my German Shepherd killed 3 of my hens

[Elizabethwood09]

I have done the impossible repeatedly. The chicken killers now stay out with free-range chickens during the day and patrol roosting birds mostly in pens all night. This first hand, not second hand. It takes time, patience, work.

Would you care to share your methods? I'm sure a lot of people, including the original poster would like to know how it can be done. Thanks.

 

[centrarchid]

Would you care to share your methods? I'm sure a lot of people, including the original poster would like to know how it can be done. Thanks.

I have describes the approach so many times it sickens me. Let the "experts" that keep chickens only as a second thought do it. They got more air.

 

[Elizabethwood09]

I have describes the approach so many times it sickens me. Let the "experts" that keep chickens only as a second thought do it. They got more air.

I wasn't being patronizing, I was serious.

 

[Elizabethwood09]

But I understand if you don't feel like disseminating all the information here and now.

 

[RiverOtter]

I was told that on several separate occasions by experienced chicken owners so I took it to be true. I suppose one could try to retrain a dog who had already killed a chicken but personally I would never fully be able to trust it. Good fences make good neighbors and all that.

We'll, it's no help to the OP, as this thread is 5 years old, but if it will help YOU, just know that I've been a professional dog trainer and usually keep a pack of dogs. Right now I have 3, including a German Shepherd, and have had as many as 8 at once. Many of them rescues.

Pretty much every adolescent pup kills an adolescent chicken. At the pup's age, they are bouncy, hard headed and scatter-brained. And every chicken between the ages of 3-5 months is just plain stupid and suicidal.

And every single dog of them usually never does it again. Why? Because it's a training moment - if there are no mistakes, there are no opportunities to learn.

First, my dogs start training the moment they come to me. And I almost never use the command NO. That is reserved for Ultimate Sins. Is the dog barking? The command is Quiet if it is not something to be barke at. Or, Good Dog, Enough if it is something to alert to, and it's time to stop barking. Giving a command instead of screaming No teaches the dog what to do, and gives us a chance to praise, as well as saving our Total And Complete Disapproval for when we really, really need it.
Something in their mouth? Not no but Drop It.
Jump up on the couch? Not no, but Off. Off means "Put all 4 paws on the floor", so also works for jumping on people. We save Down for when we mean "whole body pressed on he ground"
Dog freaks out at the front door? That's because you haven't taught them that when someone knocks or rings, they are to Down 4 feet back from it.

Among the commands I teach instead of over-using NO, is Leave It. That means "Take your attention away from X and put it on ME", and it's the command we use whenever a dog looks at a chicken. We don't wait for chasing. If a dog is looking at a thing, it's thinking about that thing, and we don't want so much as the thought. So it's Leave It.

And one fine day, I'll be busy, Pup will be a distance they feel is past me and some brainless half grown bird will decide they've had enough of life and the worst will happen. Pup knows that they're not supposed to even look, because they've heard Leave It roughly 743 times by this point. But temptation is just so tempting ... and then, the dreaded words NO BAD DOG!!! (and remember, Pup has only heard this when they have been truly, truly bad) and a wrathful owner comes tearing at them. Pup is chased down (and there's not a lot of chasing, because if you've had the dog less than a year, they should be dragging a long line) and if the bird hasn't been dropped, their jaws are pulled open and the bird taken out (if it has been dropped, grab it up) only to be immediately shaken in their face, while their collar is getting a good shake too and NO BAD DOG is roared at them with the wrath of a B movie lunatic villain. Then, turn from them in total disgust, clip the line short to your belt and walk off, ignoring Pup being dragged in your wake.
Ignore Pup for the rest of the day. If you do take notice of them at all, it is only to repeat Bad Dog, in tones of disgust and scorn.

Now, until this moment, Pup hasn't had a lot of negativity from you. You've taught them the correct response and then praised them in most situations. But now they have to follow you everywhere feeling disapproval roll off you in waves.

Tomorrow, you'll forgive them. First chance, you'll give a command and praise them for following it. But the moment you are near the chickens, whether Pup looks at them or not, you are going to whip around, pin them with your fiercest glare and snarl Leave It.
And if you've trained them right along, 99 dogs out of a hundred will never touch a bird again, and a solid 50 of those will skirt around them for a long while - they gave into temptation once and it was The Worst Mistake Ever.
The last dog may need the lesson repeated. That time you'll carry the bird, or at least some feathers around and if you have to take notice of the dog, it will be to shove the feathers in Pup's face and growl What did you do? BAD DOG.
You'll make them sleep far away from you that night (shunned) and the next day, instead of easily forgiving them, you'll take them outside on leash and work obedience right in the chicken coop and make them earn your love back.

But for most of them, it's the once and they're good for life. They made the mistake and had a chance to learn the lesson. And breed has nothing to do with it. Chickens can eat out of my GSDs food dish with her. She hates it, and will growl and then look to me to fix it (and I do), but she won't touch one. I've had hunting breeds and terriers, they all learn. Huskies are the worst, but even they learn.

The problem isn't with dogs, it's that most people can't be bothered. It's easier to say "Oh, well he's a ____ and you can't expect that of a ____" or to give up on them or get rid of them when they make a mistake. That's usually when I get them, and my dogs are great.