..look what happend.. UPDATES

[Chook-A-Holic]

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So sorry you lost your birds this way. It truly saddens me to see this. This is a fine example of why I spend hundreds of dollars extra for hardware cloth and electric fencing for my coops/runs. If it weren't your own dog it could have very easily been someone else's. This thread does not need to be deleted. This is the reality of what happens when you have insufficient protection for your birds. Maybe this will be a wake up call to others who need to better fortify their set-ups.

 

[carrlr]

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I disagree, it shouldn't be deleted. The "Very Graphic Pix" warning is enough. People do need be informed and know that even the beloved family pet, in this case a dog, can reveal it's natural instincts. If you don't want to look at the thread you don't have to. I am so very sorry for your loss. I'm dealing with an injured chicken right now from a dog attack.

 

[mdbokc]

While the pics are graphic, they are what they are when this type of situation arises. For newbies, it could be a real wake up call to cross the t's and dot the i's in planning for their flocks.

 

[valreegrl]

Ok. I understand how upset you are. Anybody would be in your situation.

BUT....you need to take time to cool off. Unless you have invested lots of time and effort into training the dog to "leave it" when it comes to the chickens, then it is not his fault in the least. German Shepherds are prey animals. They have the drive bred into them. If it moves, they will chase. And because your birds are (forgive me here) in one piece, that says to me that the dog was in play mode, not kill mode. Easily fixable with a little effort.

I have an 11 month old Shepherd who I would not trust loose with my chickens. However, there have been on occasion that the chickens got out and without me realizing it I let my Shepherd in the backyard. When I yelled "LEAVE IT!" and "COME!" you bet that dog listened and turned on a dime. That comes with time invested in a dog.

My advise.....cool down and reevaluate the situation before "getting rid of" or "put a bullet in his head". If you are willing....I am willing to walk you through the process of getting some good basic skills for you and the dog preventing this situation. But nothing is fool-proof so first thing is to get the coop secure.

 

[RAWR]

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im biting my tounge.

 

[RAWR]

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we have.. we got the female to stop when we say leave it. but i guess we didnt get it all the way threw with him..

 

[zazouse]

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Well said,

we have a working farm and can't afford this kind of thing,i will put a dog down rather than take a chance on it killing neighboring livestock as well as my own..

 

[peepinator]

I am so very sorry to hear this

I grew up on a small farm and we always had chickens and we had a big ole st. bernard dog whom I loved very much, he was my baby! Anyhow, he killed some of our chickens and ducks and I loved them too...I would hand feed them everyday--they were so tame. It is heart breaking to say the least. When my dog went on his killing spree, an old farmer friend of the family's told us to beat the dogs butt with the bird--don't hurt him, but get his attention and then take one of the dead birds and tie it onto the dogs collar and let it rot off. We did this and he never touched a chicken, duck, goose or turkey again...EVER. Someone else in the post suggested this as well.

As an adult, I had my own little farm, bunches of chickens, ducks, geese and a couple turkeys. I had three dogs that were kept in a nice large fenced in area with a plush dog house and the fence had a hot wire strung around the top and we took tent stakes to hold the bottom of the fence down so they couldn't dig under and push the fence up. I knew my dogs couldn't be trusted around the chickens, they weren't raised as babies with them...we got the chickens later. When we built our chicken coop, we had redwood 4 X 4's all around the bottom of the chicken yard wire that it was all nailed to and it was 6 feet high so nothing could get inside from above or below. We had our property all fenced so in the summer we let our chickens, ducks and geese out of their yard to roam the property during the day, but we had to make sure the dogs weren't out of their yard.

I know you're really angry with your dog, I know I was. My dog didn't know he had done anything wrong until he did it once and got beat with a dead duck and wore it around like a necklace until it rotted off. He knew then. I hope you will give your dog another chance, I know this is tough, but it is a learning lesson for you and your dog...and it only needs to happen ONCE. Everyone deserves another chance. I'm sure your dog loves you unconditionally and I'm sure you don't really want to put a bullet in his head. Again....I'm very sorry to hear about your loss...it took me back to when I was a kid and my dog, whom I loved so much, did the same thing. And thanks for posting the pictures, I agree that though they are graphic, people who have never had chickens before and are going to bring them home to share a home and yard with their family dog/s....need to know that this can and will happen with some dogs, if precautions aren't taken.

 

[Keri78]

I agree with others...time to re-home your dog to a nice chicken-free family!

There are some breeds that do exceptionally well with chickens...I'd get one of those breeds as a pup and some new chicks and just make a fresh new start. I'm sure he's a great dog but just was not cut out to hang with chickens. I'm soooo ....I can't imagine what your going through.

 

[RAWR]

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i would love to beat him silly with a dead chick..but i buryed them all

you helped, alot. knowing im not the only one thats had the exact thing happen, makes me feel better.
he is a nice dog, but hes useless. he doesnt gard the home, he greets strangers, he kills chickens, hes afraid of everything. worthless.
and with the pix..i have a thing about taking pix of death..it helps with my mourning. it hepls me remeber they were alive. they were here, at some point in time. our Westie dog didnt kill anyone, he hangs out and plays with them. the female GSD plays with them, and she was raised around them. soo...