My stupid pup...

[momdogz]

Quote:
I have a mixed blood 50# hound dog. She got loose from her run the other day, and ran like a shot for the chickens, broke the fence, and killed one in less than a minute. NO CLICKER OR WHISTLE will keep her away from them. I now have to keep the chickens in the hen house while the dog is on her run, and then keep the dog in the house, sometimes in her crate, while the chickens are out in their yard.

I was so upset with her that it was hard for me to even talk to her for a few days, no matter how many times I told myself it wasn't her fault.....it's just her nature. And it's just my nature to be attached to all of my animals - it's awful when something happens to any of them!

Otherwise, I agree with all of the other posters - keep your GSD working/active, take him/her on long walks, and try a cable run until you can afford a large run. We have a long cable between two trees, with a very strong cable attached to the dog. This gives her quite a bit of freedom.

I also have a 100# husky black lab mix. He's more stubborn than a rock, but I can totally trust him with the chickens. I live out in the boonies, and have even been able to let him go on his 6 mile Husky jaunts for years (wearing his blaze orange vest). The neighbors in our mountain valley have dogs, chickens, horses, goats, sheep - and he doesn't bother any of them. Everybody loves him. Go figure - husky, and a bird dog at that.

 

[mangled]

We don't have a GSD, but we do have a Boxer. He's huge, almost 70 pounds, and solid muscle.

When we first started putting him out on the chain, he was impossible. We actually ran his chain through 6 cinder blocks, and although he wasn't able to get off of them or break them, he was able to drag them 30 feet across the yard.

We finally solved his problem by doing this...we decided where we wanted his tie-out spot to be, and augered a hole down three feet. My husband bent a piece of rebar in half and set the whole thing into quick-crete.

Oh - and make sure if he's a serious puller that he's on a metal collar of sorts. We wear a choke collar on our Boxer, because he pulls so hard he can stretch the nylon collars and slip out.

We can't trust our Boxer with our girls, so he's tied off. He doesn't hurt them, but he loves to chase them, and he'll chase them until their exhausted.

He only gets yard time when we're out there to supervise.

Good Luck. We're looking into getting a GSD in the spring. I'm *so* excited.
Em

edited to add: Our Boxer is a house dog, and is only outside for short periods. We have him on a good 50 foot of chain. Not a super heavy chain, but heavy enough that he can't break it. He has poor tolerance of large crowds because of his abusive history (he's a rescue) so whenever we have a bunch of people over, he goes out on his chain.

 

[MagsC]

GSDs are great dogs, I am sure she has the capability to learn not to bother the chickens so dont give up on her. I am also sure you are innovative enough to keep her from getting bored.