Maybe new dog-any experience with Golden Retrievers?

[Ole rooster]

I still don't understand why these dogs that are called retreivers, that are know for soft mouths are considered killers. The soft mouth is so they don't crush the bird they are retreiving. So why are they known also for this "prey drive" that kills chickens. We had a GR for 14 years and even for me I have to say she was the most gentle dog I've ever seen. She brought be a bird one day that had fallen out of a nest. It was dead but was not crushed. It died in the fall or either Penny sufficated it in her mouth. At any rate is looked fine but wet.

So would someone explain to me why they are killers of chickens.

 

[WalkerH]

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I know a hunter who does has to teach the 'soft mouth' to most of his dogs so they don't puncture the birds they retrieve. I don't believe every retriever has that skill. But anyways, think of it this way...if something squawked and flapped and made a huge ruckus and you were a dog, would you not want to join in on the excitement? I know people who have lost chickens to dogs who just wanted to 'play' but obviously a dog playing with a chicken one is going to die if the dog plays like a dog will.

I will say if you have the space and you put a invisafence up, perhaps in the front yard and only part of the back, they do work wonders. They definitely reformed my chicken killer, who is an American Eskimo, but comes from the spitz family. If you get a puppy and train it, and make sure you commit to training it, I don't see why it would be a problem. You just have to realize a dog will be a dog and even with proper training in one moment a chicken could be hurt or killed, but you can't blame the dog.

That being said I have four dogs, our notorious Chicken Killer, or CK as she is now often called. Who is the American Eski, then two pit mixes and dachshund. The dachshund has chased the duck, but once one of them turned around and billed at his eye he ran away. The pits were young enough to learn they allowed to sniff but if they start to get excited around them they are immediately corrected. So far we haven't an issue with those three.

 

[lishah2000]

A weel bred golden is a wonderful dog. Yes they are retrievers and some have a higher prey drive than others, but they are very trainable and want to please you. They are high energy and take awhile to mature. Training is very important, but easy if you put the time in.

My golden is 12 now. She is fine with any animal I've brought into the house. I always let her smell it and see what it is, then she leaves it alone. I've had baby chickens and ducks in the house, adult chickens and ducks. Never worried about her. I don't leave them loose with her unsupervised, but I also don't think she would hurt them. Other small animals in the house have never been a concern.

If she gets out and to the pond she will chase the ducks in the water. Again I don't think she would hurt them if she caught them. I've just never worked with her on this issue because she normally isn't out in that area.

When she was younger she caught a baby bunny in the yard. She didn't know what to do with it. It took a bit, but she dropped it in my hand. It was unhurt. She then went back to the nest and got another one. She dropped that one quickly. Both were unhurt and were small enough for her to just gulp down - which is what my other dog did with the third one. (he had that one while I was trying to get her to drop the first baby).

I think a good breeder is the first step. Training from day one - they love it and are easy to work with, but without training they can be a big handful. I did work with my girl from day one to have a soft mouth.

 

[briter30]

I have 2 Golden Retrievers and 9 chickens. Both my Golden Retrievers are chicken OBSESSED!!! My dogs are contained using a wireless pet safe containment system...which is AWESOME. Basically, the system has a unit you put in a central location in the house. Then you put a special collar on the dog which does not allow the dogs to wonder past the set distance away from the main unit. I have mine set about a 45 ft. radius around the house. My chickens are futher out away from the house in a coop. I do let my chickens out to free-range a couple hours a day. The dogs know they can't go past their boundary. Anyway, there have been a couple times when the dogs got out (my negligence) and they headed straight for the coop and chickens. My 5 year old Golden Retriever began digging so obsessively under the coop to get the chickens, he was able to dig about 5 inches down in about 10 seconds. Given about 10 minutes, my chickens would be dead. With that said, I did not get my chickens until my Golden Retrievers were over 2 years old.

On a different note, to me, Golden Retrievers are the BEST dogs out there! The dogs are wonderful to my 3 children (ages 7,3, and 2). They are such sweet-natured dogs. They will do anything for a game of fetch. VERY LOYAL DOGS! I personally prefer to skip the Puppy stage in Golden Retrievers because they are very active and can be destructive like any puppy. I like to get my Golden Retrievers between 2-4 years old. They become IMMEDIATE friends to you.

So in other words, unless you have a way to contain the Golden Retrievers away from chickens, I would not advise it. I don't think they would live in harmony. I KNOW mine will not. But check out the WIRELESS PET SAFE CONTAINMENT system. It works Great!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

We have had golden retrievers with chickens for years. Our last GR, who passed away in 05, was great with the birds. She would lay outside the brooders and watch the chicks. If one got out, she would stay with it until we put it back in the brooder.

Sadie, our GR we have now is 21 months. She is good with the birds, I trust her not to attack them, but if they start running she thinks they want to play and goes a little crazy. She's getting better at it now, but she has smacked a couple birds around with her feet.

You have to train the dog to be around the birds, you can put a dog and a bird together and expect nothing to happen.

A GR is not a breed of dog that you can just leave alone outside for hours, they need to be with the family. Also, do your research on the breed and either rescue or research reputable breeders. A well bred GR from a reputable breeder who does the required health testing, etc isn't going to be cheap. Expect to pay $1200 - $1800 or so for a well bred pup. OFA tests on hips and elbows need to be done, as well as CERF testing on eyes and their hearts need to be certified. CHeck out goldenretrieverforum.com They are very helpful over their about picking out breeders, training, etc.

As for those ATTS temperment tests, they are probably doing these tests on poorly bred GR's from backyard breeders who breed for $$ not reputable breeders to bred to better the breed and breed for proper golden retriever temperments.



Here's a picture of Sadie with a day old silkie chicks. I was removing them from the incubator.

 

[grasspack]

Hello,

We have a golden retriever and she loves everything that we love. We also have parrots and they play on her face. She accepts whatever we bring home as part of her family and is good with everything. We also have a toy poodle, sheltie, and a border collie(talk about prey drive). They are all good with the chickens, ducks, kids, geese, cats, etc..., but we expect them to be. Just because a golden is a "bird dog" doesn't mean it wants to chase and kill chickens. That's crazy.

Alice
NH

 

[grasspack]

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[4acresNachick]

I have a black lab who is great around our chickens but the neighborhood menace is a golden retriever. He has done damage to several flock in my area but I will say it is because his owners let him do it. He has been to obedience classes and knows commands but all the training in the world wont do any good unless the owners follow through. He has even gone after several cats. Lucky for the cats they saw him coming but he meant business and even got a little snappy when the owner of the cats told him to go home.. So, all this said so you realize the breed is only a small part of it. I also have a pitbull/bullmastiff/yellow lab mix who would kill a squirrel/rabbit/guinea pig if he could catch one but totally ignores my chickens who free range a large area in front of my house. He's been known to spend half a day staring up a tree that he chased a squirrel into while the chickens peck around at his feet. I guess you really don't know until you try and that's the hardest part, all the preparation in the world and you could still end up with a chicken aggressive dog. The Golden I mentioned came from a very responsible breeder that shows and hunts and has all kinds of titles for her dogs, owns chickens and other farm animals as well, yet one of the pups is the menace of the neighborhood... Work hard and Good luck!

 

[TriciaHowe]

We have a GR(adopted as a mix but looks close to fullbred) and he is great with the birds, cats, kids and loves other dogs. He did kill one of my rabbits that accidently escaped. It was wet but totally intact with no bite marks - maybe it had a heart attack? He is also a bitter if anyone he doesn't know comes through the front gate. We have a lock on the gate and warning signs. Our electric meter is read electronically from the road so they don't have to come in the yard anymore. He is only 4 years old though and has awful hips. He takes rx medication for them (not expensive but still an expense) so be aware of hip dysplasia in the breed. My dogs have killed many vermin (possums, raccoons, rats, moles) and non-vermin (wild turkey once, a fawn - sad about that, squirrels, rabbits)
From last winter when it was in the teens - all the animals piled on my oldest daughters bed LOL!

 

[GoldDogsMom]

I have 3 Goldens, they were fine around the chicks when they were in the house but let them all loose outside and... once the flapping starts...woohoo, it's playtime! They have never hurt a chicken but with 3 large dogs chasing 1 chicken, the odds would not be in the chicken's favor. I don't think they would set out to kill them but...stepping on them is my biggest concern. If I really worked with them I am sure I could train them to leave them alone but I don't regularly free range. When I do, the dogs are in the back yard (invisible fence) and the chickens are out front.

That being said, the duck pond is near the back yard and the ducks I had would venture into the dog's area and never had an issue. The ducks learned where the dogs could and couldn't go and if all else failed, the ducks would turn and chase the dogs! Pretty comical to see a Golden being chased by a duck!