My German Shepherd wont stop chasing and eating Chickens!!!

[Blue Andalusian]

Don't really know if this Thread is too Active, still. But, if you are going to buy a Shock/Electric Collar. We have a Sports Dog Shock collar, there's Shock levels up to 7. And it has a Vibration Setting, and very easy to use. 3 Buttons, for the levels. 1 For A little Shock, 2 for Meduim. And 3 for Big-ish

Although i'd try the Leash method, as I explained earlier. Atleast, First

 

[MuthaCluckas]

The trick to a well trained dog, honestly, is to lower your expectations to the point that the dog can meet them, so it is important to understand where the limit is in what you can expect. I was able to train my own dogs to be trustworthy around chickens by keeping them on a leash and pulling them away from the birds every time they showed an interest by turning towards the birds or even looking in their direction. I gave them a small treat any time they turned away from a bird of their own accord - it's actually pretty funny seeing the extent to which my dogs will avoid being too close to a bird now. A chicken will walk right up to their faces and my boys will practically be doing yoga contortions to avoid eye contact with the bird.

I have a year old Shepsky that I've had for the last 8 months and due to my mother-in-law's lack of security in her coop... well, he had what he thought was a nice treat come running to him. He is very treat oriented dog though so this suggestion is great, I can't wait to implement this and pray it works as well for us!

 

[LisaMacc28]

Our Red Heeler got one of our chickens when we were first starting out. Broke my heart. Instinct and prey drive cannot be trained out of a cattle dog. So when the chickens are out, the dogs are in. Or leashed to me. My pittie loves the chickens, like her babies. But I am sure if the heeler was chasing one, she would join in thinking it was playing!

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Hi! I was wondering if y'all had any insight on this. My german shepherd loves to chase my chickens.. and she has also killed a few. We have wanted to tie one around her neck, but she eats them totally besides a few feathers before we can get to them. Well, she attacked our last rooster and we tried to save him but he sadly passed away this morning. We are wanting to tie it around her neck, but does that work??

We really like my GS but she just can not stop chasing them if they get out of their area we have blocked off for them. We also just got a puppy recently that will help her tremendously once he gets big enough. Also I work with my GS alot and play with her, just she can't seem to kick the chicken chasing.

Also we are going to secure the area more for them, so they can't get out. They have a secure coop and outside run that is enclosed but during the day they get access to a garden area the dog cannot get into, but sometimes the chickens are foraging and go through the gate (which we will be adding chicken wire to soon!)

Sorry for the word vomit. Just trying to give as much info as I can that I think might be asked!
Basically does tying the chicken around her neck actually help her stop chasing and attacking them?

DOG TRAINER HERE: I am a dog trainer and am teaching my 2yo GSD to not chase chickens. First I work with him on basic obedience, heel, sit, down, recall, etc., where he can see the chicken but not get to them. My aim here is for him to ignore the chickens and pay attention to me (don't bribe him with treats, they are only a reward!), when he does that from far away, slowly move closer and closer to them (behind a fence with the dog in a leash). When he gets to the point of ignoring them, I bring him into the run with me with a long lead attached to a prong collar on him and do basic obedience just like you did outside the run. If he tries to go after the chickens, correct him with a pop on the prong collar and re-direct him i.e. tell him to do a desired command. When he is excelling in that, I put a long-lead on him and let it drag on the ground while I do chores (attached to a flat collar). Make sure he is tired before doing this, a dog with all his energy will make a lot of mistakes. I want him to be totally calm, ears shouldn't be perked up at the chickens. It's best if he is watching me but he is ok as long as he ignores the chickens (I do this at least once a day for a couple weeks). Remember, don't expect him to stay calm in the run for a long time at this point; keep the sessions short and sweet, and then build up the time that he is in there.
Once he is totally reliable with the hens while he has a long lead on, I move to the e-collar with a long-lead tied to a tree or post so that he can't kill any chickens. At this point, I go inside and watch him through a window. If he goes after a chicken, I firmly correct him with the e-collar. The e-collar is, in my opinion, the best way to get reliability (if he knows what the pressure means). If he is calm around them for a couple minutes (2 at most, don't push him too far at this point), I will got out there and give him a high value reward. Try not to get him super excited though, remember, he has to be calm in the chicken run. I slowly add time to how long he is out there alone over the next week or so. Make sure to move him around so that he knows to be calm no matter where he is in the run, dogs are very situational!
Once I am 100% sure that he understands that he MUST be calm around the chickens, I will take the leash off, but always keep the e-collar on (don't leave him in there alone!). Do not rush to this step, if he fails at any point, take a few steps back and slowly work him up to this point. I will work him through this for a long time, until I am confident that he will be gentle with the chickens. I continue to build off this and eventually he should be able to be calm near the chickens, but I would not let him have access to them if he is totally alone (and you aren't watching him, ready to correct) unless you feel like he wont fail.
The most important part is to make sure that it is crystal clear to the dog that if he chases the chickens, he gets a solid correction, but if he is calm, he get a great reward! Make sure you do not rush the dog, this will take at least 6 weeks or longer to get complete reliability! Always the the dog up for success!!
I hope this helps!

NOTE: Don't try to use the e-collar or the prong collar unless you know how to train your dog to respond to them! There are a lot of videos on Youtube that you can watch to learn how to use these tools. It isn't hard to do, you just need to be aware of how they work.

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

Never leave your dog out alone when the chickens are out. Teach the recall and never punish. I raised mine with positive enforcement and I can call him off a deer while in full chase. Well, he's nearly 12 now but when he was younger he learned to come back for his high value treats. This is him although much older now.

I fully respect that you trained your dog like that but it just isn't realistic to train a dog positive only. That's not how they work. Just like a child, they need to be corrected for bad behavior. Expecting your dog to always come for cookies is just unrealistic. In the real world, you need your dog to understand that there are consequences to his actions, be it good or bad.

 

[NatJ]

I fully respect that you trained your dog like that but it just isn't realistic to train a dog positive only. That's not how they work. Just like a child, they need to be corrected for bad behavior. Expecting your dog to always come for cookies is just unrealistic. In the real world, you need your dog to understand that there are consequences to his actions, be it good or bad.

It probably depends on the dog.

I once had a labrador retriever that was 100% reliable on coming to dog food rattling in her dish. Saying "come" would only get her if she was in the right mood. Dog food worked no matter what else was going on. I can imagine some other food-motivated dogs being equally reliable, but I know there are dogs that will ignore food to do other things (I've had one of those, too.)

 

[fowltemptress]

I have a year old Shepsky that I've had for the last 8 months and due to my mother-in-law's lack of security in her coop... well, he had what he thought was a nice treat come running to him. He is very treat oriented dog though so this suggestion is great, I can't wait to implement this and pray it works as well for us!

Good luck, hoping for the best!

 

[ChickenShepherd_6116]

It probably depends on the dog.

I once had a labrador retriever that was 100% reliable on coming to dog food rattling in her dish. Saying "come" would only get her if she was in the right mood. Dog food worked no matter what else was going on. I can imagine some other food-motivated dogs being equally reliable, but I know there are dogs that will ignore food to do other things (I've had one of those, too.)

What happens if you don't have "food rattling in her dish"? What I am saying is that in the real world i.e. away from home, with high distractions, will your dog come? Probably not. Because nothing bad happens when they don't. They get to choose whether or not the food is worth it, because, when it comes down to it, you have no way of forcing your dog to listen when you use Positive Only. My dog has to listen because 1. good things happen when he does come, and 2. he has an e-collar (no, he isn't scared of me or the collar). Now that he is fully trained with it I rarely have to use it because he knows that coming when called is not an option for him. As you said "Saying "come" would only get her if she was in the right mood". What would I do if my dog was running toward the road while a car is coming? I can't have a dog that only comes if I happen to have a filled food dish on me.
This is not meant as an attack, just a discussion that I think is an important one to have and I want to hear your opinion of my thoughts; should you have any.

 

[TicaCielo]

I fully respect that you trained your dog like that but it just isn't realistic to train a dog positive only. That's not how they work. Just like a child, they need to be corrected for bad behavior. Expecting your dog to always come for cookies is just unrealistic. In the real world, you need your dog to understand that there are consequences to his actions, be it good or bad.

I'll let his trainer Annie Phenix know that her training is unrealistic and to stop writing books with that approach

 

[NatJ]

What happens if you don't have "food rattling in her dish"? What I am saying is that in the real world i.e. away from home, with high distractions, will your dog come? Probably not. Because nothing bad happens when they don't. They get to choose whether or not the food is worth it, because, when it comes down to it, you have no way of forcing your dog to listen when you use Positive Only. My dog has to listen because 1. good things happen when he does come, and 2. he has an e-collar (no, he isn't scared of me or the collar). Now that he is fully trained with it I rarely have to use it because he knows that coming when called is not an option for him. As you said "Saying "come" would only get her if she was in the right mood". What would I do if my dog was running toward the road while a car is coming? I can't have a dog that only comes if I happen to have a filled food dish on me.
This is not meant as an attack, just a discussion that I think is an important one to have and I want to hear your opinion of my thoughts; should you have any.

That is what I meant.

If the dog comes reliably to food rattling in the dish, it's about the same as any other treat-based training: it works when you have the food but not at other times. That is the biggest flaw with it.

But you had said:

Expecting your dog to always come for cookies is just unrealistic. In the real world, you need your dog to understand that there are consequences to his actions, be it good or bad.

And I was saying that some dogs really will come for "cookies" every time.