Is it possible to train my cattle dog to not kill?

[SoORchick73]

We adopted a 2 year old female cattle dog mix from the humane society (no idea what she's mixed with, she looks mostly like a heeler aka Australian cattle dog). She is very, very smart. She turned on my 3 yr old once, I put her on her back and told her "NO!" and also had the 3 yr old come scold her. She didn't bite him but growled and lunged because she was trying to protect me. She is sooooo fascinated with the chickens (nuggets? lol) and I know cattle dogs love having a "job"...I've tried bringing her on leash to the coop and brought our young 13 wk olds out to walk around by her while she's restrained. I know there is no gaurantee but once our garden finishes, I'd love to let them out into our larger deer fenced garden area and let my dog help me "herd" them back into the coop after a few hours (well....run). They have a very large safe covered run and huge barn considering I have 25 chickens. Does anyone have this breed of dog that they trained to be gentle with their chickens? Of course we would never leave them alone but curious as to what other heeler owners experiences have been. Thank you!

 

[MeepBeep]

I have three Australian cattle dogs, and honestly like any dog it's going to come down to training and the dogs temper/attitude... My eldest male is 180 degrees a different dog then his half sister, and our newest one is still a puppy, he seems to feed off of whatever the closest dog is doing at that moment...

Anyway I'm in pretty much the same boat you are in right now, need to not only introduce them to the chickens, peafowl and guineafowl but also my goats and llamas... Right now as of last month the goats/llamas are in an adjacent pasture to the dogs, the female Heeler will walk that fence and bark at them if they get say within say 50 feet, the male Heeler doesn't give a hoot or second look anymore and the puppy copies the nearest dog... I have no doubt that with limited 1:1 exposure and time they will coexist with the goats/llamas and even my flock of birds but it's not going to happen overnight... It's going to take some schooling on my part, but Heeler's do have a strong 'protect the herd' instinct and once you get them to realize the birds are part of the family they should be fine and even babysit them... I also have to school the llamas as they have little love for any K9, but so far seem to be tolerating and/or even ignoring my dogs, funny as they absolutely hate my brothers dog and have from day one, they will charge that dog and get ready to unload the spit every time they see it...

Also my old neighbor had 3 hens (I lived in a neighborhood so they were only a few feet away) my dogs didn't' seems to give them a second look after a few weeks...

The one thing I know all too well about my Heeler's is that their herding skills and herding desires are hard wired in their brains, mine have never been working dogs but they know full well how to herd and want to do it, even to me and my daughters... You might find this the hardest thing to break even if they do get along with your birds, as you might find them running the birds to death or as you said having a 'job' as they herd the chickens around all day... This can be broken but it takes some work and at least for me my dogs they will regress back to herding instincts if you don't keep up on it, they herd my daughters around constantly if I'm not watching them as the daughters don't discipline the herding behavior...

BTW congrats on the dog, I have found the best 'toy' for Heelers (since they need a job) is a 10" Jolly Ball (aka horse ball) I'm talking about the no handle one just a hard round plastic ball... My dogs will chase/herd these balls all over the pasture as if they were trying out for the world cup, and they are indestructible... Seems like every other toy I have given them becomes a "How fast can I destroy this?" job to them...

 

[dainerra]

herding is simply controlled prey drive. You take that desire to hunt and channel it into what you want the dog to do.

It takes daily work and step 1 would be to stop putting her on her back. Alpha rolling has long since fallen out of favor and was never necessary in the first place. 99.999% of the dogs in the world don't need it and the few who actually are trying to be dominant will tear your face off if you tried it.

Step 2 would be to realize that she wasn't protecting you. At least not in the sense that most people would say protecting. She was resource guarding you from him "hey, this is MINE! You stay away." Also, harsh methods with this type of problem can backfire. They tend to reinforce the dog's fear that it needs to keep people away from what is they "own" A good trainer can work on it easily. The simplest explanation is "good things always happen when your son is around"

Step 3 introduce the dog to the chickens. This is always controlled and on-leash. Since you want to maybe use him to herd them, you can't take the easiest route which is to simply teach the dogs to ignore the chickens.

 

[res]

While I do think you need to teach the dog not to eat the chickens, I think you might find it way easier to teach the chickens to come when called and to follow you like the Pied Piper from the garden to the coop. A little bit of scratch and a consistent "call" term, and wala! you have trained chickens. Mine will come running from all over 5 acres when I call, and will follow me anywhere if I have a bucket in my hand. Priceless when there is a storm coming, or we are leaving and won't be home to lock up the coop - all I have to do is call and the all come.

 

[mellissa]

While I do think you need to teach the dog not to eat the chickens, I think you might find it way easier to teach the chickens to come when called and to follow you like the Pied Piper from the garden to the coop. A little bit of scratch and a consistent "call" term, and wala! you have trained chickens. Mine will come running from all over 5 acres when I call, and will follow me anywhere if I have a bucket in my hand. Priceless when there is a storm coming, or we are leaving and won't be home to lock up the coop - all I have to do is call and the all come.

Chickens are easy to train, mine free range and are fed morning and afternoon. They come home like the cavalry when I call them. I’ve seen cattle dogs not bother about the chooks wandering about but also seen cattle dogs get into neighbouring properties and kill all the birds. A Maremma or low energy dog maybe a better option for keeping poultry. A good cattle dog will do what you tell them and not leave your side.

 

[RiverOtter]

Cattle dogs are awesome and easily trained. First, burn all your Cesar Milan books. Then, get a clicker and have fun with him. Set your standards high and your cattle dog will meet them.