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

[RiverOtter]

He's doing it because that's what dogs do. He sees absolutely nothing wrong with playing with them or even eating them - he's just being a totally normal dog.

Since it upsets you, treat it like any other forbidden thing, "No! Bad! Drop it!" And then give him a toy he can have.

But you have to understand, he has no concept that these are living things that can suffer. None at all. So you can't be mad at him for that, he just does not, and cannot, understand. Just like you can't follow someone's scent through the neighborhood, he can't understand.

 

[Quailquestions6498]

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.

Hudson, because he is a honestly born leader not follower will usually not reply to our calls

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Hudson, because he is a honestly born leader not follower will usually not reply to our calls

There's your problem. When you allow a dog to be in charge you allow him to make decisions without consequences. When you give him a reward be sure to give the treat from your chin to him. It will show him good things come from you. Be consistent and do not inadvertently reward bad behavior.
Try this exercise:
Take a toy he enjoys and put it in your back pocket. If he tries to take it say "no, leave it" when he stops trying to take it reward with a treat. Continue this exercise until he listens continuously. Then you can try throwing the toy and asking him to leave it and rewarding when he does. You can not remove the prey drive but you can control it

 

[21hens-incharge]

Hudson, because he is a honestly born leader not follower will usually not reply to our calls

Well dang. It is going to take a lot of work.

We keep stubborn bull headed strong willed dogs here.
Training to"leave it" starts the day ours come home.
Currently 2 malamutes, a bloodhound, a coon hound mix and a pit husky mix.

People are shocked to learn the best behaved is the pit husky.
She does enjoy trying to bug the birds....but I have not trained her to leave them alone. I have been busy with all the other new dogs. All 5 are under 3 years old.
The house was just to empty as our elderly dogs passed.

I would start the "leave it" command training immediately with your dog. It needs to be very very consistent to get good results. Everyone in the house needs to work with that dog. Everyone needs to use the same command for the same things all my he time. No letting him get away with something "just this once" because that destroys weeks of training in seconds.

Recall....work with him on recall. You call him he needs to immediately come not take a message and come when he is ready.

I use treat training. It doesn't need to be a big treat but it does need to be a high value treat. I often use boiled chicken breast cut into tiny pieces.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Well dang. It is going to take a lot of work.

We keep stubborn bull headed strong willed dogs here.
Training to"leave it" starts the day ours come home.
Currently 2 malamutes, a bloodhound, a coon hound mix and a pit husky mix.

People are shocked to learn the best behaved is the pit husky.
She does enjoy trying to bug the birds....but I have not trained her to leave them alone. I have been busy with all the other new dogs. All 5 are under 3 years old.
The house was just to empty as our elderly dogs passed.

I would start the "leave it" command training immediately with your dog. It needs to be very very consistent to get good results. Everyone in the house needs to work with that dog. Everyone needs to use the same command for the same things all my he time. No letting him get away with something "just this once" because that destroys weeks of training in seconds.

Recall....work with him on recall. You call him he needs to immediately come not take a message and come when he is ready.

I use treat training. It doesn't need to be a big treat but it does need to be a high value treat. I often use boiled chicken breast cut into tiny pieces.

We use Blue Buffalo Bits. They are costly but irresistible to our border collie/german shepard mix. Another valuable command is "treat party" in case all else fails. They learn it really quick. Our dog gets a whole piece of cheese torn into pieces for a "treat party". The point is one treat after another, after another. It is valuable to utilize this for a stubborn dog that has already learned you're not worth listening to.

 

[LynninTN]

A dog, is a dog, is a dog.

I’ve had this little bird that built a nest on my front porch early this spring. She had babies. I’m not really sure what happened to them, but I have 2 cats that are allowed out at night.

Once I knew the babies were gone I got rid of the nest. She kept trying to rebuild, I kept destroying the nest. The bird eventually left for a short time and then started building a nest on the porch but in a different location.
I gave up. If she’s that determined (it was much more difficult where she built) then good luck.

She has babies now and I saw my cats staring at that nest tonight. It upsets me, but I gave the bird fair warning. I did bring he cats inside tonight.

 

[Quailquestions6498]

Thank you for all your reply’s! We have done non-stop training (so many treats!) and he is way more obedient and knows he’s not in charge

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thank you for all your reply’s! We have done non-stop training (so many treats!) and he is way more obedient and knows he’s not in charge

Slowly start reducing treats as training progresses. For example....he obeys one command, give a second command before giving that treat or start replacing the treat with praise and petting.

No need for him to get fat to learn to obey.

Just keep working him and his brain. I always say a tired dog is a good dog....getting his brain tired helps too.

He is adorable by the way.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

My dog eats baby bunnies out of the burrow without a care in the world. Some dogs just like eating stuff they find outside. It is in their instincts to hunt and animals are, you know, food. I’ve just had to learn that you want to catch it early on so you can rescue the animal before it dies. I’ve had to take a few baby rabbits to an animal rescue in the past.

So you really can’t stop it too much. As long as he isn’t attacking your poultry you’ll be fine. All I would recommend is to keep an eye on him while he is outside so you can see if he does anything. The circle of life is a thing, and you really can’t stop it. I know it’s sad, but you just have to learn that it is a natural thing and you can’t prevent it, only try and help once it happens.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

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?

We have a dog the kills adult birds