I'm so sad for my hen...and, so angry at my dog...

[Uppity Peon]

I can only imagine how horrible the experience was! I'm so sorry.

I don't know how effective this will be for my dog but I will definitely try to get my dog to leave the girls alone. A dog can be great for protecting the flock, and my neighbor seems to have his dog nicely trained.

 

[E-Chick]

Thank you all so much for your well wishes and for your anecdotes.

I had only read the first 2 responses when I was SO inspired by Akane's response. I immediately sent a PM. Then, came back to read the rest of the posts.

I want to share what I PM'd Akane (I hope the PM went through, I'm still new to this forum and not sure if I hit the right button):
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Hi Akane!

Thank you so much for your input and advice. I have never heard of the the term "door bolter", but you hit the nail on the head with my one dog (the other is extremely obedient). It is really becoming a problem. Living on a large piece of land, even though totally enclosed by fencing and gated drive, this dog gets past us and jumps the fence, digs under the fence, or scoots under the EXTRA wire fencing that we added to our 3 rail gated entry.

We are at our wits end. He KNOWS all of the commands. Only, he picks and chooses which ones to follow when he wants to. VERY difficult dog. Short of beating the crap out of him (or what REALLY went through my head this morning - putting a bullet in his), I don't know what to do. When we take him to training...he's a star student. But, get him home, and zoom...he's gone!

We'll use a leash and retrain with the sit stay command. Thanks again for your wisdom. I truly appreciate it.

Marla

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Okay, so, I'm still mad at the dog. NOT going to harm him, just venting.

Thanks again for all of the responses. Comforting to know that I'm not the only one that this has unfortunately happened to. I can feel that you care. Thank you.

I really hope that those here that have a dog(s) can learn from some of our mishaps. Training is key. No, make that: CONTINUOUS TRAINING IS ESSENTIAL!!!

Believe me...

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

I am also very sorry to hear this happened sometimes I think it is worse when a chicken gets killed by one of our own dogs/cats


I have 3 dogs that I got way before I ever thought about having chickens .. 2 boxers .. and a beagle/basset mix

all our dogs were full grown by the time the chicks got here I had the brooder in the house where the dogs could hear/smell them but could not really see them I was hopeing this would help them get used to the idea of the chicks

It worked no chicks were ever bothered while in the brooder

so I was feeling pretty hopeful -- I NEVER let my dogs close to the chickens off leash I still dont full trust them

I did take my older semi crippled mix girl into the run on her leash she was very alert watching the chickens run around but did not go after them - she was more intrested in smelling the chicken poop LOL

my male boxer is afraid of baby chicks he backs away from them LOL but he will jump the fence to kill a cat if given the chance but never went towards the chickens even when he was loose and we were not home he could have easily gotten in the run and killed everything before we got home

our female boxer - got out of the yard when our male did and she too ignored the chickens -- but she has killed 2 button quail that escaped while I was cleaning thier tote and has gone after my parrot when she was flying through the house


I wish you luck on re~training your dogs to be more chicken friendly

 

[Casey3043]

So sorry that this happened. I had the same thing happen last year. Two of my hens went under the garden gate and came into the back yard. One of my dogs, a beagle/springer mix, ordinarily very gentle, grabbed one of them to play. She rolled her around on the ground and pulled out a lot of feathers. At that moment I looked out and saw her playing with this large black ball, and it took a minute to realize it was a chicken. I rushed out and called the dog. She left the chicken and came right to me, smiling and wagging, not knowing she had done anything wrong. I did not punish her because she did leave the chicken and come to me immediately.

I picked up the hen and looked her over. My brother came out and told me there was another chicken in the yard. I handed him the black one and went to grab the other one. The black hen had no blood, no obvious injuries, just a lot of feathers pulled out. I placed her in the coop on the floor, thinking she might fall off the roost. Unfortunately, we were planning to go out to dinner (my mom was here too), and I left the chickens. We were gone a couple of hours, and when we returned, the hen was dead. I regret that I didn't take her in the house and keep her warm, etc. I might have saved her. I think she died of shock, because she was up and running after the attack.

Why do these things always happen at the most inopportune times??? My brother lives far from me and I don't get to see him very often, so it didn't seem right to back out of the dinner plans. I wish I had. I don't trust either of my dogs around the chickens for an instant.

PS A very effective training tool on a door bolter: I knew a man who had only one leg and was on crutches, and when he tried to take his dog out to hook him to the runner line, the dog would wait till he leaned over to get the snap, and then pull him off balance so he had to let go. The dog would take off. What he did was put a sturdy eye bolt in the door frame INSIDE the door, and hook a nylon line to the dog's collar BEFORE opening the door. Then when they were out on the porch and he was fumbling around and the dog took off, he busted himself about ten feet away when he hit the end of that line going full tilt. He didn't know whether he'd been coming or going. He never bolted again!!!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

When my parents had chickens, my dad built an entrance/foyer to the chicken yard. It was a 3x4 foot, secure area BEFORE the actual door into the run. It was only 4 ft high to prevent any chicken from running out of the coop and/or any dog from running into the run. It might help until you get your dogs train to prevent another mishap...Sorry for your loss.

 

[ChickenCat]

Sorry. It can happen in the blink of an eye. I have 4 Catahoula leopard dogs and they are very high prey driven. this will remind me to check and double check for their presence behind me.
My condolences.

 

[countrybum]

Quote:
Put the dog on a 2 foot chain and tie it to a tree, leaving only the 2 foot of moving space. Take the chicken and beat the crap out of the dog with the bird, yelling as loud as you can "no" and "bad dog". Then give the dog food and water, leaving the chicken on the ground near the dog. Every time you walk past pick up the chicken and smack the dog again yelling the same. Leave the dog tied to the tree for 2 days with the chicken and you should never have another problem. If you can, tied it tightly around the dogs neck.

In the end you will have this:

 

[E-Chick]

Quote:
GREAT IDEA! Thank you. Only, both of my dogs are "outdoor" dogs. They have an enclosure that is about 50'x40'. They get to explore out of there several hours per day. But, due to my allergies, they live outside and to get to them, I have several gate entries around the enclosure. The fencing and gates are chain link. I don't know how I could incorporate this idea.

ANY suggestions???

 

[countrybum]

Tie the dog to its enclosure, or have hubby do it. Where there is a will there is a way. If you want your dog to quit eating your chickens then you find a way. Now that it has done it once and was not punished it will surely do it again.

My chickens free range every day and my dogs are not separated from them and they all 3 learned from the same method I posted for you. What you do with the advice is your choice.

Good luck

 

[nzpouter]

once your training start to work... do the next step and introduce the dogs slowly to the chickens..

We never tolerate any of our older dogs touching any of our other animals.

They have till they're 8 months old to learn that...