Ideas on training my dog to leave the birds alone?

[Marcymom3]

I just recently got chickens and I have a 15 year old terrier who, as far as I know, has never seen a chicken before. I spent a lot of time with her while holding the baby chicks and letting her smell them when they were young. Now they are 6 months old and quite big for her to want to mess with, but I also STILL sit on the ground and give the chicks some scratch out of my hand while having her lay next to me and feeding her small treats like bits of ham or training treats. I'm trying to teach her that good things come when she is near the chickens. So far so good, but just stay close to your doggie while she is interacting with them and don't let her chase them. As they get bigger they will teach her some manners especially if they are used to seeing her and growing up with her. I have found that my chickens are much more interested in my dog than she is in them now.

good luck.

ditto

 

[Rudys Flock]

We have 3 Goldens, 5, 6 and 11 years old. When we got the chickens we built a fairly large run for them maybe 15 x 30 and kept the dogs out. They would lay outside the fence and watch them even lunge at them sometimes. We just corrected them saying NO! after a while they weren't even interested. Then we opened the gate (about 2 months) and let the chickens just wander out, we were in the yard and no one paid any attention to them. It seemed as thought the dogs knew they were part of the family. Our dogs live in the house but have a dog door with access to the back yard all the time. We leave and have never had a problem> (so far).

My 6 year old "Bob" likes to herd them. If the chickens get to squawking between themselves, Bob circles around them and gradually herds them all back to the chicken coop. Once they are inside their fence area he goes off and lays down. We call him the Chicken Cop.

 

[Me & Jack]

One of my three dogs is incorrigible. I just don't ever trust him at all around my birds. The other two I only trust as far as I could throw them, but they're generally pretty good and certainly know that if I can see them then they better not touch my birds. Never leave my birds completely unsupervised, however. And the dog that can't seem to help himself to killing? He's half LGD. So much for that idea.

 

[snot]

Treats only work until your dog figures out chickens are a better treat. When I brought home my chickens my Dane thought it was lunch time. I thought her previously to attack any birds that came into our yard because I had a koi pond. For years she did a great job at keeping the herons and coons from getting my koi. Now I had to undo the previous training. Honestly its easy I'm the boss and I said the chickens are mine if your even look art then I'm going to yell,and mean mug you. Treat the dog just like another dominate dog would. Ill never get why people insist on humanizing dogs. Its a dog it thinks like and responds like a dog.

 

[QCZoo]

I have an Irish Wolfhound, 2 Springer Spaniels and a cocker spaniel... 3 bird dogs by breed on the property. Granted, my hens are in a fenced yard away from the dogs, but they can and do get out. my female springer has been known to kill chickens in the past, although I think she *scared* them to death since they weren't bloody, torn up or broken.
So, I've spent a long time working with her around all sorts of small animals, not just chickens. kittens were also an issue. She now knows "Leave it" and will obey no matter what else is going on around her. She left a stray dog that was running at her barking, to come sit by me. She's left even a hen that did get out and was right in front of her face flapping. She doesn't WANT to, but she is absolutely devoted and does not want me mad at her for any reason.

I wish you luck with your dog! it CAN be done, but you're fighting against every natural instinct a dog has.

(except our cocker spaniel...she loves the chckens. and kittens. and everything else. Terrible representation of a hunting breed!)

Leisa

 

[mollymaloney]

When I stop to watch the chickens with my dog (leashed) the hens queue up to peck her through the bars when she isn't looking.

 

[daoustaj]

Garden hose

 

[shellbug2015]

I agree with the "leave it" command. I use that. Although my lab, Wally, is too much or a dope to know he's supposed to chase/fetch/retrieve anything so he does leave my silkies alone, he gets a kick outta running by them really fast so they scatter. But I'm not sure my chickens think he's much of a predator either, they peck all around him and brush up against him when he's laying in the yard. I guess it's just a really weird flock. lol

 

[Carebearsmiles]

So, I just continued with the leave it and her on the leash. After a few weeks I didn't have to have the leash to get her to leave them alone. Now the birds are full grown and the dog and birds roam around together. lol

 

[Mhays]

So...we have indoor quails and a new indoor foster-fail dog who is probably mostly pointer (he doesn't point, but he's definitely a nose dog.)

Just hatched a small brood, and was wondering if any of you have seen this type of behavior? He is super-interested in the chicks and eggs, but seems more...maternal than he does like they are snacks. He freaks out if one cries. However, when I held one for him to smell, he got overexcited, kept trying to knock it out of my hand and he made noise with his teeth.

We used to have an open-top habitat, and occasionally a bird would go walkabout in the living room. This happened once with Axl, and he picked up the bird (I was terrified) and then dropped it in my hand when I said "drop it" (she was mighty wet and mighty angry, but otherwise totally unhurt.

Obviously, I don't trust this dog with the birds, but I'd like to unpack the behavior to see if there's a way to adapt it into something useful (like alerting us to lost birds, or telling us if a chick is crying.) Thoughts?