My Rotties first time meeting 3 week old Chicks.

[Joe.G]

I have dded turkeys and Peafowl, My dog's are not sure what to think about the chickens on steroids ( Royal Palm's ).

 

[Annemarie]

Hey all. I have 3 graet danes and was hoping my dogs and chicks would get alone beacause I have a very big yard then the chicks could walk all over but my dogs didn't think so to.. The intoduction didn't go well at all al 4 my beatiful chicks died any advice please? Can't hold my dogs back with my hands on a collar they are twice my size.. 87kg 74kg and the small one 47 kg... They always listen but not when it comes to chickens

 

[Joe.G]

Dog's need more training, they need to listen to you simple as that, Train the dog's then introduce the chickens, dog training takes time. Maybe start off introducing one dog at a time and have some one help you. The dog's you see in my pic's Will stay in till I release them, be it 3o sec or ten min.

 

[drumstick diva]

Texasgurl, I guess you really love Cockers. I used to breed and show them late - 60's and 70's.

 

[drumstick diva]

For egg eaters, some people blow the eggs out and then fill(with a syringe) hot sauce and have them where the dog will easily find them. Maybe that would work for your dogs.

 

[Jmurph]

We have two large dogs, a St Bernard and an Austrailian herding dog. The introduction to the chickens was very controlled and very systematic. Initially, we had the chickens in a run outside and the dogs were allowed near them. The second step was having the dogs on a leash and allowing them to get near them. (Actually we had two leashes per dog..they are BIG dogs and I wasn't sure if instinctively they would react and go after the chickens.). When every they got too excited or seemed like they wanted to go after the chickens, we gave a firm yank and said, "we don't chase chickens"...a simple "no" would have sufficed, but I like to keep it interesting. We keep letting the leash get longer and longer so we weren't always right behind them...then we let them ON the leash, but we didn't hold the other end. All the time reinforcing with, "we don't chase chickens" Finally, we let them off the leash with the same commitment. This took a few weeks to accomplished and involved some training on a daily basis. They are all friends now. OH>>>and "we don't chase kitties either"!!!
Actually, the dogs have now become pretty protective of the chickens. One day I let one of the dogs out early in the morning and he took off. It was pitch black. I waited an hour and went out with a flashlight. I found him lying near the fence under a tree looking at me. He wouldn't move and I couldn't get him to move. I got my daughter, thinking I was going to need help. She just made those little kissy noises like she does to call him and he came running. Then he went back to lie by the fence. Found out we had some unwanted predators that night. I think the pup chased them up a tree and over the fence...he was just letting them know they were not welcome.
The cats parade around the yard with the chickens. It is a weird sight. They are in no particular order...Just walking....I just look, shake my head and say, "that's not right"...This month I will add some Pekin ducks to my flock...Should be a hoot.
The key is patience and training.

 

[Jmurph]

I should add that we had the dogs on a leash after we let the chickens out. They free range now and the dogs are not on a leash. The backyard is fenced.

 

[my sunwolf]

Wow, this is GREAT! We babysat a rottie/doberman cross last summer and he was terrified of birds. Had to convince him not to be scared of our hens and chicks

Once he got over that he took to guarding them.

 

[nok13]

we ;have the opposite problem; foofoo goes nuts since we moved HIS babies to the greenhouse outside our apartment. the mineute i let him outdoors he rushes to the side of the house and sits at the greenhouse door with his nose squashed under the gate (tis a sort of greenhouse improvisation), whining under his breath. then he starts circling thru the neighbhors garden , down and around to where HIS shnitzels are (my hen coop has to pullets taht were raised indoors with him also), the nback to the thai babies. fi any person goes near either coop/chicken area, they get growled at and sometimes rushed at. he does the same when he is with me. actually a bad habit but compared to how he used to be when we first got him as a problem pup, this is good. if i go inside the coop he spends the entire time whining loudly. and barking in a very stressed high pitched way as apposed to a 'someone aproaching' bark.

when he is in with them, he licks them (sublimated predator actions), but leaves if i command him 'out.

lilee is very indifferent to anything that isnt physically edible in one small bite (she has a under bite, scrunchy lhasa face), and easy to obtain. pullets arent on her list, but chicken poo is, as is the old, discarded but not in the garbage yet, chick brooder. i found her, head first inside the brooder door eating two month old newspaper and poo and chicken feed mix.. all sticking to her mustaches... ichchchc....