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Exactly my point! Thank you. She is wonderful while I am around, stays right beside me....leave her alone for a few minutes and she sneaks in the back gate and kills. I purchased/raised her to be a LGD. I do not need a pet so will find her a more suitable home. Am not having any more chickens killed, not fair to them, but never said I was going to KILL her. Geeesh.
She is very well fed , always has chew bones and regular beef bones to chew on.
But she's also good with your kids.
I do not have any kids. I live on 3 acres so hard to clicker train when the dog is chasing something an acre or two away. Maybe a shock collar would work but she is very smart and I would have to be around hiding for most of the week and cannot do that.
We have been having a problem with our two GPs as well - doing the same thing - behaving in front of us then taking off into the woods, doubling back, and killing and eating everything they could catch (all of our ducks, peacocks, chickens freerange). They are about 8 months old and we've had them since they were 5 weeks old. So we started keeping them in the large fenced back yard which only created a new problem - they were killing and eating the ducks and chickens that would fly over the fence or the chicks/ducklings that would come through the picket fence.
We have, however, discovered a wonderful solution that seems to be working. We bought long tie lines and staked each dog out right in the middle of where the flocks hang out to feed, dirt bathe, and sleep under bushes. They have not bothered a single bird. The baby chicks can be seen crawling on the dogs while they sleep and the large birds (ducks, peacocks, chickens) eat all of the dogs' food while they just stand there and watch them. Somehow, they seem to now realize that the birds are their "guard". We are hoping soon that we can remove the tie lines and let the dogs roam free as our two GSDs and Catahoula do - all of whom help guard and herd and protect our flock. We are surrounded by thousands of acres of woods filled with every predator - we have no neighbors - our dogs must be working dogs, free to roam and completely trustworthy. Many of our birds don't even sleep in the coop which is closed at night - they sleep outside, many with the dogs under the carport or in the bushes and trees.
One final note, I strongly disagree with the statement "once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer". Our GSD, Scarlett, was killing and eating ducks when she was about 6 months old. The ducks used to stay in a fenced yard but the Mallards would fly out and she would catch, kill and eat them. Once caught in the act and worked with, and we let the ducks start freeranging, Scarlett never bothered them again. She is now, at a year and half old, our best LGD/chicken dog. She loves the baby chicks and tends to follow them around the farm and sleep where ever they are gathered. She goes in the coop every evening and keeps the peace when all birds are returning and roo fights break out or roos start jumping hens - she breaks up fights, pulls roos off, noses everyone up onto the roosts, and counts the baby chicks.
So, yes, a dog can be worked with and can learn to guard and protect even if they started out a "chicken killer". We leave all 6 dogs completely unattended and unsupervised and they are the ones in charge of watching our flock.
The GPs, now that they are staked out near the perimeter of where the woods meet the "backyard" have been very successful in keeping the bobcat away - which used to watch and wait for an opportunity to run out of the woods, into the yard, and grab a chicken. So, on our farm, our 6 dogs are truly working livestock guard dogs.
