My dog just killed our chicks

[DawnSusan]

Okay, "Bad, stinky dog" made me LOL. I'm already starting to forgive the stinker lab. He's a good dog.

My daughter just stopped crying 15 minutes ago, poor thing, then she asked if we could get a cow, because a cow could could kick back.

I've met many a sweet pitbull, but the way.

The structured yard time is a good idea. We just need more land. We are homesteading on land the size of a burial plot.

Thank you for the sympathy, everyone. It really really does help. And there were some good ideas passed around. Maybe this can save someone else's chickens.

Next time, I'll get chicks, then a pup and train him up right.

 

[dome sweet dome]

Sorry to hear about your loss! I get mad at the hawks just for circling.

But my real reason for posting is to address the dog issue. I am not a dog trainer and until a year ago did not really understand my dog. I have a Pyrenees/ border collie mix -- a really bad farm mistake since one of his breeds tells him to chase and round up and the other's instinct is to protect and kill. He was all to happy to round up and kill my flock. I was dismayed. I had so much hoped that we could all get along!

I thought about a shock collar as many of my friends had used them on their disobedient dogs. The one thing I noticed was that those dogs were never trustworthy without those collars. Then a friend gave me an old book entitled "Jellybean vs. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by CW Meisterfeld and suggested a dog obedience class.

The result was not immediate. In fact it took two dog classes and six months, but this chicken killer became chicken protector. He has been seen sitting with our rooster on the porch watching the flock and chased one of our friend's dogs off the chickens. The basic thing I did I was to walk up to a chicken with the dog on a leash. As soon as he got excited, I calmly turned and around and walked him away. I did this exercise for six months (he had had no training for the first 2 years of his life and he did not really get people since I was his 4th home so I had a lot of training to do).

Since this, I have read a number of other books on dog language and communication. If anyone is interested in these title, let me know. If you have any to suggest -- I would love that even more! I don't want to sound preachy, but I think having a dog I can trust is a lot nicer than one that I can simply control. We are still working on not eating chicken poop.

 

[Dogscatschickens]

My dogs got 2 of my 16 week old hens last night. I didn't count them as they were returning to the run for the night. I feel really awful also. I am sorry for your loss.

 

[annek]

I am so sorry for you. Give your little girl a hug from me

Sometimes things just happen. I have 4 dogs and I know one of them would kill my chicks if he can. I am making my coop as fool proof as possible, but they may escape some day. Things happen, you did the best you could. Don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[Crickett]

dome, sweet dome :

Sorry to hear about your loss! I get mad at the hawks just for circling.

But my real reason for posting is to address the dog issue. I am not a dog trainer and until a year ago did not really understand my dog. I have a Pyrenees/ border collie mix -- a really bad farm mistake since one of his breeds tells him to chase and round up and the other's instinct is to protect and kill. He was all to happy to round up and kill my flock. I was dismayed. I had so much hoped that we could all get along!

I thought about a shock collar as many of my friends had used them on their disobedient dogs. The one thing I noticed was that those dogs were never trustworthy without those collars. Then a friend gave me an old book entitled "Jellybean vs. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by CW Meisterfeld and suggested a dog obedience class.

The result was not immediate. In fact it took two dog classes and six months, but this chicken killer became chicken protector. He has been seen sitting with our rooster on the porch watching the flock and chased one of our friend's dogs off the chickens. The basic thing I did I was to walk up to a chicken with the dog on a leash. As soon as he got excited, I calmly turned and around and walked him away. I did this exercise for six months (he had had no training for the first 2 years of his life and he did not really get people since I was his 4th home so I had a lot of training to do).

Since this, I have read a number of other books on dog language and communication. If anyone is interested in these title, let me know. If you have any to suggest -- I would love that even more! I don't want to sound preachy, but I think having a dog I can trust is a lot nicer than one that I can simply control. We are still working on not eating chicken poop.

Sounds like this is the way to go. My own dog is a small Chihuahua/Yorkie mix, and other than sniffing the chicks butts (she's so wierd!) She hasn't tried to bother them at all. If they were to run though, she might get excited and chase them, I think. My cat completely ignores the chicks. He "mock fights" with Trixie, when they aren't cuddling. Set definate boundrys for your pup, but keep in mind that he wasn't doing it to try and tick you off. He just saw feather things and wanted them. It was not your fault in any way, and he could not be faulted for obeying his instincts. Proper training is the way to deal with this.

I am very sorry for your loss, and I hope things will be better for you from here on out.​

 

[chookies]

Oh, I am so sorry for you....

When my Brittany was about five months old, she got after one of my young geese (not goslings; just young). I honestly think it was in play, because she had been around them and the ducks for quite some time, and never did anything that caused concern. In fact, the geese would go with us us when the Brit had her morning walk (ducks would go as far as the road, then turn back). Puppy, ducks, and geese would share a big kiddie pool.

One morning I hear a loud *THUMP* on the door. I opened it, and my favorite goose (Lydia) was there on the sill, dead. The pup was right there with that doggy grin--like she was waiting for Lydia to get up. There was no blood or anything--I think the pup just chased her into the door.

I laid Lydia out, got a hand towel, twisted it, brought pup over, and gave her four or five good smacks. I didn't even think of what I was doing.

That is the ONLY time I have ever beaten an animal (I do not count the little *thwaps* that say, "Hey--I mean it.")

I am very ashamed of that, even now.

All three of my dogs are very good with the chookies (the Brittany is the only one who had been exposed to them when she was young). The cats leave them be as well. Chookies give everybody what-for, and one steals mousies from cats.

 

[chickenboo707]

I am so sorry for your loss. I have 2 week old chicks right now and a neurotic beagle. Whenever I let the dog look at the chicks the dog goes into psycho mode. I'm planning on building a very sturdy coop and run. Do full grown chickens defend themselves from dogs?

 

[DawnSusan]

Quote:
Well, I am no expert, but my friend just told me of a sad story of some critter getting into her friend's coop at night and literally eating both feet off of one of the hens while the hen slept. They are not much good when they are sleepy.

I would think they could not defend themselves from a larger dog. Maybe a Shih-Tzu or something......

AGAIN -- THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REPLIED. YOU HELPED.

 

[djswett]

Having chickens is nerve racking... I'm sorry for your loss. I went through broken hearted children this weekend, when a racoon killed one of ours...

 

[bragabit]

Well I will share my story, and hopefully no one flames me. Our purebred black lab jumped our pasture fence and went through the coop trap door and scared all the birds and killed one of our black sex links. It was so hard, I wanted to spank my dog but was afraid I would beat it to death. So what I did was corned a part of the pasture off. Chained my dog up with food and water. He got NO human contact for 4 days. We put his food and water over the fence. We made being in the pasture MISERABLE for him. This was a couple weeks ago, he only has tried to go back once. We free range the chickens in the pasture so its very easy for him to get to them. I hope we solved our problem. If I see my dog even trying to hop the fence we will do the 'time out' again.