If you have a dog.....

[HLAC]

I have a black lab. She's a hunting dog and is very birdy but simply has no interest in the chickens, doesn't matter if they're free-ranging or if they're in the coop.

She's a raw fed dog and I do feed her raw and feathery chicken parts from the birds I butcher. Still no problem.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
The Aussies don't shed constantly like labs, but oh boy when they blow their coats! We had a Lhasa Apso when I was a kid. Great med/small dogs that handle the cold really well. I'm not sure how one would do with chickens since we didn't have any back then, but he had tons of personality and I can honestly say I'd love to have another one some day--dh needs to get over his attitude about "mop dogs" first though.

 

[Chickie15]

We have a 10 yr old German Shorthaired Pointer (Misty), a 10 week old German Shorthaired Pointer/Brittany mix (Hazel), and a 19/20 week old boxer (Mindy). Both GSPs are hunting dogs, and have chased (and Misty has attempted to grab) the chickens, but the boxer is calmer around the chickens.

 

[Baymule]

I was just given a Great Pyr 9 months old because she played with chickens to death. Her previous owners left her unsupervised on 2 acres with lots of chickens around. Well, duh, what did they expect? That's ok with me, I know big dogs sometimes take awhile to grow up. My girls are in a coop anyway. So far Paris is not even intrested in them. It will take time and working at it and I think she will be just fine. Their loss, my gain.

I also have an Aussie who I would not trust even though when I let her in the coop with me, she is scared of those big ol' bad hens. My black lab is fine with them, although his speciality is baby kittens, LOL. The lab sheds so much, he should be bald and naked, the aussie sheds fine, wispy, float through the air, hair. They both stay in the house.

The lab, cause he is old and can't take the heat/cold anymore and the aussie cause we can't leave her outside by herself. Now they are both fair game for the GP to knock about in the yard.

 

[debilorrah]

We have a shepard/coyote mix. It took a while, but he is 1 1/2 years old and doesn't touch the birds. He did for a while, ate three of my cochin pullets. They were bantys and small, didn't look a think like the rest of the birds and they escaped the coop. He didn't break in, but he didn't leave them alone either.

 

[farmerlor]

We had a Beagle/Border Collie mix who was a chicken killer. I knew when I got him that whoever thought it would be a good idea to mix a hunting dog with a herd dog had a screw loose but then maybe it was MY screw that was loose when I couldn't resist and brought him home. He's found a new home now. We have a lab/dane mix and a boxer/dobie mix who could care less about the chickens though I watch them around the turkeys since the turkeys are so aggressive about wanting to check them out all the time.

 

[ranit]

Our house dogs are a lhasa apso & a shih tzu. Both are great around the chickens when let outside although when we first got the shih tzu he thought he should chase them until a guinea turned around and nailed him.

Our outside dog is a great pyranese. We got her as a pup for the purpose of keeping predators out of the yard. Raised her around all the other animals and she does great. I always have to tell everyone this story about her as I found it amazing. We have some SanJuan rabbits we let run loose around our yard. One winter Sasha (pyranese) had puppies and when my husband went out to check on them he found a baby rabbit in with her puppies. Apparently one of the baby rabbits had gotten out from under our shed where they nest. Sasha had found it, picked it up and put it in the doghouse with her babies without hurting it at all. It was just cuddled up with the puppies.

 

[xenorph]

I've got 2 pitbulls who absolutely love my chickens. When I first got the chicks I would on occasion wake up at night and see that my older girl had removed the chicks from their box so she could cuddle up with them. They are definitely very protective of the chicks too, my neighbor's dog snapped at a chicken one day and my girls freaked out and tackled her.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Lab/husky is GREAT with chickens....
The lab/golden eats 'em.

 

[xenorph]

Funniest thing was actually watching my dog pick up a little chick. She would step on their feet so they couldn't move then the whole body disappeared into her mouth. After a few times the chicks got used to it and stopped struggling. Such a good surrogate mommy.