Need Help My Dog Is Chasing After My Chickens!!

[kasey08]

Well i have had my dog for 2 years since she was a puppy she is a colli mix and is really good with everyone, she loves to run a play. i just got 8 grown silkies all about a year old. there in a cage so my dog cant get them but she likes to run up to it and bark and the chickens just fly up and go crazy of course this is the reason why she does this. idk what to do? do i need to get rid of one or the other or do i just give them some time and she will get used to them? btw the hens arent laying yet is it b/c of the dog? please any advice would be great i really dont want to get rid of either of them

 

[bobbi-j]

How long have you had the hens? Sometimes it takes time for them to adjust and start laying. You can train your dog to behave with the chickens, but it can take a LOT of time and consistency. Are you willing to make that investment? Good luck.

 

[kasey08]

ive only had them 2 days. and yes the dog listens to my husband alot better then me so i guess she will have to do it around him for her to really learn from it

 

[OHhappychicks]

On an episode of the Dog Whisper, there was a lab that had killed one of the 2-3 hens this couple had, (the same couple that had the movie made about their dog, "Marley", I think) anyway Cesar came and took a hen and he just sit on the floor with it and any time the dog came near it, he would calmly say his little "ssst" sound and the dog would back down. He calls it claiming your space. The hen being "your space". I'm know dog whisperer either, but I have done this with my daughters big husky mix, and with our new lab/ pyrenees mix (but he was very well trained and very well behaved when we got him about 1 mth ago) and it seems to work. My dd's dog killed one of mine about 1 1/2 yrs ago. I don't think she meant too. She looked so surprised! But now she doesn't even bother them and neither does my pyrenees. I call, ah,ah, ah pointed my finger at them and gave them an evil eye and they would back off. I still have to do it once to my dd's dog when she comes to visit. But after that, she's fine. ANd she is not very well trained or well behaved!!! It didn't take me too long to train them. Just whenever your dog goes after them, try to get between the chicks and the dog and say no or whatever you want to get his attention. It may be he just needs to get used to them. It only took my pyrenees 2-3 days and now he just ignores them. Hope this helps.

Good luck!!

 

[kasey08]

Quote:
thanks i love the dog whisper! and yeah ive seen the movie! lol but that sounds great i might try that! i just dont want to get a chicken hurt by trying to get my dog to like them

 

[Kmf]

We put our chickens in the run for the first time yesterday and my chocolate lab (who hasn't even noticed them in the garage brooder) went crazy trying to dig under the coop and run. I pulled her off a few times and yelled no at her each time. She wouldn't stop and she is so strong that it was hard for me to keep her off. I finally, out of desperation, thumped her a good one on her butt and yelled NO! She hasn't tried to dig anymore. I sat out there with her for a couple hours, as it was a gorgeous day, and when she would go near the coop, I would call her name and sternly say NO. When she would move away, I would call her over and tell her that she was a good girl and give her some love. She has been pretty good for a chocolate lab who is known around the neighborhood as the "raccoon killer" lol. She even killed an opossum the first night we had the chickens in their coop! Besides the few raccoons she has killed, she has been known to kill squirrels, woodchucks, opossum, she brings us a dead field mouse almost every day and she is an expert at plucking moles straight from the ground, so I am very happy at how she has controlled herself. Of course, she will never be allowed NEAR the "girls"

 

[OHhappychicks]

I know! I love the dog whisperer too! I've learned a lot from him, but far from a dog whisperer. Just remember to be "Calm, Assertive"!!

We don't let our dogs around them when we aren't here. We hook them up when we leave. They are good when we are at home, but better safe than sorry!!

 

[kasey08]

yeah agreed i would be pretty upset if she eat my chickens!

 

[magic maker]

We have three dogs, and they will prowl around the coop, which is 10x10. The chickens mostly ignore them but will startle every once in a while when they bark. Will this keep the chickens from laying? The chickens are just now about 16 weeks old.

 

[Break an Egg]

I have a black lab mix and she came to our house when the chickens were already here. We taught her early on that it was not ok to chase them. Since then, I have seen her look through our sliding glass door and bark (she harldy ever barks) at what she was seeing outside. Our hen was laying on the patio sunbathing looking like she was dead. I let my dog outside and the first thing she did was walk up to the hen and sniff her.

The hen didn't appreciate it much because she got up and ran away, but I knew that my dog was being protective over her.