Official BYC Poll: What Kind Of Relationship Do Your Dogs & Chickens Have?

[JaeG]

Our dog got kicked out of her kennel by a tiny bantam hen raising a duckling last autumn. I think they would have shared, but poor Honey didn't much like that idea.

Our dog loves chicken poop and eggs. Chickens themselves are ignored. She's a good girl.

 

[CraftyHen]

Our beagles couldn't care less about chickens or ducks. They can all mingle with no worries. But a few months ago I adopted a shepherd mix puppy. What was I thinking? (Ask myself this daily). He is 8 months old now and way too excited by the birds. Everything is a chew toy.

 

[West Bend]

Phoenix is good with the Girls. He could have snapped their neck 1,000's of time but he brings them his ball to play. The RIR has gone after him & they get a bit excited but soon settle back down. No ones been hurt but Dixie had a few dog hairs in her beak that time. He'd probably protect them but I keep an eye on them anyway.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I mentioned my two Shelties in an earlier post. Gracie, now nearly 11, was about 6 months old when we got adult hens. I think she was a bit intimidated by them. She just never bothered them. She always loved their feed, however, and also the scratch we tossed out twice daily. She might think she is a chicken. When she was younger she played a game we called "Bowling for Chickens." While the birds were bunched up over their scratch, she would barrel through the middle of them, sending them scattering in every direction, squawking and flapping while she ran off laughing her fool head off. Then they would all settle down, Gracie included, to share the scratch. It was obviously a game - to her, anyway! Like when your little brother jumps out of a closet and yells "BOO!"

We just got Sammy a couple of years ago, at the age of 18 months. To acclimate him to the hens, I put him in the grow-out pen* next to the chickens for at least an hour, sometimes several hours, every day for about a month. Then one day after his session I put him on leash and walked him around in the very large run with the chickens. I tied him to a post and chased the chickens to see what he would do if they flapped. He looked at me like I'd lost my last marble.

I unhooked him and let him wander around with the chickens while dragging the 15-foot leash. If he had chased, I could have stopped him by stepping on it. He stayed close to me and showed no interest in the chickens. But this was not a training exercise, it was simply a test. Which he passed with flying colors!

The next day I turned the chickens out to free range and let him drag the leash again while watching from the window. He again showed no reaction to the chickens. So the third day I just turned him loose with the chickens and watched. Again, nothing. And, other than following them around to "clean up" after them, he still has no interest in them.

I recommend this "see-no-touch" method of intoducing your dog to your chickens if at all possible. Take yourself out of the equation. If you are always there to tell your dog NO or Leave It!, then he only learns to leave the chickens alone when you are there! If he spends hours unattended in a pen next to them but can't get to them, then, IN MY EXPERIENCE, he will get bored and learn to ignore them. He will lose interest and nap right next to them. That's the response you want.
If you are there with him, holding the chicks under his nose, focusing his attention on them while at the same time trying to teach him to IGNORE them, you are doing a self-defeating exercise.

Imagine staring at a bowl if ice cream right in front if you, while constantly telling yourself you can't have it. Now imagine that same ice cream in a freezer in another room while you play a video game or chat with a friend. Which is easier to ignore? For the dog, the chickens are present, but unavailable, like the ice cream in the freezer. His urge, his desire, to have them, fades away over time. They become just another part of the scenery.

Good luck!

*The "grow-out" pen is variously a bachelor pen, an infirmary, or whatever the need calls for at any given time.

 

[Sablehaven]

One of my dogs protects, but ignores them. The other dog is Duke.

Duke is a Bull Mastiff/Queensland Heeler, and he loves the chickens dearly, he protects them, tries to clean the babies and before we trained him out of it; he used to herd them in and out of their coop 5-10 times a day.

He is now in training to herd them only on command, but sometimes he gets overexcited and has to pounce on a rock instead

Duke with one of our many fosters, apparently I haven't taken any pictures of him with the chicks.

 

[Silkie Princess]

My dog actively ignores them Thought he loves baby chicks and protects them from everything even me!

 

[Buckingham Palace]

My german shepherd gets too excited around chickens

 

[Buckingham Palace]

One of my dogs protects, but ignores them. The other dog is Duke.

Duke is a Bull Mastiff/Queensland Heeler, and he loves the chickens dearly, he protects them, tries to clean the babies and before we trained him out of it; he used to herd them in and out of their coop 5-10 times a day.

He is now in training to herd them only on command, but sometimes he gets overexcited and has to pounce on a rock instead

View attachment 2808193
Duke with one of our many fosters, apparently I haven't taken any pictures of him with the chicks.

Awwwwwww

 

[Silexian]

Living on a working homestead. Our dogs have and know their responsibilities. They are in contact with many different types of livestock daily. They make predators think twice about looking for an easy meal of our critters.

 

[agold23]

My irish wolfhound mastador mix named Cricket is actually really good with the chickens. She’s half sighthound so naturally we were a bit hesitant with having the birds in the yard around her as she has a high prey drive. She also was confined to the house and a long line for 2 years before we got her last September so we’ve had to work with her from scratch with her stranger and dog reactivity as well as desensitizing her to the big, scary world. For about a week after we first got them we kept them in the run and Cricket was very interested and would do laps around the run and coop trying to get to them. With a long lead, treats and R+ training strategies we desensitized her to them and thankfully about a week after she wouldn’t pay any attention to them when they were free ranging in the yard and she was off leash. Now when there are extra food scraps in the run, she’ll very slowly sneak her way in when we’re not looking and have a snack She also makes sure to get a good sniff of their butts whenever she can

Here is Cricket with my Ameracauna mix Lexi in the background