is my dog guilty

[islandgirl82]

How was it attached?

A 7 year old obese lab is over middle aged. It sounds like that wouldn't be easy for him. Welded wire is tough.

And when he killed the neighbors chickens, that was 4 years ago, when your dog was 3. A three year old lab is just out of puppy stage.
I just can't help thinking there must have been something different about that day. A fox that ripped it open, or something. As Islandgirl said above, he would have been tired after the first few, and the would have been running around like crazy.

There are so many factors, did you check his teeth? Did you check him completely for blood? Dogs tend to 'death shake' things (I'm sure you've seen how they shake their toys) so were the chickens necks broken? How big were the puncture wounds? Labs have more rounded teeth because they are retrievers, he would have had to apply considerable force and create larger holes than say, a cat, fox, or another breed.

A muddy dog is not a chicken killer. Maybe someone else's dog broke your fence, and your dog only attacked the rooster that was out of the pen because it was easy and he was excited then went to investigate. Maybe there was a cat in there and the dog broke the gate and then got over stimulated.

(also, a dog that looks guilty is usually just reading your body language and voice. I can make my dog duck his head in 'shame' by saying his name with a certain disappointed lilt. After you found the chickens, you were definitely mad and probably calling for the dog to come, but since it wasn't in a happy voice he cowered in the front yard)

Honestly , it doesn't matter what actually happened. We'll never know. I'd just like to know the dog is safe and will be getting chicken training instead of being rehomed. I don't want to turn this into a post about what you should or shouldn't do with your pets (or a personal attack, please don't take it as that) as you just wanted to know if he did it or not, but you've had the dog much longer than the chickens. He doesn't have a whole lot of time left. His chances in a shelter are slim. Giving him to a relative or friend is better, but is it really fair to the dog?

Even if the dog did it, please don't blame him for doing dog things. Even if my dogs tore into my chicken coop and destroyed all my chickens, I would consider it a failure on my part, for not training better, for not making it strong enough, for leaving the door open, and not a failure on the dog's part.

I hope he didn't do it.....but even if he did please think about this.....your dog loves you. You are the only family he has known. All he wants to do, lives to do, is to please you. Please don't doom him.......

Yes...to all of this.

You'd be amazed at how small of a hole a fox can actually fit through, how much patience they have to wait for just the right moment and enough intelligence to look for any weak areas that would allow them the simplest and quickest way to their next meal. They will even stake out an area with a good food source and come back to it when they know they're least likely to run into trouble . Other times they don't care and can be unbelievable bold. This had to take more skill than one pudgy old dog acting alone...imho.

 

[papaclark]

So....how do you train fido to leave the birds alone? My coop is located where I can look out the window and see what's going on. When I first brought home chicks, 4 were immediately trashed by a visitor's dog. (My fault, unsecured brooder) After that, I moved the brooder intothe run. Most of my friends bring their dogs with them to visit. None, are chicken friendly. I set some metal pots and pans in various locations around the coop, got out my trusty "Red Ryder" and wait. Whenever a dog gets too interested in what's in the coop, I shoot the metal pan closest to them and that usually does the trick. They're not sure what's up, but after a couple or three shots they split, looking over their shoulder as they wander off. I've seen pics on BYC of dogs and chickens together, in harmony. That's what I want. I have a 6-month old shephard mix, and I want to train him to leave the birds alone, "free-ranging" being my ultimate goal. Suggestions?

 

[bobbi-j]

So....how do you train fido to leave the birds alone? My coop is located where I can look out the window and see what's going on. When I first brought home chicks, 4 were immediately trashed by a visitor's dog. (My fault, unsecured brooder) After that, I moved the brooder intothe run. Most of my friends bring their dogs with them to visit. None, are chicken friendly. I set some metal pots and pans in various locations around the coop, got out my trusty "Red Ryder" and wait. Whenever a dog gets too interested in what's in the coop, I shoot the metal pan closest to them and that usually does the trick. They're not sure what's up, but after a couple or three shots they split, looking over their shoulder as they wander off. I've seen pics on BYC of dogs and chickens together, in harmony. That's what I want. I have a 6-month old shephard mix, and I want to train him to leave the birds alone, "free-ranging" being my ultimate goal. Suggestions?

Do some research. There are lots and lots of threads on here about training dogs to be with chickens. Read them, find a method that best suits you and your dog's personality and give it a try. It's not going to happen in a day, and maybe not even a week. It will take time, patience and consistency.

When we have company here that bring their dogs, I keep my chickens locked in their secure run. The chickens are far enough from the house that it's generally not a problem (the dogs don't usually wander that far away) but I prefer not to take any chances.

 

[islandgirl82]

So....how do you train fido to leave the birds alone? My coop is located where I can look out the window and see what's going on. When I first brought home chicks, 4 were immediately trashed by a visitor's dog. (My fault, unsecured brooder) After that, I moved the brooder intothe run. Most of my friends bring their dogs with them to visit. None, are chicken friendly. I set some metal pots and pans in various locations around the coop, got out my trusty "Red Ryder" and wait. Whenever a dog gets too interested in what's in the coop, I shoot the metal pan closest to them and that usually does the trick. They're not sure what's up, but after a couple or three shots they split, looking over their shoulder as they wander off. I've seen pics on BYC of dogs and chickens together, in harmony. That's what I want. I have a 6-month old shephard mix, and I want to train him to leave the birds alone, "free-ranging" being my ultimate goal. Suggestions?

Honestly, You'd be hard pressed to be able to free-range all the time because of visitors bringing their dogs but could have more luck when they're not around or if their dogs are leashed.

I am one of those people who has been incredibly blessed with a dog who lives in harmony with all creatures. I got him when I was 6 months pregnant and he was a 9 month old puppy. The moment we met, he sniffed my belly and immediately sat on me feet. Straight away he just kind of took to being a nanny to anyone smaller than him. He's a newfoundland so that pretty much means everyone. He's a peacekeeper. He'd already been through basic obedience training and was well socialized before he came to live with me so I didn't have to start from scratch with him.

Basic obedience training and consistency are musts. Leashed training sessions near your birds. Immediate correction when a dog takes too much interest (a quick tug on the leash followed by a command; I say "Leave it" any time I want my dog to ignore something) and positive reinforcement every time your dog ignores them. You have to be more interesting to a dog than whatever else is happening around them so find what it is that drives your dog (treats, clicker, toys, etc.). When exposing him to the birds, keep him leashed and I've had good results with other people's dogs when I ignore the chickens. If they're not interesting to me and I focus on something else, then the dogs have taken an interest in what I am focused on. When a dog turns their back to someone or something, they're showing that they have no intentions of hurting them. That would be the time to reward. It may take some time so have patience.

I have neighbors who have very ill behaved dogs and they will wander over to my yard and have gone for my girls several times. I raised my flock as free range but now it's never unsupervised (unless my neighbors are traveling). They have been using those collars that emit a high frequency to correct the dogs when they do something undesirable and it does work for them. I'm considering putting up the electric poultry netting so I'm not on edge so much when I know those dogs are home and my flock is out. I've read great things about people not having predator attacks. That may be something you'd want to consider so that you're birds have a nice big area to range even when you do have visiting dogs.