My new future chicken guard dog

[bobbi-j]

He got introduced to them today. Both he and the birds were terrified. He will continue to accompany me daily when I do chores so they get used to each other.

 

[centrarchid]

I just want to bring a recent experience here to inform you all of the possible dangers.

We just had our 7 year old boxer/pit mix kill two of our chickens after ten months of NO problems whatsoever. We were totally comfortable with the situation and she killed two of our babies in front of my husband before he could even react.

It's a serious shock, but looking at it realistically, we did not train her in any way. We didn't see the need because after watching her closely with them for a couple of months and her not even reacting in any way to them, we thought we were safe. Apparently not. She will never be trusted around the chickens again.

To provide balance our 4 year-old male German Pointer (bird dog) was acquired and trained to be a poultry guardian. He is having a little trouble trying to catch a raccoon making incursions near a neighbors flock but is otherwise doing very well. He is mentally stable and predicable in part owing to the experience he, the birds, and I accrued.


The dangers are well known but losses due to other causes would dwarf the losses you experienced when birds are kept free-range.

Too much emphasis on the negative without effort to control problems makes even less experienced fearful of having dogs around poultry.

 

[bobbi-j]

I think retrievers make the perfect chicken dogs. All three of my best chicken dogs have been Lab or Lab mix dogs, one was a GP/lab mix which made her perfect for keeping stray dogs away.



Lucy and Jake....Lucy was old when I got her, fully trained and ready to rumble, and she trained up Jake before she got very old and had to be given the hand of mercy.



Now Jake is 8 yrs old and still on the job....he may look like he's sleeping but he's got a hair trigger!

Oh, Lucy was beautiful, and Jake looks like such a sweetie! Our last dog was good for critter control. He took out coons, opossums, woodchucks and squirrels. He hated squirrels! He'd also keep the deer off the lawn. They were fine in the pasture or out in the field, but if they put one foot on the lawn, he's woof until they got back to where they belonged.

 

[tonstevens]

Good luck !!! He is a cutie ! my heeler doesn't mess with my chickens be loves to run around the pen and my chickens look at him like he is crazy lol

 

[bobbi-j]

Update: Just let the Freedom Rangers out for the first time today. They are 5 1/2 weeks old, and I was a little concerned about how Ruger would react, since he has shown interest in them, looking at them through the fence. Here's what happened:


He was interested.


Probably wondering why they were out.


Walked over and sniffed one (DH was supervising)


.... and he's gone!

So far, so good. However, if we need to go somewhere he will be kenneled when the Rangers are out. I don't quite trust him yet.

 

[bobbi-j]

Well... Ruger was left unsupervised yesterday (NOT my choice - I've been gone since Sunday) and killed at least 6 chickens and wounded at least one more. I haven't done a beak count yet to see how many are left. The one wounded one has an open wound on her rear. DH is going to see if he can find some Blu-Kote tomorrow. We'll see how she does. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I need to separate her. Of course it's THE one hen I wanted to keep because she's so pretty.... Sigh. I'm more upset with DH than the dog. He said, "But he was good with them for three days..." So, the chickens are locked up for awhile. Probably the next couple of weeks while I'm gone again. I'll work with him while I'm home. Right now, I'm thinking that DH needs more supervision than the dog.

 

[SelfMadeFarming]

He is adorable!

 

[Kelsie2290]

What a cute little guy, bet he will make a great chicken guardian.

 

[aart]

Awww puppy breath!! What kind is he? Good Luck with training!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

So cute! Good luck!