My new puppy

neffchick

In the Brooder
8 Years
Aug 21, 2011
15
0
22
San Diego
Hello every one. I was hoping to get some advise on what to do. We just got a two month old Akita/Mastiff/Great Dane puppy in late June. Cyotees came in our yard and killed our cat, so we wanted a big dog that would keep them out and people as well. She is a great dog except for the fact that she is doing all the chicken eating. I have lost 6 chickens and 2 turkey babies because of her. I do not know how to get her to stop. I have brought her to the coop and every time she responded told her to leave it and when she did not react to them I would give her a teat. Now she pays no attention to them when I do that, she will not even go by the coop when I am over there. I have tried showing her that every time I let the chickens out, she goes in the kenel. Nothing is working. As soon as we go in the house she is off chasing them and eating them. I am at the point that if I can not train her the right way, I will have to find her a new home. She got a hold of my favorite chicken, Daisy a Orpington, and all her top feathers were off and she was in shock when we found her. It was soooooo hard on me. My husband had to put her down. After that the other chickens were so confused for a few weeks because she was the leader and would always get them all in the coop at night, lead them to the water, things like that. It still is not the same. I wont even get started on how angry I was when she got a hold of the turkeys. The boy turkey was just starting to show off and they always followed me around or called for me like I was their momma. I just can not put my chickens or myself through this anymore.
Please help me figure this out. This is our last hope.
Thank you for your time.
 
Maybe keep the dog on a tie-out so the chickens can at least run out of the dog's range. The presence of the dog might be enough to ward off predators. You could divide the areas with a chain link fence, one side for dog; the other for the chickens.

It's going to take time to train your dog. As you said, she's still a puppy. I'm not sure there would be any guarantee that the dog won't keep eating the chickens, so I would just try to separate them to avoid any more fatalities.

I'm sorry about your loss of chicken babies
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one more thing. i just looked at the history for akitas and mastiffs. both are hunters. you could try getting a dog that doesn't have a hunting history. maybe research some breeds for a gentle giant that will protect and not hunt. or just some medium-sized dog that would run off the coyotes, at least.
Another idea is to place an ad in craigslist to rehome a dog that has had some time on a farm. i know border collies are used for herding sheep. my grandparents had a small collie of some sort on their farm and it would bring the cows in from the pasture. she never bothered the chickens and protected the farm at night...
 
I am sorry about the loss of your birds. The way you listed your puppy was Akita as the first breed. Is she more Akita than the latter two breeds? The reason I ask is, Akita's are known to have a very high prey drive. They make wonderful guard dogs for the family, but do not tend to view small animals the same as their family. There are many dogs that make exceptions to their own breed as to tempermant and so forth. Akita's are one of those ancient breeds that tend to be very stubborn. They don't have to be taught to guard, but to obey command is another story. You have to be a very dominant person to train them. Even when trained they still posses very strong prey instincts. Mastiffs are another ancient breed that were bred to guard and fight, but they don't have the strong prey drive that the Akita's do. Great Danes were once hunters possibly have some mastiff in their bloodline somewhere. Today they can be wonderful family dog. You definitely picked breeds to scare away coyotes, but I don't think I would ever trust her completely with the birds.

Maybe you could call a few different dog trainers in your area and get different training opinions. See if one would be willing to come to your home and work with the puppy. Sometimes it is also helpful to find someone who knows the breeds they are working with.
 
how old? Is she actually eating them or just playing too rough? Most dogs don't even realize that they CAN eat the chickens.

Put her on a leash. Take her out in the yard and start teaching the "leave it" command. any time she looks at the birds say "eh..leave it" and reward her for ignoring them.

That said, I NEVER leave my dogs unattended outside, esp when the chickens are ranging.
 
Next time she goes and kills one of your birds grab her and the dead bird and beat the dog with the dead chicken. grab the pup by the collar so she can not run away and beat her good. don't mind the yelping its just yelping, your not really hurting her. then after a good beating tie the dead chicken to her neck and tie it good so it wont fall off. then toss bad dog into her run and let her stay in there till the chicken rots off. she will never touch another chicken in her life. Grandpa used to do this with his English setters and pointers and it worked great. Good luck with your dog.
 
that is really not something that works. It might work sometimes, on some dogs, but really all you are teaching your dog is that you are crazy.

Also, if you have more than one dog, all you are doing is giving the 2nd dog a snack.
 
Thank you everyone.
I use to have an Akita and he was such a good dog. He never got our neighbors chickens and was very powerful. He would bring home a dead coyote every once in a wile. So when I found the add for this one, I jumped all over it,not doing the research. I feel so stupid for doing that. Maybe she would have a good permanent home by now and not be in trouble out back right now. She is half Akita,so yes she is taking up that role very well. I just woke to her getting one of my chickens this morning. Their coop was not shut right because my kids were playing there last night and I did not think to recheck it. Luckily I got out in time. She had Pepper pined down, but not hurt. She eats every last bit of the chickens. I am going to have to find her a new home. I just can not take the chances and she is only 4 months, so I hope I can find something. If not I will do two things, make a large enclosed dog run and find a trainer that deals with these types of things.
So, thank you for all your help. It really was nice to have some input and have someone to talk about all this with as well.
 
Quote:
im sorry but im going to say a big no way with that comment..

i have a very hyper happy boxer who just one day decited that he was going to play with the chickens, he killed one and after that he'd chace them to kill them. 12 chickens later wondering what to do, i saw this option on the internet, so i tryed it. i had my husband hold him as i had the dead chicken in my hand screaming bad, no, my chicken not yours... hitting him on the butt with my free hand shoving the chicken it his face with the other.. after a bit i tied him up and grab some twine and tied the poor little chickie around my dog.... now your suposta wait till the bird rots so it assoiates the smell with the birds but with me my dogs come in at night and it was winter, so i kept her out there for 3 days, because the next night it was going to drop below 13 with wind chill.. he is now the best dog around them. he sits and just looks. its been 4 years and chickens can walk right up to him and he wont even move a muscle..
ive even looked out the window to see if it was me nope did not touch the 5 chickens that roamed around him.
plus if you have more than one dog (as i do) you take an extra step to make sure they arent together for a little bit. its better to have everything out of wack for just a week or so... cuz then you get a life time of harmony.
trust me no one like yelling and hitting a dog but if you ran out of options like i did its worth a try.
i love my dogs and my chickens and i dont want to be yelling at my dogs babysitting them when ever they are out thats not a life for you or the pup..
also make sure the puppy gets loads and loads of exercise all those breeds are very high energy dogs if you have a tredmill have it hop on for 30 a day and dont for get a stimulating walk everyday.. they really need it.. it could be bored. also make sure your the boss and not the dog. my sisters dogs are unruley because she doesnt disapline them at all. i dont go over to her house because they are so bad.

IT WORKS!!!! i had a hard time with it but man am i sure glad i did it.
 
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