My pups went on a killing spree :(

[Bear Foot Farm]

They won't learn on the end of a leash, because that's not a "normal" situation.

They need to be near the birds ALL the time, even if its just in a pen beside them.
The dogs need to learn the birds are something that's there all the time, and not a "fun toy" that they only see when you let them run around.

When you're actually training them, the dogs need to be loose and you need to be out of sight.
Use the shock collar to correct them when they chase or touch a bird.

That way they associate the correction with the bird instead of with you.
Keep in mind those dogs will be puppies for another year and a half.
They can be saved with some persistant work now

 

[ShrekDawg]

sorry for your losses and i dont really know much in this area (about dogs rebounding/still being able to learn after tasting bird) but i would say that since they are still young and are still only pups, you may be able to retrain them and they eventually may forget that this incident ever happened and may wind up being great or at least good/decent with your bird, sorry, i dont really know much in this area so hopefully someone with more experiance especially of this type will chime in soon... good luck

 

[chickenzoo]

When mine started to kill the Mandrins or even look too interested in any bird I used a plastic type basket muzzle to keep her from grabbing the bird, but still allowing her to be with them in the pasture, since I do not have eyes in the back of my head. When she seemed to become disinterested in the commotion and movement the birds made, I removed the muzzle while I supervised her. If she started to get too interested again, it went back on. My male Pyrs never tried to kill anything, but they would grab a Pekin by his tail and try to drag him around the yard.......... in which a firm NO SIR stopped it. My female was way harder to train, but she's almost there. My 2 male GP's guard the back pasture and she is in the front.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with DancingBear about leaving the pups among the chickens. They have to have opportunities to interact with the birds while you are not standing over them, so you can see what they will do. When I trained my youngster, I corrected wrong actions while I was standing right there and then I tied up a few birds and left them lying in the yard.

Of course, they flapped around a little and squawked a bit and this attracted the dog towards their direction...this gave me an opportunity to shout a "MY CHICKENS!" out the window of the house to deter his moving towards them. If he tried it again, I ran out in the back yard and demonstrated my displeasure in his actions.

It didn't take long at all for him to realize that I am always watching....at least, he thinks this is so~even to this day. Every time he walked in the direction of those hog-tied chickens, he got a reprimand....an off the charts, BIG reaction.

I know this poor dog was thinking, "How does she bloody DO that? How does she always know???"

I found that tying the birds up prevented them from running, getting the dog running and then ME having to run along behind the whole mess. I didn't have a shock collar but watching from inside the house and cutting off any and all movements, intense looks or posturing, towards those birds with a quick and sharp shout seemed to do the trick.

I think you are doing the right thing by training one at a time...for now. Eventually you will need to train them together to see if they can maintain their training while they are together. Dogs seem to feed off each other's excitement when chasing prey, so I would complete their training while they are together.

Good luck! Don't give up!

 

[thndrdancr]

I can see what you mean about not learning on the end of the leash. Yep, on leash they are as good as gold.

Hey, I have a question. When sis walks them on leash, even tho she makes them sit and stuff before feeding, I noticed last night they pull way ahead of her and they walk "her". They dont do that with me, they walk right alongside. They obviously dont see her as the top in status, or whatever. Sis lives her etoo, and is very much a "soft touch". Isnt it pretty important they see all members of the household as ranking above them? I will definitely work on sis if this is extremely important.

Altho them walking ahead would be nice in winter if they could break thru the snow (how do I teach them that?), I dont want it happening on a leash.

I think we made some progress, I mean a wee bit yesterday. This morning I went out early as I lost a sebright hen, and walked all over the property. They stayed right at my side the whole time, even passing the peacocks who were on the ground pecking around. That in itself is a first.

I did some e collar training on the lowest training setting on the girl, she is one who almost seems a lost cause and I got her to look to me for direction, this is a first for her! Whippeeee!

Then when I let them both out together, I tied two leashes together, funny cuz I said, I dont imagine you can get into TOO much trouble like that for a two minutes whilte I get the babies put away. Then whoosh, the boy went bounding after the guineas with her following (usually she leads tho in guinea chasing). I didnt have the collar on him. I hit the shock button and the poor girl happened to trip on the leash at the same time and went down hard. Then she came bounding back to me immediately with him following. So I dont know if that is progress, but at least they came running back right to me and I didnt even call them.

I have felt the shock it gives, its quite a tingle but not what I would consider extraordinarily painful, just more of a "wow! that gets your attention!" kind of thing.

I know it must work, as my pups went to down to the neighbors cattle fence when they were young, and he had just moved his cattle but still had the fence going.
Bandit got hit with it and/or caught in it, as we heard terrible screaming from the pups, just as we got to to where we could see what was happening with them, he had freed himself and they were racing back to the house and never have gone down that direction again. lol

So I know they are pups and we have months and months to go, but I was still happy at even that miniscule bit of progress and gave me a glimmer of hope that all is not lost.

Dont mean to ramble. I should keep an exact journal I guess, the time I am spending with these pups is extraordinary. Sure love em. Word to the wise, unless your one heck of a trainer, never take on two at once, I didnt know this. But I made this bed.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Isnt it pretty important they see all members of the household as ranking above them?

Yes and no.
LGD's shoud never be agressive towards humans, but they shouldn't be treated as "pets" either.
The less contact they have with anyone other than the owner, the better off you will be.
They should be bonding more to the animals they protect than to people

Keep up the shock treatments, and you should get quick results.
LGD's tend to be smart. and learn quickly​