm (it helps to visualize the dog and chicken getting along) you can also say to yourself that you the boss. now once you are calm and confident flip your dog over on his back (i know this sounds really stupid but you will be surprised at the results) this shows the dog that the chicken is pack and not to be harmed. you may have to do this everyday for at least a month if you feel comfortable after doing this (you might want to put the chicken in a cage for this) calm down and gently release the dog STAY CALM AND CONFIDENT i cant stress this enough, if you even feel a small sense of fear you may mess up the dogs perspective and then the chicken becomes a predator which is even worse cause the dog will attack if he even sees one (dogs only know the pack rule packs and prey:good predator: bad) dogs have no sense of right and wrong so killing chickens is no biggie KEEP DOGS AWAY FROM WEAK CHICKENS dogs in the wild kill weak members of their pack, weak prey , and weak predators so any thing weak is a target. GOOD LUCK

 

[Righteous Rstr]

Electric fencing is cheap and easy, the dog will not understand the zap at first.
I've never had one try it a third time, in fact after ten days you can shut it off as
they will learn it well. I have to leave mine on because goats and hogs will test
regularly. As little Bill has free run from dusk till dawn protecting everybody in
tandem with geese when they don't want to go in the chicken pen at dusk.
I opted to run two cables using old junk cable pullers(come alongs) with coil
springs to allow for wind in Oaks TIP either buy a high quality snatch block ,
or get one that bolts together as they wear out every couple years. Both runs
are 16 feet up and one is 210' long the other is 270 feet and ends by the gate.
I've never lost anything to him, although a few dip sticks ignored the signs ,2
got bit and got chased out ! My friends get licked to death and the smart one
brings a milkbone. By the way 1/4" cable is fairly inexpensive.TIP- few scrap
yards will cut up rolled cable or wire and will save it . CAUTION!!!!!!! I use SS
cable from the trolley to the clip if you don't want to get scratchs in your car
take some old air line or garden hose and thread the cable so it covers all of
it,I had to learn the hard way ! By the way get a nice strong collar NO they''re
not at WalMart . If your run sags climb up and put a crank or 2 on the come-
along. If you do this method you will never come home to another dead bird.
If you have a small yard the hotwire is the way to go they make insulators
that clip to chain link or nail into wood, put low and one near the top for the
jumpers. NO doubt somebody will rag my methods and suggest invisable
fence which is great if you take time to train your dogs. Blood lust is very
strong in a great deal of critters. HOW effective is that collar against the
enevitable raid from neighborr dogs or coons ect, $35 an afternoon and you
get instant peace of mind. WARNING if you or your dog relieves them self
behind the wrong bush ,take it from me you'll be on the ground moaning for
what seems like an hour ! On the up side it's pretty entertaining to"forget"to
warn beer buddies who need to go home,heehee. RR