my dog KILLED my chicken!!!!!

[theBrooksfarm]

we were leaving to go out to dinner for two and a half hours and our chickens were in the coop, we had six chickens, we came home and went to see them and we counted five chickens, so we checked every where there was no sigh of our sixth Rhode Island Red. then my daughter saw the chicken there dead it was beheaded. my dog, a three quarter black lab one quarter pit bull, broke the wire and must of got it then. thankfully it was just one not all of them.

. I do not know what to do with her, she is a really great family dog and is excellent with the kids . we do have two other dogs, a mini Pomeranian and a yellow lab, help what should I do!?

 

[bobbi-j]

You need to work on training the dogs, reinforce your fence so the dog can't get to them when you're not home, or lock the dogs up when you are gone so they can't get to the chickens.

 

[BlessedCountry6]

I have two dogs.One Australian shepherd who is deaf and afraid of all the other animals we have. My 2nd dog is a German Shepherd. He has a strong prey drive. We have a remote collar for both of them with Vibrations, sounds and shock. We use it to make my german shepherd give space to the animals that set of his prey drive. He wants to chase and bite them so if he gets too close we warn him with the beeping, then the vibration and last the shock if he doesn't respond to the other two. It has worked well for us. we make him give them space in their coop yard too and if he is too interested in them we beep him to move away from the fence they are in.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have two dogs.One Australian shepherd who is deaf and afraid of all the other animals we have. My 2nd dog is a German Shepherd. He has a strong prey drive. We have a remote collar for both of them with Vibrations, sounds and shock. We use it to make my german shepherd give space to the animals that set of his prey drive. He wants to chase and bite them so if he gets too close we warn him with the beeping, then the vibration and last the shock if he doesn't respond to the other two. It has worked well for us. we make him give them space in their coop yard too and if he is too interested in them we beep him to move away from the fence they are in.

How does this work when you're not home? It's not possible to be home all day every day to watch the dogs and set off their collars when they are getting into trouble.

 

[BlessedCountry6]

When you are home put in the work to teach the dog this isn't ok. So when you are away he know those rules apply. My German shepherd does well. When we leave on vacation we haven't come back to any dead birds. We have to keep reinforcing it though because for some reason when we have young chicks around it kicks his prey drive back in. So when we see him near the fence and licking his lips we go back to training mode. Just wearing the collar he behaves better.
We got two Longhorns in Jan and he keep rushing the fence at them. We used the collar to stop that too. We also have to make sure he is getting out his energy. We put him on the treadmill or let him run beside us when we ride bikes with the kids.
You just have to find the way to teach him to respect the chickens space. Respecting it means staying away from them.
We weren't sure if the remote and collar would work. We started with a cheap one to make sure it worked before buying a more expensive one.
The other options is to get the underground fencing or moble fencing. I have family that live on a lake and they love the moble fencing to keep their dogs on their property. It will give them a warning by beeping and then beeping faster as the keep moving toward the boundary before they will get a shock. Their dogs learned their boundries quick.

 

[Chickenshoe]

don't waste your time training the dog, pen it up. tie it up,,, just a reality of the predator/chicken relationship...why don't we try to train wild animals too? we don't, we keep the flock protected....your coop can be dog proofed... this is just reality

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The immediate solution is to keep birds and dogs separated by secure fencing - period. This will buy you the time to work with the dog, if you want to go that route, to address it from a training perspective.
You mention the dog "broke the wire" - is that the wire of the pen or the tie the dog was held by? If the pen, what sort of wire is currently in use? You will need to invest in more secure wire/fencing.

 

[BlessedCountry6]

don't waste your time training the dog, pen it up. tie it up,,, just a reality of the predator/chicken relationship...why don't we try to train wild animals too?  we don't, we keep the flock protected....your coop can be dog proofed... this is just reality

To each their own. Dogs can be trained to respect space if it's worth the owners time. I left my dogs with my chickens while away on vacation for protection and I haven't had a single dead bird even with a dog with a high drive to chase. Domestic dogs are nothing like wild animals. Dogs are guardians if trained to be one.

 

[Blammmo]

Put your dog in a crate or on a chain when you are away, leaving a dog alone with birds nearby isn't usually the greatest idea...

 

[Beekissed]

Not all dogs are created equally. Many, many dogs are completely trustworthy around chickens and other livestock, with some prior training. Some don't even need to be trained. Some cannot be trained. It's worth the effort if you are going to have both chickens and dogs, to put some training into your dogs. Dogs get loose, chickens get loose, it happens...it would be nice if, when this happens, one does not become lunch for the other.

Being a high prey drive dog means absolutely nothing...most breeds of large dogs have a high prey drive and many small breeds as well. That has very little to do with it when it comes to if they will respond to training or not.

Chicken...everybody loves chicken. Prepare for it.