Lost 2 tonight.....so upset

[Kaitie09]

Our two labs tag-teamed a chicken that escaped out of the run when I was going in. We had owned the dogs for 5 years with no problems. I will tell you that while they were on top of her, I was punching and kicking the dogs as hard as I could. I will never forget the look of the almost dead hen after I was able to pull the dogs off. Since then, we moved the coop to the backyard, and the dogs are never allowed outside if I am going anywhere near the coop. I does not matter the breed of dog, they still all come from a wild background. You should not blame a dog for doing what is ingrained in their DNA, just work your hardest to prevent it.

 

[gryeyes]

I'm so sorry for you.

My elderly dachshund killed three of my chickens when they were "tweens." He chased 'em, they ran, he cornered them, he grabbed and shook them. After the first one, which was totally a surprise to me, I tried to be extra vigilant but I still made mistakes. The second time, the pullet got OUT of the chicken run and was trying to find her way back into it. She ran past the dog..... and I was inside the run with the gate closed; I'd left him out of the run on purpose for the safety of the chickens! He got to her first, then he wouldn't drop her (unlike the first time). So I know he had gotten the taste of killing.

The third time was also my mistake. From that point on, I started chaining my poor old Zorro whenever we were outside. He'd never been chained in his life.

What turned him around was a combination of my working with him, training (and that was tough, given that he was a very spoiled dog), and the chickens growing larger. Then one day, the dominant rooster kicked his butt. Shortly thereafter, the Cayuga drake nipped him unmercifully. Zorro now avoids all the chickens. He will walk through a group of them, his head down and tail tucked under his body, trotting to get past them as quickly as possible. He doesn't even look sideways at the bantams.

But for quite some time, I was feeling awful about MY beloved dog killing MY chickens. I was SO mad at him, and at myself. I wasn't getting rid of him, nor was I going to stop keeping chickens.

You have my sincerest sympathies.