Just Got an Aussie pup with hope of it gaurding the poultry!

[CrazyWestTexasFarmGirl]

I have Australian Shepherds and Australian Cattle Dogs aka heelers...
You can train them not to eat your chickens. Some it takes a lot of work... A few never get it and chickens are just really cool noisy self propelled squeky toys... BUt some can be trained. our ACD was a notorious chicken killer... hes now 10 years old and the chickens can walk all over him and take food out of his mouth.
I would say at least until your Aussie is a mature age 2-3 years old in my book... train her to make the rounds and guard the property but dont expect her to be around loose chickens and not go after them. Instinct can override training when they are young.

The more time you spend with her and spend training the more reliable she can be.... but some aussies are handfuls until they are "mature" I had one at 3 that was just starting to lose her puppy stupids and be reliable and calm down...she never ever ever ever stopped moving(never was reliable around small livestock either but could work mean nasty tempered cattle for hours and hours- but you could steal her in a heartbeat as she didnt know a stranger...(she was almost stolen twice.. once our of our truck and once out of our yard.) My big 80 lb boy is very obedient... but still boisterous and bouncy at age 6...Hell on cats and strays if he can catch them and never ever ever barks... woe to an intruder because they would never know what hit them. My 2 year old female is a couch potatoe door stop floor rug... shes a great burgler alarm for anything out of place but a total sissybabypudge, she tells us when somethings out there... but once you get up to see she stops barking and leaves defending the property to her humans.

 

[Sjisty]

We have had an Aussie for 8+ years. We got her as a rescue. She is wonderful with the chickens, except she thinks she should be mom to the babies. After being pecked on the nose a few times, she has learned to leave them alone. I trust her totally with my flock. We have had chickens for two years now and have never had a problem. She and they have the run of the yard every day.

 

[Chick~N~Family]

Sjisty~ Awesome to know. I believe that she is very capable of being trained to do as i want. She just looks smart and very trainable. Now my nonsense, not so much. You look at her and see cuteness and not alot going on upstairs if you know what i mean. But the new puppy seems to be very smart. She has stayed on the porch since I brought her home and doesnt even leave it to go potty unless I walk with her to the yard. She seems very clingy. She loves the kids. If they go out to play she is no more than a foot or two away from them the whole time. I already love her. If she eats chickens I guess she will just have to stay out front and be a yard dog. We have 200 acres plus so she has plenty of room and 2 bigs pond to explore. She will be happy and so will I know matter how good of a chicken gaurd she is!

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

Hi!

I haven't read this whole thread, but we all know how these usually go ... some folks use dogs to protect the chickens, others think you can never trust a dog with the birds (they’re evil or something).

I'm in the first camp. We have 5 dogs that are left every morning with the birds in a 1 acre fencesd yard. One of these dogs is an Aussie rescue. Actually, all of the dogs are rescues except for our Pyr, Fluffy.

So, yes I know for a fact you can train an Aussie to watch your chickens. Nature has nothing on my skills to train a good dog. By the way, Aussies are awesome dogs with a great disposition and willingness to please their pack leader.

If you would like to hear about how I trained our dogs, you should be able to do a search for my screen name. If the info isn’t on the board anymore, I can repost it.

Jim

 

[cmjust0]

What good does "watching" a flock of chickens do, though? I mean, yeah, I suppose you could train a lot of dogs to be out and about with chickens and to watch them instead of chasing or killing them.....but what does that really get you? Besides a well-behaved dog, I mean..

What I keep wondering -- and what nobody seems to be willing to address -- is if a big stray or neighbor's dog(s) comes around, and you've got an Aussie who's trained to be out with the chickens without killing them, will the Aussie actually DEFEND the chickens?...or will the Aussie just "watch" as the other dog kills the whole flock? Or will the Aussie try to defend them and get mangled/killed in a fight because it's a small, lightweight dog built for speed and agility -- not for defense?

Would anyone advocating the use of herding dogs in guarding roles care to address this very real possibility?

 

[Cynthia12]

I personally have learned the hard way. If you can't trust a Golden Retriever...then....

My one year old just killed one of my Australorp chicks. Not to eat, but mauled it while just mouthing it.

Our neighbor on the other hand, has an old purebred Boxer. The chickens eat the dogs food, right out of her bowl, right in front of her. She could care less.

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

Quote:
Definitely a good point. A guard dog is what we really need to watch our flocks. So, one would do better with a dog bred to be a watch dog. But, it will also depend on the individual dog. I know many forum members have had good luck with dog breeds that you wouldn’t think of as a watchdog. But, in general, I think there is more success with a dog from a line of watchdogs.

Our Aussie is a pretty alert watchdog, so it's very possible for an Aussie to be a watchdog for the chickens. But, due to size and disposition, I don't think an Aussie can be considered as guard dog. Our Aussie works great as a member of a pack (more eyes watching the land) that is backed up by a big, fluffy, white dog (Pyr).

I do know that some dogs are not cut-out as watchdogs. Our retrievers are next to useless when it comes to watching the flock, but there is something magical how our Pyr tunes in and scans the area for interlopers when she’s on duty.

Jim

 

[greathorse]

I took in an 18 month old aussie and was a bit worried about her and the birds. I leashed her and took her in with the birds any time I went to feed or mess with them soon, a few weeks I allowed her to follow me and did the same. I now trust her to be outside at the same time the chickens are out and about. I leave her outside every night while the chickens are cooped and she makes a racket any time something comes around. I do not have predators hanging out at night. I am sure she would be in the fight of her life if the coyotes challenged her, but I hope that I would hear her and would be able to help out. I keep a loaded weapon at the ready. She mostly makes noise from the porch so I hope she will be fine. It has been a few years now and I still have the dog and all the chickens, well at least I have lost none to predators.

We mostly have fox and I am comfortable that she will run them off. I do worry a bit about the coyotes

 

[TKIFARMGIRL]

I have an elderly aussie/heeler mix and a registered australian shepherd. I have had aussies since I was a kid. I have had the dogs for 15 and 4 years, it never occured to me that perhaps they would kill chickens. I have only had chickens for the past 10 months, and my aussie is an awesome herder and guard to the girls. Our dogs are very well mannered and well behaved, it did take about a year for the aussie to "grow up" and become attentive at all times, but given their willingness to please, training was really quite simple. The chickens were introduced to the dogs as part of the "domain" that the dogs protect, and they absolutely herd and protect. The chickens free range all day, and are only locked up in the coop at night. The old aussie/heeler no longer attempts "fights" with predators, but he alerts the younger aussie, who aggressively barks, and sometimes bites and kills predators, although he will not fight a stray dog, he does send them away. I love aussies and will always have 1 or 2 on the farm. I wish you good luck with your new best friend.

 

[Red Maple Farms]

Would an aussie be considered dinner to a wolf?