Never though I would have to rite about my own dog in the pest section

[honeydoll]

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My dad used to do this, when it was still acceptable to give a dog a good spanking, and our dogs were very well behaved. And your right it only took once. Now my dog I own now is a hunting dog, and I tried spanking him once, he submitted right away but he never stopped. It actually seemed to make him more dominate. We will eventually rehome him, I am almost sure of that. But noone really wants him, which is why he was probably dropped off. He has come along way, but not long enough. Our vet said, we may never be able to stop his killer instinct of small animals. My point is I wander if OP is in the same situation, but her dog is much more difficult than mine. I really feel for her. I think we may have to put ours down, because I do not want to be responsible for my dog hurting someones animals or child. If you can't train them, It is a form of responsibility to put down or get rid of a dog that is just too much for the average person to handle.

 

[Pupsnpullets]

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My dad used to do this, when it was still acceptable to give a dog a good spanking, and our dogs were very well behaved. And your right it only took once. Now my dog I own now is a hunting dog, and I tried spanking him once, he submitted right away but he never stopped. It actually seemed to make him more dominate. We will eventually rehome him, I am almost sure of that. But noone really wants him, which is why he was probably dropped off. He has come along way, but not long enough. Our vet said, we may never be able to stop his killer instinct of small animals. My point is I wander if OP is in the same situation, but her dog is much more difficult than mine. I really feel for her. I think we may have to put ours down, because I do not want to be responsible for my dog hurting someones animals or child. If you can't train them, It is a form of responsibility to put down or get rid of a dog that is just too much for the average person to handle.

I brought home a foster dog once who I found out was very prey driven. However, the very first time he saw chickens and lunged at them I whacked him across the butt with my bathroom slipper. He immediately went belly up. It was hysterical. I never had a problem with him with chickens after that but he was a 'soft' dog and I was extremely lucky. He was still nuts over rabbits, squirrels and other rodents, but left feathered creatures alone.

Just posting this cos your comment took me down memory lane.....

 

[bufforp89]

Thanks everyone for all of the support. I want to clear up that although I said it, I would never, ever take my dog to the pound. That was just something I said out of anger. I am aware that taking adult dogs to the pound is a death sentence but at that min I was not really caring about her welfare. Now that I have had time to cool off I am thinking more rationaly.

To answer ScaredOfShadows question, I had the birds first, and no offence taken. I have also sucessfully trained our other 4 dogs to leave the birds alone for the most part. Ocasionally someone will take chase

but I have done extensive recall training with all and have never ended up with a dead bird.

My plan now is to start putting Roxy in her kennel at night in my room. I thought she had finally graduated from such things but obviously not....Im also going to up the exercise durring the day because she is obviously restless at night if she has energy to chase birds.

Also I guess it is pretty much my fault that it happened. It was such a nice night and I occasionally let the muscovies sleep in a small enclosure outside my bedroom window. I did last night and must have forgotten to latch the door or something. Either that or she nosed it open

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

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if the dog has been extensivly trained and is breaking threw windows to still get at things then its honestly not a safe dog to have. dogs just like humans and other animals can be wired wrong in the head. your assumption that because YOUR dogs trained easily that the op isen ttrainign her right or doing enough sets me on edge.

By easy to train my dogs - one was simple because she'd previous been extensively trained and she's the best dog I've ever had when it comes to commands - except she is food aggressive to other animals - except the chicken - go figure. My shep/chow took about 3 months of training different things - but we found a mix of things that within about 3 weeks of trying it all together - got her good and calm around the chickens... by allowing her to be inside the coop and check it out, getting positive reinforcement when she sat and laid down on command with the chickens within sight or in the dog 'territory' and then severe reprimands - time outs and a couple swift whacks on the hindquarters each time she started to 'stalk' or actually chased the chickens and placing her in time out in lay and stay for a few minutes, then bringing the silkies to her and sitting them on her while she was laying down at first being held and then without - with positive words/attitude and treats afterward...It took time and patience to find what worked for her - but because of her prey drive I swore I was going to have to cave and just put up a 6' privacy fence through half my yard so she couldn't get to MY chickens or see them (which would calm her down ) but it wouldn't have solved the problem of my neighbor's free range chickens getting into the fence with the dogs - though of course his free ranging tresspassing chickens - but I didn't want the dogs to kill anymore chickens. It was an involved process but she eventually got over it - and I used my friend's husband's training advice (dog trainer) which was different techniques till we found what worked for her.

My shep/chow can have an deterance or electric color on (does - she's on an invisible fence - and tried training her with electric collar - she'll ignore it both it doesn't phase her except distracts her the first time and then she gets good and stubborn and bears it to go chase cars if I'm not around to watch her ) When I'm not home my dogs are tied - because the shep/chow will break the invisible fence and chase cars (she stopped chasing any car and now just wants to chase dump trucks or anything with a loud engine X_x) but that has been an ongoing training thing for over a year.

My only real advice to the OP is wait a few days before doing something with the dog - make sure this is not a hasty upset decision. Think it through and make the decision with a calm mind - not a turbulant upset mind. If the OP feels her dog is untrainable and has been at training for months, and has attacked other animals continuously - then sure it is a good decision to put the dog down. but just make sure you think it through - so you can't regret the decision later.

Good luck OP, take care, best wishes, and praying for a solution you are comfortable with making.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

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Buff - I was typing when you replied

Thanks for not taking offense! - I didn't mean to be rude or harsh as some say I sounded

I am glad you have taken the time to think on it

I know I have wanted to get rid of my DD's shep/chow mix for her insane-ness at times but once I cooled off could never actually do it.

I am glad you are going to give her another chance. How old is she and what breed?

Again, have a good one and take care! I am praying for your ecclectic pet family to one day co-exist.

 

[dragonlair]

I have a breed of dog who are major predators and no amount of training will change that. Its been bred into them for close to 5000 years as dogs, and millions of years before that as wolves. I also have poultry, horses, cats and goats. I am supporting myself and my animals on little more than minimum wage, so I don't have a lot of money to spend.


I have managed to keep my birds, goats and dogs away from each other. Once in a while I have had conflicts, like when the roo decided to attack one of my dogs. Not pretty. However, the birds have their area and are penned up. The dogs have their area and are either penned up, in the house or on leashes. The pens are lined with electric fence, to which the dogs have been trained to avoid. I have it set up so they cannot climb over or dig under. It didn't cost much at all, mostly the fencing was scrounged from people giving or throwing it away. The posts came from the same place or from the woods on my friends property. Yes, it can be very inconvient at times. I would love to have my birds free range, but I can't chance it.

Dogs are predators, poultry is prey. I understood and accepted that when I decided to keep my specific breed of dog along with my farm animals. I learned to make adjustments, no matter how frustrating it was at times.

I'm sorry for both you and your dog. Have you tried electric training collars? How about putting the birds (or dog) behind a chain link fence?

Good luck to both of you with whatever choice you make.

 

[chicksbestfriend]

I have a jack russell terrier who came along with the wedding bells to my little farm of chickens and ducks that was established way before she joined us. Everytime she would be allowed out when the chickens were ranging, I would find feathers all over the place and one or two dead chickens. I realized that this little dog shouldnt be allowed out of the house to roam around with the other dogs when the chickens were ranging but felt so bad that she had to be confined to the house all the time so I put her on a long lead so she could exercise, get some fresh air during the day, she was far away from where the chickens would range, so I thought. The terrier would hide in her dog house and wait for a chicken to get close enough then she would dart out and attack,yup, another one down. She has even bolted hard enough to snap her lead to attack and kill the chickens! I must of lost at least 20 of them, I quit counting as it just sickened me to death. I tried everything imaginable to break her from attacking the chickens, even tying the dead chicken around her neck! What finally broke her of her habit, knock on wood, the last chicken that she killed, I put it in her dog house with her and left her and the chicken in there for several days. I put a bbq grill in front of her dog house so she couldnt get out. I think it finally worked because now she wont even look at the chickens! Havent lost one in over 1 yr! Good luck with your dog, I personally know the devestation of losing chickens to your own dog but I am sure there is a workable solution into keeping your dog and peace of mind that your chickens are safe.

 

[Matoe]

Dogs can be retrained to not kill your birds. My Lab killed 1 and I beat him and I got mad at him, and he knew it. 2days later he killed 9 more I did not beat him this time just got mad as hell and screamed at him telling him he could not lay eggs or be eating so what good are you? Now he walks and eats with them and have not had another prolbem. And if we did I would get rid of all my birds and investment before my dumb old dog. He IS MY BEST FRIEND Pura Vida Matoe

 

[rainierlass]

My plan now is to start putting Roxy in her kennel at night in my room. I thought she had finally graduated from such things but obviously not....Im also going to up the exercise durring the day because she is obviously restless at night if she has energy to chase birds.

Upon reading the OP this was my thought exactly - - CRATE - - - my dogs are all crate trained and for the first year and a half they slept in locked crates at nite - they are now 4 and 6 yrs old but spend a lot of their time just lounging in their crates - - a crate provides safety for you and the dog.....

As far as the exercise goes - - this is immensely important - a tired dog is a good dog.......get a bike and a Walky-dog and run this dog 2-3 miles a day......sorry to say but a 'walk' is not going to do it - - - I have 2 herding breed dogs and know full well if they are not worked everyday those energies will undoubtedly go to a 'bad place' ( digging - snarking at each other - what have you) - - I am glad to hear you are willing to work more with this dog and find a route that works for you AND the birds.....​