My dog licks my Chickens.

[snowdevl]

My dog licks my chickens. She hasn't hurt any of them but I am afraid that one of these times she will. Now that school is starting and I will be going back to work, How can I be sure of their safety short of tying her up all day long? Can I spray something on them? She doesn't do it to hurt them and I think she is mothering them. HELP!!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

If you are concerned, I would advise keeping your dog in the house while you are gone, or keeping the chickens in a secure run.
Good luck

AND

 

[snowdevl]

Problem with that is we live in the country. My chickens don't have a run as they just roam. We only make a pen when they are babies till they are trained to go in at night and then take it down. My dog is a farm dog and isn't an inside dog. We found her starving and abandoned 6 months or so ago and trained her not to go after the chickens and now she mothers them too much. Is there anything that can be sprayed on a chicken that will deter her but not harm the chickens? We will be killing our roasters in a month or so but still have our laying hens (they are who she goes after since they are so easy going anyway.) I hate the thought of tying up a dog while at work.

 

[Suzierd]

I wouldn't let her continue to do that, train her to leave it.

 

[Fly 2006]

Aaawww what a sweet dog, better than than wanting your chooks for supper! Having said that, if she is doing it regularly it could get worse and become a bit of an obsession so yes I would discourage the behaviour before it gets harder to break, make sure you do it in a way that means the dog still sees the chooks as a good thing and not something that causes it pain, try rewarding the dog for not licking rather than punish for the licking, I hope that makes sense, what breed is the dog? Oh and could you leave the dog with a stuffed kong toy to keep it's mind off the chooks, perhaps she gets a bit bored?

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I would definetely trial run the situation with the dog and chickens loose together, where you can watch, but the dog thinks it's alone with the chcikens. She may be lickihg them to please you, but she may also decide to 'play' with them and accidently injure one. I have a dog that will bring me baby birds (unharmed) that have fallen from the nest. I agree, the best thing to do now is teach her to ignore them, or leave them alone...but it sounds like you have a really good farm dog in the makings.

 

[laura625]

Sometimes its hard to tell exactly what is going on in a dogs mind. What looks like mothering might be the repressed chewing and eating you trained her out of. Or could cross over into food drive in just one unfortunate instant. Or may get too rough for any number of reasons. The dry run is a good idea, but i think there may always be Some risk.
I think something bad tasting on the hens couldnt hurt as part of stopping the behavior, I just dont know what it would be.
i know school is starting soon, but i agree the best bet is to teach her thw command "leave it". And use it when she licks the chi kens. I dont know how you tought her to not to go after the chickens, but use rewards and many reititions to teach her "leave it." Its a very handy command for them to know.
Teach her with something other than the chickens. Ill try to find you a video.
Oh and please, whatever you do, dont chain the dog. O mean as a permanant solution. That just creates "Bad dogs".
i'd love to see a pic of your dog licking the chickens.

 

[laura625]

Well, lots of videos on youtube. Search the site for
"Train dog leave it". Clicker trining ac
t
U
Ally works
, b
ut n
ot needed. Good luck.

 

[snowdevl]

Thanks I will try that. I am not sure if I can get a picture because as soon as I open the door she stops and runs over. I have not witnessed it while I am outside, just through the window but I will try. School started for us this week and I am trusting her as of now but I am afraid that she will accidently do something to the hens. The roosters won't have anything to do with her but the hens are submissive. Thanks and If you can think of anything else, please respond.

 

[laura625]

Hows it going?
I just read in another post here about something called "anti pecking spray".
The perrson posting says it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the chicken doing the pecking. Its sprayed onto the chicken being pecked. Who knows if what tastes bad to aa chicken tastes bad to a dog, but at least yhey say its safe to spray on the birds. . Gurss id look for it at a feed store.
Hope its going well