My dog killed two of my chicks!

[coffeemama]

We have two bird dogs, and our German Shorthaired killed one of our hens a while ago. Except for that case (which was my fault), we just make sure the dogs and the chickens are in separate areas of our yard. If we can do this in town with a small lot, I think anyone can. Our dogs are kenneled or inside when we are gone, and they have their own half of the yard with a fence. Sorry about your chicks

 

[Cara]

Dacasodivine I am sorry for your loss, accidents happen and this is a learning experience to prevent further losses. If you know your dog will kill your chickens, it's safer just to keep them apart rather than risk it happening again.

I agree with previous posters, a dog is a dog. If someone owns a dog they should build a safe area for their birds, not expect them to all co-exist peacefully without incident. The same goes for chicken owners acquiring a new dog. As for having a bird dog with free access to chickens, and then being upset because it kills one, that is just ludicrous.

It is just not fair for either species to allow them access to each other. Either the dog is going to maim or kill the birds, or a predator will do the deed and the dog will get the blame.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
I have done this and it worked. Years ago I had a black and tan hound that killed four hens...I had enough of it so I did the following:

Put her on a short lead chain (5'), chained her to a tree (within reach of her food and water), tied the hen to her neck, cinching it up tightly so she could not get a claw under the string to remove it and I made her stay that way for 5 days.

This was in the hot summer of south Florida so the carcass smelled bad which really bothered Bella's sensitive nose, she could not get away from it and could not get it off. When I released Bella and took the chicken carcass off, Bella would not even look in the direction of the chickens.

she lived 12 more years and never went near another chicken. She was still an excellent hunting dog and companion.

Sometimes you have to give them a 'bad taste' for something to get them to stop the behavior. It does not hurt them but it gets the point across in a very smelly way...which is a dog's sensitivity.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I would have to disagree with this one. I don't believe it is unfair at all to expect a dog to go against its nature in many ways. Its in a dog's nature to jump up on people but we train that away, it is in a dogs nature to chase other animals (livestock, deer,cats, etc.) but we train that away. There are so many traits and natural instincts we can, and do, train out of our dogs so they can co-exist with other people and animals....why not this one? I think you get what you expect out of your animals. There are always the ones that do not respond to certain training...then you make your choices. But to just expect a dog to "just be a dog" is shooting kind of low. Why train one at all, for anything, if the expectations are so low?

I have a sister who has this same opinion....she maintains that ANY dog, at ANY given time, left alone with free ranged chickens, are going to kill them. Therefore, she doesn't even try to train her many dogs in this aspect. So, of course, when she can't keep an eye on these dogs 24-7 and they happen to meet up with her free ranged chickens, something dies, she loses money and she gets very angry. She makes no attempt to train. I even proved to her that it can be done, even with a bird dog/herd dog cross, with a very strong prey drive, 1 yr. old pup and she still maintains that it can't be done. She's right, if you keep your expectations low, it can't be done. It's not really a question of fairness to either animal, it is a question of what you expect out of the dogs you keep around to guard your property and livestock. They have a job to do....guard your chickens. If they can't be trained for something as simple as this then you have a choice. Get a dog who can be trained or deny yourself the dream of having free-ranged poultry. Why even have a dog if it can't earn it's keep?

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I have my dogs as companions they do not have to earn there keep. My dogs are kept apart from the chickens. We can not free range here as we live adjacent to the managemnet area and it would not be safe for the chickens but my dogs do not go after the chickens anyway. My dogs do however roam with the goats and we have no problems there either.Micki

 

[Cara]

Quote:
I would have to disagree with this one. I don't believe it is unfair at all to expect a dog to go against its nature in many ways. Its in a dog's nature to jump up on people but we train that away, it is in a dogs nature to chase other animals (livestock, deer,cats, etc.) but we train that away. There are so many traits and natural instincts we can, and do, train out of our dogs so they can co-exist with other people and animals....why not this one? I think you get what you expect out of your animals. There are always the ones that do not respond to certain training...then you make your choices. But to just expect a dog to "just be a dog" is shooting kind of low. Why train one at all, for anything, if the expectations are so low?

I have a sister who has this same opinion....she maintains that ANY dog, at ANY given time, left alone with free ranged chickens, are going to kill them. Therefore, she doesn't even try to train her many dogs in this aspect. So, of course, when she can't keep an eye on these dogs 24-7 and they happen to meet up with her free ranged chickens, something dies, she loses money and she gets very angry. She makes no attempt to train. I even proved to her that it can be done, even with a bird dog/herd dog cross, with a very strong prey drive, 1 yr. old pup and she still maintains that it can't be done. She's right, if you keep your expectations low, it can't be done. It's not really a question of fairness to either animal, it is a question of what you expect out of the dogs you keep around to guard your property and livestock. They have a job to do....guard your chickens. If they can't be trained for something as simple as this then you have a choice. Get a dog who can be trained or deny yourself the dream of having free-ranged poultry. Why even have a dog if it can't earn it's keep?

My dogs all more than earn their keep, using their natural instincts rather than fighting them. Two are SAR dogs, one is a bird dog, and the fourth is my husband's cow dog. All four are hunting breeds.

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
My dogs (dobermans) were created to be PERSONAL protectors -- not chicken protectors.

The doberman breed is well known for having high prey drives. I don't expect to turn my dogs into pekingese just because it would be more convenient for me.

I have much much better things to do with my time than to constantly fight with their prey instincts in regards to my chickens. And no training is perfect. For instance, a dog who is "trained" not to jump on me may still do it on rare occasions. That's okay, but it would NOT be okay for a dog who is "trained" not to kill chickens still nabbed one occasionally.

Dogs are dogs. It is *my* responsibility to protect the animals under my care. My house cats always have safe places to go just in case one of the dogs decides it would be fun to taste one, and my chicks will be safely protected inside their enclosed yard in case one of the dogs think they look like supper.

 

[Parson's Wife]

I'm sorry for your loss.
I don't have any solutions. Just sympathy.

 

[S0rcy]

We allowed my beagle out with the chicks yesterday in the yard and things went very well! After having him sit and lay down at 10 feet, then 5 feet, he was allowed to walk up to the chicks and lay down by them. I had him on his side with his head on the ground and let the chicks come to him. After 10 minutes I let him sit up and he could sniff the chicks that way. After awhile he became bored and just wandered off in search of his ball. Not even a chase with the cat got him excited enough to chase a chick. They feel perfectly comfortable with him, probably from interacting through the brooder so much. Not a growl or bark from him. After the chicks had been out for 20 minutes we took them back in and he "supervised" the replacing of th chicks back into the brooder. Even when a chick leaped back out of the brooder at his feet, he only looked. The cat surprisingly, didn't even take a look! We had the hose ready for him, but he was more interested in the trees and getting the dog to play chase than any interest in the chicks. Our vigilance has been all for the good and after a few more training sessions especially when the chicks get out into the coop, I am confident there will be no problems.

I do not feel that every dog is the same. Some dogs, even despite training, will succumb to the drive to kill, but if there is no training, there is no chance. A secure coop and yard is necessary in any case, but even dogs with the drive to hunt such as my Buddy (and he hunts squirrels, rabbits and other birds like a champ) can be trained. My training method may not work for all dogs. My mother in laws boxer will get a slightly different training method when she too comes to interact with the chickens. She has proven she can be trained with a cat as well though and I am confident she can be trained to be safe around the chickens.
There are a few things that are necessary, which are consistency, patience, and vigilance. The dog must realize that "no" to this means "no" every single time. You must have the ability to do this time after time after time. This is not magic, it's work. Setting up a schedule of training gives a dog the idea that "this is when they tell me what they want" and will anticipate the rewards. Our pets should see us as leaders and we should act like it. A leader who does not lead has only chaotic followers.

 

[LunaGirl]

I have a 5 year old chow/collie mix and a border collie/lab mix that is 10 years old. With our first attempt at chickens, we started out with 6 RIR hens and one rooster and 4 guineas. The first day we put them in the chicken house and fenced coop area and walk away it only took about 30 minutes for the chow/collie mix to get into the fenced in area and kill all the hens and two of the guineas. It was like a chicken massacre. It was horrible. We tried again and got some older chickens to go along with what we had left, built a new chicken house and fenced in area. We actually use one of those big, really big, dog kennels now. We also have a fenced in yard so the dogs are used to having free roam of the yard. For about a year we didn't ever let the dogs anywhere near the chickens. We never let the chickens out of the fenced area that was theirs. After about a year we put a gate on the deck and started letting the chickens out while the dogs were on the deck. After a few months of that, purely by accident one day, the 10 year old dog got out. There was some quick attacks by the roosters, the dogs snapped back but after a little while everything calmed down. We now let our dogs and chickens roam the yard as they will. I let the chickens out at 7 a.m. and close the chicken house up at night when it starts to get dark.

I'm actually really glad that the dogs and chickens get along now. The dogs will help me find chickens who don't come back when they're supposed to and break up any fighting that goes on amongst the chickens.

I guess my point of this long winded post is sometimes it just takes patience. You'll know if it's the right time if it ever is.

Good luck and my sympathies go out to you.