My dog is terrorizing my chickens...

[mstanton]

We have a young German Shepard / Lab mix who has always been very interested in the chickens. This weekend she actually broke her run, and escaped down to the chicken area and was attacking the chickens. She went into the coop and chased them all out, then chased them outside. She had actually trapped our rooster underneath some equipment in the car port and he hurt his leg. It was bleeding. I finally caught her and brought her inside before she could kill any of them, but I'm concerned about what is going to happen in the future. Do any of you have any training tips to help me out and have a flock guardian rather than a chicken chaser?

 

[Blammmo]

I have hunting dogs and they leave my birds alone, mostly due to the pen with an electric fence wire running 12in high and also one 5feet high at the top of the welded wire fence, the dogs only go sniffing once or twice then stop indefinitely.
My pen is also very large though and the birds can put a lot of space between any dog/predator that comes by the edge, I feel like if they were in a smaller pen and kept freaking out and jumping and trying to get away that it would only excite a predator or dog even more.
Anyway, my suggestion is a pen and coop to separate them, and have it Fort Knox quality.

 

[sbhkma]

Yes, it is possible to train a dog to not chase/attack the chickens. The first and most important thing is-are you the alpha and are you willing to put forth the effort every single day to training your dog? If you are, great-you're already on the right track. If you're not the alpha and don't even understand the question, you're probably not going to succeed. If you're not willing/able to work with your dog every single day, you're probably not going to succeed.
That being said, if you want to work on this lemme know and I can try to guide you on the the best way to approach it. I'm not a professional dog trainer, but I've trained over 200 dogs as a volunteer canine placement officer for a humane society. My own dogs are perfectly safe with chickens and I have a german shepherd, a german shepherd/wolf hybrid and a rat terrier. NONE of whom were raised around chickens. It took persistence, but it has paid off tremendously.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

sbhkma is right, training is key. If you just stick her on the runner and leave her there, she is able to sit and obsess over those chickens the whole time she's outside. So, what happens when she finally gets off? Well, you already know that. Training her will take a lot of commitment on your part, but it will be worth it and it can be fun for you and your dog. Not too mention the opportunity you'll have to bond with her and the chance for exercise that will (hopefully) tire her out. I had a Lab mixed with something, he was a really terrible puppy. Always into to everything, chewing on everything, trying to wander and chasing critters. He ended up being the best dog after he got past his puppy phase. Labs are bird dogs, they like birdies very much. The idea is to set your dog up for success and do everything in your power to prevent failure.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, except I have a 5 month old Doberman Pinscher. We've, and I say we because my whole family trains her, been working on leash training for a while now. And that leash comes in very handy while training her to ignore the chickens. We spend a good deal of time just sitting next to the run, practicing her watching me, leaving various object alone and other general obedience type stuff. It took us a while to make it next to the fence though. We started in the yard, well away from the coop. At a distance at which she would ignore them and moved closer as she progressed. Now she is able to be off leash with the birds in the yard (I have Silkies, they have no chance at getting away from her), but she is never left outside alone with them because she will occasionally get a wild hair up her butt and be naughty. At which point I call her back to me and put her on the leash to do some training- which she enjoys very much. This is a tried and true method for me, its worked with my black Lab mix, my Bulldog and seems to be going well with my Dobie.

There are lots of great training videos on Youtube. I really like the ones by kikopup. Or you could always go and register her for obedience class, its never to late to start a class with your dog.

Good luck

 

[mstanton]

Yes, it is possible to train a dog to not chase/attack the chickens. The first and most important thing is-are you the alpha and are you willing to put forth the effort every single day to training your dog? If you are, great-you're already on the right track. If you're not the alpha and don't even understand the question, you're probably not going to succeed. If you're not willing/able to work with your dog every single day, you're probably not going to succeed.
That being said, if you want to work on this lemme know and I can try to guide you on the the best way to approach it. I'm not a professional dog trainer, but I've trained over 200 dogs as a volunteer canine placement officer for a humane society. My own dogs are perfectly safe with chickens and I have a german shepherd, a german shepherd/wolf hybrid and a rat terrier. NONE of whom were raised around chickens. It took persistence, but it has paid off tremendously.

I understand the Alpha concept, I was trying to let my husband be Alpha but he is not a "calm assertive pack leader" We really want to work with her, because all of the dogs I had growing up were lab mixes and once we got through the puppy phase they turned out to be great dogs. She is just a terrible puppy all around. We work with her all the time, leash training has been our biggest hurdle because she is so strong and pig headed. Aside from being a chicken chaser, she is also a car chaser. We have been working a lot having her sit in the front yard on the leash and watch cars go by, keeping her butt on the ground. It seems this is the same approach we need to take with the chickens...

 

[mstanton]

sbhkma is right, training is key. If you just stick her on the runner and leave her there, she is able to sit and obsess over those chickens the whole time she's outside. So, what happens when she finally gets off? Well, you already know that. Training her will take a lot of commitment on your part, but it will be worth it and it can be fun for you and your dog. Not too mention the opportunity you'll have to bond with her and the chance for exercise that will (hopefully) tire her out. I had a Lab mixed with something, he was a really terrible puppy. Always into to everything, chewing on everything, trying to wander and chasing critters. He ended up being the best dog after he got past his puppy phase. Labs are bird dogs, they like birdies very much. The idea is to set your dog up for success and do everything in your power to prevent failure.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, except I have a 5 month old Doberman Pinscher. We've, and I say we because my whole family trains her, been working on leash training for a while now. And that leash comes in very handy while training her to ignore the chickens. We spend a good deal of time just sitting next to the run, practicing her watching me, leaving various object alone and other general obedience type stuff. It took us a while to make it next to the fence though. We started in the yard, well away from the coop. At a distance at which she would ignore them and moved closer as she progressed. Now she is able to be off leash with the birds in the yard (I have Silkies, they have no chance at getting away from her), but she is never left outside alone with them because she will occasionally get a wild hair up her butt and be naughty. At which point I call her back to me and put her on the leash to do some training- which she enjoys very much. This is a tried and true method for me, its worked with my black Lab mix, my Bulldog and seems to be going well with my Dobie.

There are lots of great training videos on Youtube. I really like the ones by kikopup. Or you could always go and register her for obedience class, its never to late to start a class with your dog.

Good luck

It's nice to hear that you've had lab mixes that were terrible puppies and became good dogs. I have had lab mixes in the past most were good puppies, a few weren't, but they always turned into great adult dogs. Getting her through this puppy phase has been pretty much the worst six months of my life. She chews EVERYTHING, jumps, barks, whines at all hours for no reason. We were unable to crate train her because she was having the biggest melt downs, I was afraid we were doing to kill her with anxiety.
the way you trained your dog sounds similar to what we are doing with traffic training...she wants to shepherd cars like no ones business so we have her sit in the front yard on the leash and just watch cars.

 

[sbhkma]

She sounds like she has a LOT of pent up energy and frustration. Are you walking her every day? I mean a serious, 4mph 2-3 mile fast walk every day? Twice a day would be better. If she's a persistent puller, you might want to try a halti lead or gentle leader. Works like a halter on a horse with the same concept "control the head, control the horse/dog". You might also want to get her a lot of toys-nylabones work great for persistent chewers and I'd recommend 3 or 4 of them laying around for her to chew. Most of the whining, jumping, barking can be reduced by walks. You will be amazed at how much they help with draining energy, plus it's a great time to work obedience with her. Walk for about 10 minutes .. fast. Then practice halt & sit. Keep some treats in your pocket. Keep her guessing by walking 15 steps then stop & make her sit. Give her a treat every time she sits. Then walk 3 minutes and stop and sit. Change direction, walking very fast. She'll learn to watch you because she never knows what you're going to do next. After a few days of this, give her a treat every other time she sits. Then do it less and less but remember to praise her like she just won Westminster!

A backpack can work wonders too. Put an empty pack on her and walk her. After a couple of days, put a small (16 oz) water bottle in each side and walk her with that. It drains a lot of energy and gives her a job to do. You don't need to put a lot of weight in it and for a young dog I wouldn't recommend it-you can strain joints. Here's Koda with his backpack:

Before you can try to teach her to be calm around the chickens, you need to get her energy drained and you need to become her pack leader. Until that happens you're going to be frustrated.
One other thing that may seem insignificant but is HUGE is the feeding ritual. My 3 dogs all know to go LAY DOWN and wait for their meal. I fill the bowls and put them in the floor in their designated spots. They do not come eat until I tell them "ok". I can walk out of the room and they won't get up to eat. This is a biggie because in a pack the leader determines when it's mealtime. YOU are the leader and she doesn't eat until you tell her it's ok.
At first it will be difficult. Get her to lay down and stay. Once she knows "down" and "stay" put her in a down position and pick up her food bowl. If she gets up, put the food bowl up and get her back into a down position. Your husband may have to stand by her to back you up but that's ok. Do not let her up to eat until you say it's ok and then do so with no fanfare, no excitement. Just say "ok" or whatever command you want to use. Start with just a 1 second wait and tell her it's ok. Basically, put the bowl down and if she hasn't jumped up, tell her "ok". Gradually increase the time every couple of days until you can have her wait 2 or 3 minutes. Once she's doing this and doing well on her walks, draining energy, then you can start on the "chicken training".