If you have a dog.....

[Qi Chicken]

I have been reading this thread from the beginning. Love the pictures. Our dog is great with the chickens. She is old, brown and big. She loves them because she loves to eat their poop and their food. She does not like to share. The only time I have seen her snap at them is when they are competing for the same food. Snap like she would do to the cat, not snap as in eat.

 

[BeccaB00]

Well just like people, every dog is different. Yes there are those that have more of a chance of "hearding" or trying to kill birds but theres no sertain breed of dog that will not chase or kill chickens. You need to either get your dog as a puppy and raise him/her around the chickens, or if your going to adopt, bring the dog to your house first and be sure hes gonna be good around the chickens, and if not, you have a choice of either taking the dog back to where you got it or trying to train him not to mess with the birds.
I have a border collie/cattle dog mix and she used to run up to the birds as fast as she could to make them scatter. Never tried to catch or kill one, but I think she just liked watching them run. One day she done that to one of our roosters...he flogged her in the face. but now I think shes gotten bored of it, as this was just when we first adopted her.

good luck!

 

[Raven81]

here is my jazz(myn) shes 4 yrs old ==mom

this is podge, 2 yrs old ==daughter

sorry i havnt taken any pics of them lately these were a few months ago at my sisters where they couldnt be left alone as she had no fences & lived in town, hence the chains but normally the not on chains the like the chooks free range & go to bed at nite.

they are good around the chooks & mainly just ignore them but im trying to teach them to bark or chase them out of vegie patch when they get in there.... its a slow process to teach them to leave them outside the yard & bark when in yard but we are making progress with jazz.

 

[wolfpak]

We have 10 dogs.... all are fine with the 70 or so chickens. 3 dogs are pure bred Golden Retrievers, 3 are 1/2 Golden & 1/2 mixed breed - including some sharpei, an English Mastiff cross, a Border collie cross, a Yellow Lab, & a Mini Dachshund.
The chickens run around under them, and have actually stolen butcher bones from the Goldens, but the Mastiff will growl if they try stealing her bone!

Most of the dogs showed an interest in eating the new chicks, but they were allowed to watch and look in the stock tank each day, while being reminded to "leave it!" which is our command used to stop them from picking up something they shouldn't... none of them are aggressive towards our flock in any way. We have had a couple of chickens killed by fox in spring, or the raccoons, and the Goldens will always retrieve and bring and found "parts" to me... but this is VERY rare, thankfully. As you can imagine, the dogs are great varmint deterrents!

The Mastiff has the "job" of guarding the property - and the chickens when we are away. She HATES hawks with a passion, and is excellent at chasing them away from her girls! She actually seems a bit fond of her flock, as long as they don't take those bones ( they are allowed to eat the little pieces she gnaws off them).

I think the key it to make it well known the dogs simply are not allowed to mess with the birds... and we were successful teaching ours this. The Border Collie is pretty intense, and he did chase a couple several times - it didn't take more than a couple of sharp NO! BAD!!! yells to correct him. We also have our dogs with us at ALL times, in & outside (its a big house - LOL!) so they are used to taking their cues from us.

Some dogs have very strong prey drives, and chickens might be a bit to much for them to resist, but we've had excellent luck with all of ours.

 

[Rosiethechickenlady]

Have a schauzer mix and a min pin mix - both great around the chickens. Daughter has a Catahoula that has killed several of my chickens (any my pet turkey) and all of her chickens. Once they start gettin' after the chickens it may be a habit that is impossible to break.

 

[lauriruth]

Spitz/Miniature Collie mix. Fabulous chicken dog!

 

[erinreid]

I raise thousands of chickens, pouts’, ducklings, goslings and keets every year.
Every year I receive calls from people that need help mending mauled fowl.
We receive calls every month looking to replace hens and flocks that the dog, neighbors dog, stray dog, mother-in-laws dog ate. We keep a big special paddock with our handicap flock which is mostly made up of rescues from mauling.

THERE IS NO DOG THAT IS 100% SAFE WITH FOWL.

Now - before you go off...
I also raise dogs. I have raised Rotts, Blue Heelers and Border Collies. I run sheep, work with sheepdog associations and I show (AKC), course and hunt with Borzoi from a partner's kennel.

ANYTIME A DOG IS ABLE TO MAUL OR KILL A FOWL - IT IS THE HUMAN'S FAULT.

The dog is doing what the dog does. Some breeds are better with fowl then others, some will actively hunt them. Choose your dog carefully, train them well (there are GOOD trainers out there that can teach you to train your dog for 'hands and mouth off') and spend a lot of time with your dog. Teach them to view the flock as their pack - include them as much as possible, desensitize them for noises, peeking, running and flying that fowl does. Even if it goes against your personal beliefs about hunting - call a reputable bird dog organization that uses retrieval of live birds.

I work with several organizations that train their dogs to bring the fowl back uninjured. They spend hundreds of hours developing and training for this. I spend hundreds of hours working with people to keep their flocks safe, not just from raccoons, coyotes and bobcat, but from their dogs. I visit homes, farms and ranches continually. I work with 4-H in 3 counties, animal control in two states, and wildlife management throughout the PNW flyway. All this information and still, once in a while, I will lose a chicken to my blue heeler. There is a price for keeping an apex predator in close proximity with prey.

Enjoy your dogs, enjoy your fowl – but never forget that the food chain rules.

Erin

 

[mmaddie's mom]

<--- Just added my GSD, Mmaddie as my avatar... she is great with the chickens and especially loves the cat! She's a good old girl!

 

[literary_chick10]

I have a wonderful Saint Bernard who thought that the chicks squeeked wonderfully until they stopped squeeking, then she went and got a new one. After scolding her, she never "played" with the chicks again. Other than that, she ignores the chickens except the black star who is her buddy.

 

[heather112588]

i have a pug who mostly ignores them. He does sniff their butts as if they were dogs though. Only downside, This excuse for a dog can't keep raccoons away!