Noooo..... My dogs.........

[Erica]

Good on you ducksarecool12, you're doing the right thing.
Best of luck with the training.
Erica

 

[aart]

Great thread....good luck Ducks, just keep at it!

Getting the owner trained is the first step, so they can train the dog

 

[ducksarecool12]

Ugh!! This Oklahoma weather! We had freezing rain in April! Needless to say the oreantation was put off till next week.

 

[missnu01]

We got a husky shepherd pit bull cross puppy just a few weeks after getting our first chickens...He does very well with them. When he looks at them too hard I just tell him very sternly no! And that seems to work. He used to chase them...he used to chase them hard, but when they would stop running he would stop chasing...so that's a good thing. Today he was outside in the midst of 8 ducklings, and 9 meat birds, and 17 laying breed chicks...and he did Awesome! Hooray. The ducks did attack him when he went for a sniff. He's just now 6 months old. He is in the yard with the adult chickens when they free range, and I'll admit I left him outside with all the chicks today a couple of times, but most of the time that I'm not outside he lays up against the side of the house near the door....but I should be more careful...Luckily he's awesome! Hooray. We were worried there for a little bit. But both our dogs are great with the chickens. I have always had an easier time teaching a puppy to leave other animals alone. It seems like near adults are way harder to break of going after an animal.

 

[cafarmgirl]

You are very smart to take up training classes with these dogs. Raising and training one young dog is a lot of work, you are taking on two! You've got literally years of training ahead of you. These dogs will be pup's until they are about 2 years old. Fortify your coop as much as you can, don't be afraid to put a hot wire around it! That's what I use to keep dogs away from my pens and it works. No dog, not mine nor neighbor dogs, have ever touched that wire more then once. I'd rather have a dog get zapped and learn to keep the heck away then to have my birds slaughtered.

Just keep one thing in mind for quite a while: Your dogs are young, high energy pups with a lot of interest in those chicks. Don't ever trust them alone with them, or with any kind of access to them for a LONG time! Keep in mind too that, no matter what anybody says, not EVERY dog can be trained to be trustworthy around chickens, not every dog has the right temperment. You just have to keep up your training, let them mature, and see how they do. Good luck, your on the right track.

 

[ducksarecool12]

Good news! Both dogs can actually be in the same room withy he chickens!! of course I would never leave them alone together! I'm ready for these classes to begin!