i never thought my own dog would fall into this category (UPDATED PG.8

[TheDuckCrew]

if you're putting him up for adoption, get a new puppy. a young puppy, preferably a girl puppy. also get a loyal and obediant breed. she then grows up knowing "chickens are friends, not food" i say get a girl because my older shih tzu, cuddles, treated the ducks like they were her babies when we first got them. she would lay with them and lick them clean. she was their guard dog and when we were going out we would say to her "wanna go see the duckies?!" and she'd get so excited! when they were in their brooder, she would just sit next to them on the outside. it was adorable. now they are bigger than her and can beat her up.

ETA: he's a cutie. maybe try retraining him? maybe he just won't learn but maybe its worth a shot. if he doesn't learn, then adopt him out and do some research on some other breeds.

 

[Akane]

I cant have free range chickens with him around. If im around and the boys are free ranging he wont do it. But the minute i turn my back..... this happens.

Problem is with that logic you won't be able to have free range chickens with pretty much any dog. No dog should be trusted to leave free ranging birds alone without someone around unless your prepared for losses. They are dogs. Their instinct is to play, chase, and eventually kill those cool little flapping noisy things. I think nearly any dog can be taught to leave chickens (or anything else) alone with someone around to supervise. I don't think there's more than a handful of dogs that can be left alone with any animal smaller than them and not eventually have an accident. That's just how it has to be with dogs. Either the chickens will have to be penned, the dog will have to be penned, or someone will have to be there to watch them. If you want free range unsupervised chickens and you don't want to pen the dog then you I would suggest not having a dog at all.​

 

[DancesWithChickens]

I agree with amazondoc, make sure who ever takes him knows all about him.

 

[wisefool]

I have made a similar decision in my life. I will never own a dog. I just dont see any utility, including the often exaggerated ones, that outweighs the utility of fresh eggs and meat.

Your decision is soo much harder. You will do what is right for you.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I'm sorry. You say here that he killed your rooster and that's why you are re-homing him. You say in your ad that it's because you can no longer afford him.
Which is it? And I really hope no one would be telling you to go out and get another puppy if you cannot afford the one you have.
I would be up front that he isn't good with poultry. I had a dog that I had to rehome because she wanted to eat my chickens and I was very up front about it. She got a home with no problem.

 

[greathorse]

Uh oh looking, for the popcorn eating Icon. Where do you get those by the way. No dogs? what? how could you?

Just teasing of course I thinkwhether or not to have a dog is absolutely a personal choice and for some they provide no utility as you say and for others we cant live without them. They do cause a fair amount of greif and consternation no matter how good they are.

I do beleive that just having them at hand and at your side into the coop and around the coop can get them to begin to ignore them if not begin to understand that the chickens are to be protected.

I think a lot of dogs have a natural instinct to protect property and if given the opportunity to understand that boundary can be quite safe around chickens.

I know there is no guaruntee and you will never hear me screaming (how terrible is my dog) if she should lose it some day and do something bad.

I dont think there is ever a 100% guaruntee that even the best dog wont chase/kill a chicken, but I think we can operate with a very high degree of assurance. Walking across a street has a bit of risk associated with it as do almost all activities in life.

Whew quite a rant for me

 

[lil'chickies]

It seems like some folks are completely against dogs. I take offense to saying they don't serve a purpose. Maybe certain kinds don't. My lab keeps any wild animals out of our yard. He is also an excellent snake dog. With all the rattlers around here and two young boys, he has a huge job of watching out for them and myself. He goes everywhere with us and makes me feel a lot more secure knowing he will let me know if something is wrong. The key is just to work with them and teach them right from wrong. He didn't like our cats and they him at first. Now we have 2 dogs, a goat, and a cat that eat out of the same dish. Our goat thinks it's a dog, so even though we put goat feed out, he eats with the dogs. It's like raising kids when it comes to dogs. They learn what we teach them.

Just to let you know, he has never been bit by a snake. He just keeps them occupied and in place until we get there with a gun. He knows to just stay far enough away to keep from getting bit. We didn't teach him this. He just knows to do it. As soon as he sees the gun, he backs off to let us shoot it.

 

[wisefool]

The reason I am oppsed to them is because I was on both sides of this issue. And very recently when it comes to chickens. And both sides are emotionally painful. I am old enough now that I can live with a little less emotion and a lot more of the "good fences=good neighbors" philosophy. If I did the SSS in my situation over the dogs invading my compost bin for the last year, I would have been a prideful person. I did not. If I would have SSS because they constantly tore up my trash, I would have been a lazy person. I did not. Don't get me wrong I am prideful and lazy, but this week when my ability to eat was threatened by what I see is a luxury (free range pet dogs) I had a sweet combination of logic+emotion+pride+lazyness that I needed to share here to get my blood pressure back down to pre-hypertension levels.. I am sorry if this opinion offends some of you. I care about avoiding conficts with humans more than any animal. Venting here helped me do that. Neighborborhood feuds and feuds in general are some of the most wasteful things I have ever encountered.

 

[greathorse]

Wise fool you are more wise than a fool. I think that one of the great things about forums on any topic is allowing folks to express themselves in a respectful if not always an agreeable way. You have done that. I will likley always keep a dog and take the good with the bad. I certainly understand your decision to remove one element of nuisance from your life for a reason that makes perfect sense to me.

NIce Post

Just to add one comment- wise fool with the written word you have a bit of a gift

 

[wisefool]

Quote:
The feeling is mutual

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