Meet Hudson, a puppy who has injured almost 3 baby birds (I would like to ask him why)

[Quailquestions6498]

Do you have a dog who chases birds? I have one, in a way. He doesn’t care about adults, but for some strange reason will take any chance to chase a juvenile one! He first injured a juvenile Grackle who we named willow, and she sadly died on the way to SOH (shades of hope) and the we got a nestling robin, who we named acorn, and he dislocated her leg... so we had to drive to SOH, again.
Last but not least, he almost injured a new-to-the-ground robin, and that was just so sickening. Any suggestions to help stop this bad habit?

 

[hysop]

I have a 7 year old lab who will leave and even protect my adult birds, but I have lost a lot of juveniles to him. I’ve learned to just not let them free range until they’re adults.

He’s an old dog and good apart from just wanting to play and kill and eat the chicks/young ones.

I’ve lost 0 birds to my dog since I stopped letting the young ones free range until they’re adults (6+ months old).

ETA: ohhh you mean wild birds!! Wow are they not in trees?? How does your dog reach them?

 

[RiverOtter]

So, he's treating wild bird hatchlings like toys, is that the issue?

 

[Quailquestions6498]

So, he's treating wild bird hatchlings like toys, is that the issue?

I think he just wants to play with them, but as you can probably see, he views it as they want to play to.

 

[Quailquestions6498]

I have a 7 year old lab who will leave and even protect my adult birds, but I have lost a lot of juveniles to him. I’ve learned to just not let them free range until they’re adults.

He’s an old dog and good apart from just wanting to play and kill and eat the chicks/young ones.

I’ve lost 0 birds to my dog since I stopped letting the young ones free range until they’re adults (6+ months old).

ETA: ohhh you mean wild birds!! Wow are they not in trees?? How does your dog reach them?

The nestling that broke a leg.... I don’t know how he got that one but the other 2 were recent fledglings I presume.

 

[Cdariverfarm]

A good fence. Animals are animals. I mean that in a nice caring way not a snotty way. I know it’s hard to get emotions across in text form

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

My suggestion would be to train him to leave "ALL" birds alone. If he's able to to not kill adult birds he will be able to be trained to leave all birds alone. It will take time and patience but until then keep him away from them because after all he's just a dog doing what nature tells them to do.

 

[Cdariverfarm]

I have 2 trained duck dogs and they know the difference between work and home. I’m also a stern dog owner. When we first got a cat I saw the dog nip at it. I grabbed her face looked her in the eye and told her no and that she will be in BIG trouble. She never touched that cat again. They actually started sleeping together. Anyway I also have a friend who has a dog that kills anything that enters their yard including their own cats and chickens. Some dogs are nice some just can’t get it out of their dna

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

I have 2 trained duck dogs and they know the difference between work and home. I’m also a stern dog owner. When we first got a cat I saw the dog nip at it. I grabbed her face looked her in the eye and told her no and that she will be in BIG trouble. She never touched that cat again. They actually started sleeping together. Anyway I also have a friend who has a dog that kills anything that enters their yard including their own cats and chickens. Some dogs are nice some just can’t get it out of their dna

I agree with that. I had to rehome a beautiful german shepherd who had a prey drive like jack the ripper when it came to chickens and livestock. I could not break him using many training techniques. But I got a Cane Corso afterwards and she's doing wonderful with livestock. Her prey drive is only for toys and balls and empty feed bags! LOL!
Her puppy seems to know the adult chickens are not to be toyed with so it should be simple enough to command train it not to mess with the chicks.The kicker is she needs to make sure the pup is contained/confined where it can not get to them until it has completely learned what's expected. My pup is under a year and I still won't leave her unattended with chickens or livestock because you never know when they get the puppy crazy's and decide to have a party on their own!

 

[21hens-incharge]

New fledglings make noises, hop around and certainly would attract most dogs attention.

Does he obey a "leave it" command?

Maybe he just cannot be out alone for the few weeks they are leaving nests.

I know every single one of my dogs would do the same thing.