My dogs

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Hmm, it's interesting how the rural and suburban types are always suggesting solutions that require so much SPACE! I don't have room to separate our yard into dog space and chicken space. We're about five miles from the tallest building west of the Mississippi River if that gives some indication of how precious real estate is around here.

And I'm not building them a run. We don't have the money and the whole point of having our own chickens is free-ranging.

Maybe I'll try leash training our dogs around the chickens. They've already had a ton of exposure to our flock and they both know the chickens are off-limits. So how does one train a dog not to do something it knows it's not supposed to do but does anyway? I could see training her not to chase the chickens while we're around. But unsupervised? It's hard for me to imagine ever feeling comfortable with that. I'm not risking our hens! We love them too much.

 

[Heat]

Leash training is a good way to go if you don't have the real estate to make separate runs. I was told to have the dog on a short leash and give it a pull when the dog begins staring or becomes interested in the chickens. This lets the dog know that their behavior is not accepted. After doing this for awhile you should be able to let the leash get longer and longer until they finally don't care about the chickens (in theory of course).

You can't punish a dog after the fact (in most cases the dog won't know why it is being punished is it is more than a few seconds after the fact), so letting them know their behavior is unacceptable while it is happening is key in training.

I am not a dog trainer, but this is what was passed on to me from a few. Might not hurt to contact a dog trainer and see what tips they may have, or possibly look into obedience courses for the dogs. I would try leash training though personally

 

[dainerra]

The #1 key to teaching dogs to interact with chickens is to make sure that they don't get a chance to do something wrong. That means, until the dogs are 100% trustworthy, the dogs are NEVER alone with the chickens. Dogs are on-leash when they are outside. Otherwise, the dogs quickly learn that chasing chickens is FUN. Then, instead of merely teaching them what is appropriate, then you need to retrain them - not to mention the birds that you have lost.

Here is the easiest way to train your dogs around the birds. It's not a quick process, though.

Find the closest distance that the dog first notices the birds in the brooder. This might be in another room if he is one to constantly glance at the door. Put your dog on leash and get some extra special treats that he only gets for this work - bacon, grilled chicken (no spices!), hot dog chunks, etc. When the dog glances toward the birds, say his name and "leave it" If he looks at you, give him a treat - if he doesn't, give a light pop on the leash (think tap on the shoulder). When he looks at you reward him.
You can also teach him "watch me" the same way. You can practice this at random times though out the day. If you have a couple extra minutes while you're watching TV or whatever, just say his name, pause, "watch me" When he makes eye contact, then reward him. You can also (if you get in the habit of keeping a small treat in your pockets) catch him looking towards you say "watch me" and then reward. Or just praise him verbally.

Once the dog is reliably paying attention to you and the birds at a distance, move a little bit closer. If he absolutely blows you off, you're too close. Just back up a bit and begin again. Eventually you will be right amongst the birds. You can then start at a distance or with a long line (20' leash or so) and work from there. I never ever leave my dogs/chickens loose unattended together.
I don't even trust Rayden
I don't mean I constantly hover over the dogs when they are out with the birds, but I am in the area and aware of what they are doing. Think of it as a small child. Even though you've taught them not to play with matches, would you leave them alone in the house with matches scattered all over the floor?

The most important part of the training is to set the dog up to succeed. Don't give him a chance to chase the birds. Don't give him a chance to disobey.

ETA: The best thing about teaching "leave it" is that it works for everything. Drop something on the floor and don't want the dogs to touch it? "leave it" See dog running toward a snake? "leave it" Lots of training and work, but it pays off!
Of course, some dogs just can't be trusted off-leash. Period. They are just too focused on the birds. In that case, just confine the dog when the birds are out.

ETA: and, quite often, dogs can NOT be trusted unsupervised around birds. Even if they are fine 99.9% of the time, even a seconds excitement can leave you with a dead bird. Personally, I don't trust ANY dog to be completely unsupervised. Chickens natural behavior is what triggers the prey drive in the dog. There is no way to train those behaviors away.

 

[Daisy8s]

I'd like to chime in a say that I have personal experience with a dog who had previously killed a bird and then was reliably trained to be safe around the birds. My Australian Shephard/Golden Retriever killed a pullet the second week the birds were put outside to free range. She was found trying to bury it...looking guilty.

After that I put her on a leash, and as others have described, taught her not to chase the birds. Now, over a year later, she is reliably with the birds, eating scraps from the compost pile right next to them, almost every day.

One reason I trust my dog is that she has an extremely high drive to please. She can be disciplined just with a stern look from me, no words even needed.

On the other hand, we have another dog, a terrier mix, who still thinks that obeying people is optional. And yet, she also is completely trustworthy around the birds simply because she has no instinct to kill them. She might chase them a bit here or there for a few steps but it's a kinda boring game that she doesn't bother to play very often.

So, I'm telling these stories to ask you to look at the personalities of your dogs. You may have a potential killer who can be trained if they're a people pleaser. Or, you may have a dog who just doesn't have any interest in bird chasing. Don't automatically assume that every dog is a chicken killer.

P.S. Do not hold a chick in your hand and offer it to the dog as means of "introducing" the dog to the chick. When I did this recently my Aussie mix thought I was offering a snack. Oh well, good opportunity for a re-teaching (chick survived--my hand was in the way).

 

[CAjerseychick]

The #1 key to teaching dogs to interact with chickens is to make sure that they don't get a chance to do something wrong. That means, until the dogs are 100% trustworthy, the dogs are NEVER alone with the chickens. Dogs are on-leash when they are outside. Otherwise, the dogs quickly learn that chasing chickens is FUN. Then, instead of merely teaching them what is appropriate, then you need to retrain them - not to mention the birds that you have lost.

Here is the easiest way to train your dogs around the birds. It's not a quick process, though.

Find the closest distance that the dog first notices the birds in the brooder. This might be in another room if he is one to constantly glance at the door. Put your dog on leash and get some extra special treats that he only gets for this work - bacon, grilled chicken (no spices!), hot dog chunks, etc. When the dog glances toward the birds, say his name and "leave it" If he looks at you, give him a treat - if he doesn't, give a light pop on the leash (think tap on the shoulder). When he looks at you reward him.
You can also teach him "watch me" the same way. You can practice this at random times though out the day. If you have a couple extra minutes while you're watching TV or whatever, just say his name, pause, "watch me" When he makes eye contact, then reward him. You can also (if you get in the habit of keeping a small treat in your pockets) catch him looking towards you say "watch me" and then reward. Or just praise him verbally.

Once the dog is reliably paying attention to you and the birds at a distance, move a little bit closer. If he absolutely blows you off, you're too close. Just back up a bit and begin again. Eventually you will be right amongst the birds. You can then start at a distance or with a long line (20' leash or so) and work from there. I never ever leave my dogs/chickens loose unattended together.
I don't even trust Rayden
I don't mean I constantly hover over the dogs when they are out with the birds, but I am in the area and aware of what they are doing. Think of it as a small child. Even though you've taught them not to play with matches, would you leave them alone in the house with matches scattered all over the floor?

The most important part of the training is to set the dog up to succeed. Don't give him a chance to chase the birds. Don't give him a chance to disobey.

ETA: The best thing about teaching "leave it" is that it works for everything. Drop something on the floor and don't want the dogs to touch it? "leave it" See dog running toward a snake? "leave it" Lots of training and work, but it pays off!
Of course, some dogs just can't be trusted off-leash. Period. They are just too focused on the birds. In that case, just confine the dog when the birds are out.

ETA: and, quite often, dogs can NOT be trusted unsupervised around birds. Even if they are fine 99.9% of the time, even a seconds excitement can leave you with a dead bird. Personally, I don't trust ANY dog to be completely unsupervised. Chickens natural behavior is what triggers the prey drive in the dog. There is no way to train those behaviors away.

I agree. My experience is that I got my dream dog a few years back (a pedigreed Giant Schnauzer) and this year was lucky enough to move into our Dream country house that we hope to retire to...
Unfortuantly, the dream dog and dream house do not match up! You might think 2 acres in the country would be great for a giant, high energy breed! But here are her issues-- extremely teriitorial and protective, combined with nonstop energy and drive (all things carefully bred into her for generations and she is a wonderful example of her breed)-- which means she is on nonstop patrol of our fence line barking at all the "intruders"-- we are on the main road to town just 1 mile out so-- bikers, people walking by, the neighbors goats, deer, feral cats-- and nighttime is the main time she is out because we have had to get our Dream house liveable (ie 6 contractors working for several months no way can she be out when strangers are hammering on the House)-- so she is really pent up....
She has been to 3 obedience classes with me and Boot camp and there even was months on a shock collar-- but I dont think I will be able to "train" her out of such a basic Drive-- she is a large Terrier and they were bred to, and enjoy Killing things( I know not every terrier is not this way, but it certainly in their character to be this way... remember we got the Dog befroe the House)--
Lets just say she has been through the baby squirrels we were hand raising, and 3 chicks -- over the past month....
I think it will require constant vigilance (last night we lost our best, biggest 7 week old pullet in ten minutes when DH let her off her chain but forgot to close the door from our garage to ur back yard/ chicken run area -- there is a baby gate over the opening which our other 2 dogs would never dream of violating but she blew right through it in the TEN MINUTES before we went down to check!)-- but the prospect seems...daunting... how to ensure 100%?
I even take her into town on the days I work (its a 2 hour commute and she sits in an apartment all day!)... Sigh I love my dogs and I love my chickens....
And now I am trying to combine the 3 remaining Big chicks with 15 month olds and every one keeps reccomnding seperate runs/ etc.... but we have this chicken eating dog lurking in the background to complicate matters-- thats why have the coop built under our back porch ramp and the Run area along the back of the house to centralize the chickens....Pls keep the info coming any tips would really, really be appreciated.....

 

[javamilk99]

Hmm... I have to correct myself from 2 pages back, when I said our hound dog was the best with the birds. I finally got up the courage to take my pitty over to meet them today. I had hesitated to intro her because she ALWAYS barks if they are making any noise. This morning, she looked at them for about a minute and decided they weren't nearly as interesting as she had thought they would be.

 

[MamaBear46]

very glad to hear that!!

 

[LR Gamefarm]

i dont think you can break a dog from killing chickens once they get the taste of blood they will not stop i have had several dogs do this the only way you can keep them from doing it is to let them grow up around chickens but if there doing that u might not want to put chicks in a pen without a top ive had bigger breed dogs jump a fence and kill chicks

 

[Kevin565]

i dont think you can break a dog from killing chickens once they get the taste of blood they will not stop i have had several dogs do this the only way you can keep them from doing it is to let them grow up around chickens but if there doing that u might not want to put chicks in a pen without a top ive had bigger breed dogs jump a fence and kill chicks

I can tell you from personal experience that this is not true. Problem dogs can be reformed even if they have attacked birds in the past.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Chicken killing dogs can be trained to leave the birds alone. But if the owner couldn't be bothered to train the dog before introducing it to the chickens, I think that the odds of the owner taking the time and effort to re-train the dog afterwards are pretty slim. Too bad for the dog; it gets to pay for the human's mistake.

It's pretty darn easy to train a dog to leave the birds alone if it is trained before it is introduced to the birds and it is properly introduced and supervised. It is much more difficult to re-train a dog after it has learned how much fun it is to kill chickens. It takes a lot more time and attention to re-train after the bad habit has already been learned. It can be done if someone wants to put the effort into it.