Not sure where to post this - Guard Dogs for chickens

[LuLuBelle]

I'm not sure where to post this, but does anyone have guard dogs for their chickens, and if so, what type of dog is it and how did you train it to guard the chickens?

Thank you for looking and hopefully replying.

 

[Beekissed]

Lulu, there are many threads about this subject on here if you search with "livestock guardian dogs" in your subject line. This might help you glean more info on the subject because, believe me, there is a lot of opinions and stories out there!

I have two dogs who guard my flock and my property. One is a 7 yr. old Great Pyrenese/Lab mix that I rescued from an abandoned farm when she was 2 years old. She hadn't been used as a guardian dog up til that point, that I know of. She didn't require any training and has shown herself to be completely trustworthy around animals of all kinds.

My other dog is a 2 yr. old Lab/Border Collie mix pup that I acquired when he was 2 mo. old. We were in the middle of moving and didn't get a flock together until he was about 8 mo. old, at which time I trained him using the alpha dog method.

I corrected him like a mother dog would do a pup if I saw him making any movements towards the chickens....which means I rolled him over and held him by the scruff at his throat and gave a stern voiced correction. This took two times, for a total of 20 min. of training time. I also let him sniff a chicken thoroughly while I was holding it and then I let it peck him in the nose!

He has been a wonderful flock guardian.

Both of these dogs have a very high prey drive, the youngest is a silent hunter and has many kills to his credit. The older is the barker and attacks any stray dogs with a ferocious intent to maim or kill. When she starts the fight, the younger gets the intruder from behind and they proceed to try to meet in the middle.

The older dog will even jump up into the air to try and get at any low flying buzzards, crows or hawks.

I've not lost any birds to predators except a few chicks to a black snake, while they were in the outside brooder.

I hope this helps!

 

[LuLuBelle]

Thank you very much for your help and I will definately look around like you suggested. Sorry my typing is off, I'm a bit tired tonight.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here is one of those threads on the topic Beekissed mentioned.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=193207