My German Shepherd/Basset Hound Killed Two of My Girls - What Do I Do With The Dog?

[Baymule]

Once a chicken killer always a chicken killer.

Not true. I have a Great Pyrenees that was given to me because she was a chicken killer. Now she is my chicken PROTECTOR!

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=24453

And I caught my Lab/Great Dane in the act, he won't even look cross ways at a chicken now.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=35617

There are dogs with such strong prey drive that they can never be trusted around poultry. They just have to be kept away from the birds.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I know many people who have, and I also know many people who've tried the 'dog-in-a-bag-with-its-victim' method. I also know others who've done the 'tie-it-to-their-neck' thing. Some of these people swear by these methods, but I know people for whom these methods have failed.

In my experience it all depends on the dog.

Some dogs will understand you are upset at the dead chicken, which they recall killing, and comprehend enough to stop. Other dogs may not understand, nor care, or just lack the attention span, or self-control.

I have a wild-born dingo mix I've had some hiccups with, and definitely made mistakes with. As a pup I would walk him on leash in the chook pen to help me come kill rats. Some very intelligent dogs need a job to do, and he's one. Being around chooks etc doesn't interest him if he's been told to hunt rats, but having said that, I never left him unsupervised in the cage or around the yard with poultry, though I have left him be with cattle, horses etc. He knows to leave my orphan lamb alone, and she's the first sheep he's ever seen, and I raised him to a large degree on raw lamb. He's not a rampant stock killer though, never was, but has killed two chooks in different occasions, and one gander who'd attacked him. The gander was a guaranteed future victim because I so disliked it as well, so there's no chance my dog's going to take being beaten by it. This gander kept attacking my dog over his food, and biting his tail, so it wasn't like my dog wasn't patient. But eventually he attacked my dog when I wasn't home and that was it. Again, I tied him up to the fence, with the gander's body, told him off for a day, left it at that.

When he killed a chook, I tied him up short next to it, and told him off repeatedly over the course of the day. He understood quite well and didn't even want to look at it, never mind eat it.

There is no one method that is guaranteed. Always start out as gently as possible. Strong/heavy-handed methods are almost always a mistake, though sometimes a once-off incidence will do the trick for life. However, it may backfire or misfire and ruin the dog for life or until extensive rehab. Dogs that are used to heavy handed methods will not respond, often even in the face of a threat of death. They stop caring. One guy who used to board on our property had a quick succession of several dogs which he was so heavy handed with, like punching in the skull, that they all ended up being put down for becoming dangerous to humans. It didn't work any better than gentle methods do. Always try to do it gently first, and if that doesn't work, consider rehoming the dog to a more experienced or time-rich person, I think.

I know one guy whose boxer mix grabbed a little child by the head and wouldn't let go. He grabbed her, screamed in her face, bit her muzzle hard, and for the rest of her long life she never did it again. This same method could have resulted in him getting bitten, the dog becoming a fear biter, or so many other things, depending on the dog and the person. The other guy I mentioned earlier would bite their ears or paws if they growled at him. Didn't work.

 

[Rach123]

A friend of ours had a dalmatian who killed chickens, she tried a few methods:
-Putting a nasty taste on the dead bird and leaving it in the dogs cage, so when the dog went to eat it the horrible taste put it off, (think she used mustard or something)
- tying the dead bird to the dogs collar - personally i don't like this method its not the nicest thing to do and i don't really see what the dog would learn from it, but some people say it works
-shock collar - it worked fab for a bit but then the dog didn't care about the shock as it knew it only lasted a second and once it was over went straight back to its killing spree
I have an ex gun dog, a spaniel, who catches rabbits and birds but doesn't really bother about my hens. I'm not sure why as they are only bantams and she could easily kill one. If i have the odd ill one in the house i can have it sitting on the floor and she doesn't care, i have even had one sitting on her back and she doesn't mind. However she can get excited if one is distressed or flapping about and as she is a gun dog, i can't trust her to be out with them when i am not there to supervise and make sure the hens are locked away when she is about.

All dogs are different and if brought up with birds from a young age can be great with them, others not so much.
Hope you find something that works,

 

[CJreef]

We have an invisible fence for our 4 year old Dally, Lola. After being trained she never again tested the fence except when the battery died and we didn't realize it until she kept increasing her territory. Anyway, for those of you not familiar with the invisible fence, when the dog nears the perimeter of her territory a beep sounds and if he/she does not obey and backtrack then a shock is applied. Since she does so well with the fence I decided to buy a cheap collar on e-bay that I could activate myself. The collar was only $25.00 with free shipping. It comes with some 100 settings and 3 options: sound, vibration or shock. Truly a great value. I'm not sure it would last long but I don't need it anymore anyway.

To train Lola I had her on a long leash and when she launched for the chicken I gave her a shock. Then I set the transmitter to "sound" thinking she might associate it with the fence and expect a shock, it worked. It took about 2 weeks before I could trust her not to attack the chickens. I also made a point of feeding the chickens goodies from my hand in front of her so she would realize that they were pets and part of the family. It has been over a month now and she goes out freely without supervision. She actually wags her tail when the chickens run toward me for their treats.