It happened again!!!

[darbella]

OK, here are the gals with Cooper...he is more interested in eating their poop than eating chicken!!! LOL

 

[New adventure]

I'm a wife who does some pretty lame things sometimes, so I can say this.

It's awfully nice of you to think about giving up the chickens instead of the wife!

She is going to help reinforce the enclosure isn't she?

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Darbella -

I think it's GREAT that you and others can successfully have dogs and chickens together but that's not the case for the OP or many others and it's not all about the training but the personality of the individual dog.

When I was living on a city lot, my backyard was shared by cats, mini-lop bunny and my rottie. I have no doubts that Abbie would have done well with chickens as well.

 

[darbella]

I have been training dogs for many years and have had dogs with strong prey drives that would not harm something they were trained not to do. Any dog can be trained to "leave it". It is up to the owner to let the dog knows who is alpha. I am sorry but I have to disagree with you on that subject.

 

[kcardella]

I have a well-trained Brittany that will not touch my birds while I am there, but has chased and caught them when they flew into the dog yard. He does not kill them, but strips them pretty bare trying to hold on to them! I don't THINK he would purposely hurt them, but could accidentallly hurt/kill them just by chasing and grabbing.

Thus, I would never trust him to be around them alone. I have a separate dog yard, and an enclosed run for the birds when the dog is out with me.

I also have Havanese that I trust completely with the chickens. They hang out all the time, and I wouldn't think twice about letting the dogs out while the chickens are free-ranging.

 

[horsejody]

Maybe some electric fencing around the run would help deter the dogs. I think your DW needs to try a little harder to watch the dogs.

 

[FaereChicken]

Yep. Covered run. You need a goof-proof system that doesn't depend on training the dogs, which takes time and energy. Thought worth it in the long run, building a covered run will be quicker.

 

[KungPao]

you need to create a penalty system with you wife it sounds like. For every chicken that gets killed she'll owe you ______.

Make it a good one and she'll figure it out.

Sorry for your losses.

 

[Slinkytoys]

Handsome dog. Nice ear crop! Have you shown him?
Carrie

 

[darbella]

Quote:
Yes and thank you. he has been conformation shown, CGC and also schutzhund trained to the first level. I retired hi early from the conformation showing because he hated it! he is such a good boy. I also hev a chi-IG mix that plays with the chickens and when he really gets them riled up the dobie puts his paw on his back and presses him to the ground as if to tell him to take it easy!! They are a hoot to watch.