Not sure exactly which forum to use.

[Balloonjuice]

..so I'm putting it here. Will move if there is a better spot for it.

We just got a fairly young dog. She is a Lab / American Bulldog mix. So far she has been "pretty good" around the chickens. My son and I have started out walking her past the chickens while she is on a leash. Today for the first time we were able to walk her by the chickens without her being on a leash. She understands and obeys the command "stop," so even though she WANTS to chase the chooks she stops when we command her to do so.

My question: does anyone have some advice on training her to be around the chickens all day long without supervision?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

 

[thomasboyle]

I would get her used to seeing the chickens all the time. Put her so she is near them all the time, but can't get at them - just outside the chicken run. You want her to lose interest in them since she is with them all the time. Eventually she will no longer find them interesting, and will ignore them. This works for most dogs, but there are some that can never be trained. Its usually not a breed thing, but an individual dog thing. We've done this with several dogs and our cats, and eventually they figure it out and all get along!

 

[Balloonjuice]

She's getting better. The chickens are getting used to her as well. The problem seems to come up when the girls get skittish (that's why they call them chickens, right?) and start running away. Chell regards that as an invitation to a race or a game of tag, not realizing the girls are playing hide and seek. Anyway she was a lot better yesterday. We walked right through part of the flock and she remained focused. I'm sure there will be days when she doesn't, but she's getting the idea at least.