My puppy is my peeps new predator!

[Chickengene]

Although i firmly believe any dog can be trained, you have certainly picked a rough row to hoe. GS & Lab; both breeds have long history as chicken killers.

 

[Willowspirit]

So guess what? My dobe got loose this afternoon, ran up the hill, got into one of the horses paddocks and chased them a little bit, then went after two pullets in the paddock and missed them. Thank goodness she’s never seen them fly. They really startled her!She couldn’t go after any more chickens because she got zapped going into the paddock and was afraid to come out. Finally my husband got in and snagged her! Who’s fault is it? Ours because we didn’t take time to train the dog! Our chicken fence goes in on Tuesday and Thursday of next week. Could have been free ranging carnage!

She wasn’t on a leash because my husband was taking her out to the car and thought she was. Imagine his surprise to be holding an empty harness.

 

[aart]

You should begin by teaching sit, stay, come. The basics

Number one is recall, IMO.
All commands should be given in 'stern voice'....
... 'happy voice' for praise with treats until only voice is needed.

Takes a lot of time and effort, and dog owner often needs more training than dog.

 

[archeryrob]

Takes a lot of time and effort, and dog owner often needs more training than dog.

Truth!

Still to this day my wife calls the dog to her to yell at it. I have to tell her you're teaching the dog to NOT come to you and not teaching it to not do what you don't want done. They only understand the last thing or current thing happening and you can't reason with them like a tiny human.

If you communicate in sentences to a dog it is for your benefit not theirs.

You say
" I want you to come to me when I say so, not smell the trees. No"

The dog hears
"Wa wawa wa wa Come wa wa waw wa, wa wawa wa wawa. No"

 

[aart]

The dog hears
"Wa wawa wa wa Come wa wa waw wa, wa wawa wa wawa. No"

OhNoSh!t!!

 

[SlyReb]

Yes, you can train her out of it. It's going to be harder, because by your description of the issue, you haven't done much to deter her until now (Sorry if I misinterpreted.) "Begin as you mean to go on." is about the best training philosophy I've ever heard. Since she's pretty much been allowed to hunt chickens with impunity, she's going to be pretty confused when you put your foot down.

A command equivalent to "Leave It!" should already be a part of her vocabulary; if not, I would begin with that. She shouldn't be allowed around them unsupervised, so that you can correct bad behaviour as soon as it occurs (dogs get confused when you punish after the fact.)

A shock collar may be your friend. Some people have more success with them than others do; some people find them entirely distasteful. It's the only way I've ever persuaded a beagle to come out of the woods when she was on a scent, so I believe that they're a useful training tool—so long as the dog is of a stubborn enough disposition/in such a situation that you can't train her in another way.

I pretty much agree. I got my bloodhound puppy after my chickens were about eight months so he started out at 5 lbs and they terrorized him. He wanted to play and they hurt him defending themselves. But he’s a hound and he didn’t listen and he grew To be 85 pounds. But I had long since separated them. He was a house dog for much of the winter but I got a 10 x 18 pen — he can’t be off leash anyway because he would never stop hunting.
He has learned that he is bigger than they are and shouldn’t hurt them. The other day one of the hens got into his dog pen – no idea how. She wasn’t nearly as concerned about him but he was frantic! When I realized what was going on I ran over and he was “herding“ her toward the fence whenever she moved to the center of the pen. He would bat at her then step back and look at me and bark then he would do it again. He clearly knows not to hurt them, but he’s dying to play with them and interact. It’s my responsibility to keep a fence between them. I love them both.

 

[Lavender Wraps]

So I have a 7, almost 8 month old puppy, who is half Lab, half German shepherd. She has gotten very bad with our chickens. She used to try to chase them to play, but recently she has really been stalking and hunting them. She crouches low and then pounces. She has removed some feathers and today she even cut the top of one of my amberlink pullets head. She is always outside on a 30ft leash, so she doesn't have full range of the backyard. However, everytime the chickens come close in her proximity, she hunts them. She gets reprimanded harshly and locked in her kennel for a few min every time she does it, but I am very concerned about my peeps. I love them so much, but don't want any of them to get seriously injured. I'm wondering, can I train her out of this prey drive? Is it hopeless, or is there still time since she is a puppy? View attachment 1840374

There was terror on our farm last week. New neighbors across from our pasture has 2 terrier pointer pups. I saw they out running while the owner was present. I told my husband that they could come after our chickens. Our chickens are free range for great tasting eggs. The very next week they crossed two pastures to come into our yards to viciously kill 3 of my layers. Having raised these from babies it was very traumatic. The owners of the dogs said they were suppose to point and retrieve, not kill. They admitted the dogs has attacked one of their chickens which is recuperating. Hope they can train them out of this. They paid for the 3 but would much rather have the hens back.

 

[Nommie Bringer-Uvda-Noms]

If all else fails, keep the chooks penned, when the dog has to be out, unsupervised.

 

[Lavender Wraps]

Our precious Bitsy has died. Not sure how old she was since we bought her from a feed store with her pal, a Barred Rock. She will be greatly missed!

 

[Helloworld]

Shock collar. It will take less than 5 times. Try noise first and if she doesnt listen then set on lowest setting and hit her. I place my box on collar right behind the ear.