My Puppy Killed a Chicken...

[bbRedMom]

...do I need to find her a new home? My other dogs will chase, but not kill, so we keep them in the pen when the flock is freeranging, but the border collie figured out the gate and let everyone out. Only the puppy killed a chicken, then bought it into the house, still in its death throes. And this was one of the one I hatched my self

.

What do I do? She's four month old. When I say new home, I dont mean dumping at the shelter or on the side of the road.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Katy]

She's a puppy and probably just played it to death. I've only had one dog in 30+ years of chickens that I ever trusted not to kill them. I certainly wouldn't get rid of her at this point in time.

 

[buckyphifer]

Our little 7 pound silky terrier killed 2 chicks in one day. She eats lizards and has caught squirrels before too. Our chihuahua wouldn't even dream of doing such. Some dogs are just bred with that in them and some aren't. Its almost like they can't help it. We just have to be extra cautious with her and understand it is just in her nature. I don't think I would get rid of the puppy for doing that, just make sure she doesn't have access to the chickens.

 

[kstaven]

Geting rid of the puppy is not the answer. TRAINING her is the answer here. Sounds like your other dogs may need some lessons in pack structure and limits also. It is a ton of work to begin with but pays off in big ways in the end.

 

[wynedot55]

getting rid of the puppy isnt fixing the prob.trying to break her from killing chickens will.theres 2 things you can do an they wont hurt the puppy.next time she kills a chicken.take it from her.an give her a whipping with the dead chicken.an if she kills again tie dead chicken round her neck for 4 or 5 days.my dad had a bird dog that made the mistake of killing a chicken.an he got so madd at the dog he took his belt off an gave the dog a whipping.well that dog never killed a chicken again.because if he did he knew what he would get.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

No, don't get rid of her, she's young and doesn't know any better. Just train her, she didn't kill it to eat, or else she wouldn't have brought it into the house..

Just work with her on the issue. I personally take the dog back to the dead bird and spank them on the flanks. Some people see this as pointless beating, but I haven't had a dog kill a bird in three years and I have 7 dogs: 3 German Shepherds, 1 Australian Shepherd, 1 Australian Shepherd/St.Bernard, 1 Beagle mix, and 1 Border Collie/terrier. If you do spank the puppy, make sure to go to the dog a few minutes later, in another area, and give her some love, to show there's no hard feelings and it was nothin personal, she just did a no-no.

Train in whatever method you feel is best for your situation. If your other dogs chase the chickens(a behavior not to be condoned) the new puppy probably saw them and thought it was "okay" to catch the chickens. The other dogs showed her, that the chickens were "playthings".

I hope you get the situation figured out.

-Kim

 

[bbRedMom]

Thank everyone. I've never gotten rid of a dog, but we are new to the whole farm thing (23 years as a city girl) and I didn't know if it was a whole "once they've tasted blood there is no going back".

She did get a good scruffing, but the whole tying the chicken around her neck wouldn't work b/c she is an indoor/outdoor dog.

We have a guy coming out today to give us fence estimates. That would keep our dogs away from the chickens, and keep the dogs across the street from coming on to our yard, Grrrrr.

Luckily I have banty chickens, so they fly. This was Mumbles, who wasn't quite right from hatching. He drug his wings as an adult. Unfortunatly, Darwin's Law doesn't take into account our attachments.

If anyone has ny advice to keep my big dogs from chasing the chickens, I'd appreciate it. I dont like to hit my animals, just FYI, but I'll take any and all advice.

Thanks!

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
I agree with KSTAVAN I raised my chicks with dogs present at all times, and let them know that they are all to be good together. Now my dogs can be out with chickens(yes unsupervised) in fact they will protect the birds from other things in the yard. My corgi actually will bark at birds flying overhead. Learned from observing how chickens react to overhead flyers I didnt teach her that(though I would like to take the credit)

now according to other posts you have a couple other options:

Shoot the dog

shoot the dogs owner(not a good option)

threaten the dogs owner then shoot the dog the next time it happens

beat the dog with the chicken

(MY Favorite) Beat the dog with the chicken then tie it around the dogs neck and make it live like that for a week or so.

make the dog sleep with the chickens(zorzois (-1sp) are particulaly good at this, so they think they are chickens and will no longer harm them. If you use this option, best to start with them in a kennel or you will have NO chickens, and then you wont have to worry about it anyways, so that would solve the problem too.

There are many more options, I just cant remember them all.

 

[Katy]

Tying the dead chicken around the dogs neck was always how my dad dealt with the problem and It always seemed to work. I used it one time and had success with it.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
How does this work? I'm not discrediting, I honestly have never heard of it and wonder how it works. How do you tie the dead bird around their neck(new fashion style..LOL)? Why does it deter the dog from killing again(the smell? the drama of having tied to their neck?) I would think it would entice them to eat the bird tied around their neck(Mmm.. decaying carcass..) Adam's dogs eat roadkill..(yuck)

I've heard of beating the dog with the chicken. Came close to trying it once, didn't want the body to dismember in my hands.. But never heard about tying it around there neck..Please explain, you've peaked my curiousity..

-Kim