Is this relationship worth saving???

[bobbi-j]

Thank you for your understanding and suggestions, especially from those of you who have dealt with this breed and adopted older dogs.  For clarification:  I am not able to have an indoor dog or have 2 dogs.   I think if she had one of her sister dogs here she would be much happier; I think just any other dog might be risky unless it was a puppy.  My husband does not want one dog let alone two and after getting sick in the midst of raising a border collie puppy a couple of years ago, I know my heart cannot take raising a puppy either physically or emotionally. 
This dog was not bred nor trained to herd in spite of her breed and she does not exhibit  herding instincts.  I realized border collies are going to herd something regardless, you, children, and certainly chickens but they much prefer horses, cows, etc.  I found a home on a farm with cows and horses for my border collie simply because he was happiest herding and needed more to do.  I do not sense this dog has any high herding instinct.  She basically ignores the chickens.  She was very happy and content to lay down by me and watch the sheep we visited but she should have been trained young to be valuable as a herding dog and she was not.
I don't expect her to go after foxes or to protect the chickens but a normal dog will bark at a varmit in the yard at least.

I can return her to the owner; I can certainly sell her, I can rehome her to someone with other dogs, etc.  However I would like to keep her.  She can be so sweet and loving but then she goes on these long rejection episodes.  They have followed times when I have had to be gone for most of the day but they have also followed the times when she has had my full attention and we have seemingly had the best of times.

I was told to crate her or have her on a lease at all times and hand feed her after basically starving her out from under the porch.  I can try that again though I have to pull  her out of the crate or on the lease.  I have rewarded her for coming with treats after I found something she liked.  We can go back to that and I can just be patient until she hopefully comes around.  I will spend as much time as I can with her and take her places to socialize her which she seems a bit stressed by sometimes but basically seems to enjoy.  Walking a mile or so most days is not much of a problem.  I can get her former owner to do some obedience training with us on recall.

Are there any other suggestions?

Sounds to me like you have a good plan in place. If training with the former owner is an option, I'd do it if it were my dog. I wish the two of you all the best.

 

[Carolyn]

I have had her a month. She is fine for petting and loving on, walks, etc when she is in the mood and very obedient except in coming to me. I am not ready to give up on her and will try to appreciate her good traits and hopefully we will bond. She can be so good at times and she isn't aggressive. We have lots of ticks and bug issues but obviously my chickens are going to have to free range less. She is out from under the house not because she came out freely and she reluctantly ate out of my hand. She is on a long lease where she can see the chickens and has her house for shelter and comfort. She seemed as happy as she gets when I last checked on her. Obedience training in the near future and patience on the bonding. I really don't think she will be happier elsewhere because her previous owner will only resale her. She knows to look away when I call her and will not look me in the eye when she is being defiant; smart but stubborn.

Thanks everyone. I was so frustrated yesterday but loosing a chicken is never easy. I just was not prepared for the problems we have encountered but am willing to give it some more time. Hopefully things will get better.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a feeling that she will eventually be an awesome dog for you, because she will learn to trust you and respond to your love and patience.

 

[Carolyn]

I hope that is the case. She does have a lot of potential.

 

[Carolyn]

Up date: I lost another chicken to a fox when I came in the house briefly. The dog again did not bark but she was pretty good at tracking the get away route and has been marking territory, unusual behavior for females. That might also explain why my other dogs kept the foxes away since they were males. I am keeping the chickens on lock down.
After talking with the previous owner and applying his instructions on long lease training for recall poor Hattie became so stressed she had diarrhea. Then she tried playing who is the boss. I just tried to back off, love her and spend plenty of time with her. She ignores any response to my calling her except to come for treats.
Last night I left her off the lease and early this am she was in the yard but disappeared to the woods and would not come to my calls. Late afternoon she came home and actually came to me for a treat. Since I know she plays hide and seek rather than runs away I am going to try to give her more freedom and use the word Yahoo to get her to come for a treat. Not conventional but then she is not so conventional any way. I know she deserves to be fired but she didn't sign a contract and the more I am around her the more I realize she's just not a happy camper anyway.

 

[Mrs. K]

Aussies are one people dogs. They will be nice to other people, but really have a bond with one person. We have had two, loved them, beautiful manners, never bark, won't harm your chickens, but won't protect them either. They are herding dogs. Ours loves to bring the horses in, and will be chasing them on command, and jump up and catch their tails and swing! She will keep the yearling cattle out of the yard. But she does not bark when someone comes in, and she does not keep predators out of my chickens.

As to the one person dog, our children are raised, but my husband took another job, and my son came home to run the ranch while he was gone, and we had just gotten this dog as a pup. My son lived here for about a year, and he and the dog were quite attached. My husband came home, and my son got married and of course, lives in another home. Our dog is more than willing to be with my husband, but if I get up in the morning, and the dog is laying at the top of the stairs, I know Clay has come home, and she is waiting for him. And it has been several years since he has been gone.

They are a one person dog. She is grieving.

Mrs K

 

[Carolyn]

I guess I forgot to subscribe to this and did not see the last post by Mrs. K. I think it might have helped. I did all that I could to make Hattie Sue happy and my chickens have not free ranged in months because of the fox. I thinned my flock to make them more comfortable pinned and have used more Repel and deet than I want to think about for the increased insect population. The owner I got her from offered me a male dog 5 years old that had had 3 owners in his life though she had him 3 years. She offered for me to try him and see if having two would work better. He was a sweet and friendly dog and readily came when called. Hattie seemed happy to have him here but was no better about coming to me. A few days after I let him off lease, they left one afternoon and were gone for most of 2 days. Needless to say I was sick from the time I first called them and they did not return. When I found them by the grace of God, they were 2 miles away and almost to the 4 lane highway. I took them back to the owner after I found them.

She was an extremely shy aussie; something you might want to be aware of when considering a dog. Neither of them paid any attention to the chickens. But having him around and also having my sister who has had a lot of experience with dogs meet them made me realize she had serious problems and yes grief may have been part of it.
My plan is to downsize further; raise some meat chickens in the future and only keep 5-6. My heart can't take another dog and being unable to free range really takes a lot of fun out of having chickens for me.