Once a killer always one? Is this true??

[MakNat]

I took in a pup last Oct. She was dumped here. I've raised her, spayed her, all shots... My youngest other 'good dog' runs now, I mean they take off and are gone. The little runner dog has never even looked at a chicken. The new dog caught 2 here and I tryed to repremand her as best I could. Things seemed to get better so I thought. I ran into my only other chicken owning nieghbor and ask him if my dogs were any problem. He told me ' Not Your dogs, but this little red dog has been killing my chickens.' That is the pup. I told him it was my dog and I'm going to settle up with him this weekend. What sucks for me is I love animals so much and I/m attached to her. I can't bear to keep her on a chain. I got to rehome her. He will shoot her and I don't blame him... This really blows..

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Dogs are a necessary evil. People love their dogs and finding a good dog that will not kill chickens is a difficult agenda.

I view a bad dog like I view a bad roo. They get killed, rehomed or sold to someone else that is willing to deal with the problem.

I think one can retemper a bad roo more than a bad dog. Killing is just in their nature and they enjoy it.

 

[FlewTheCoop]

I have seen people train dogs who were rabbit and bird killers to not kill. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to put into it. You'd necessarily need to be around chickens to train the dog. I've heard that if you can train/convince the dog that chickens are something to be protected, they won't chase/kill.

The thing is, I think most people who have dogs that run loose around people who have chickens that run loose...they aren't the types of people who are generally interested in spending a lot of time training a dog. That's not a judgment, just an opinion. Rural folks don't have a lot of patience for that sort of thing.

 

[bumpershoot]

Around here a lose dog on my property is a dead dog. My dogs don't run lose and I expect the same from my neighbors.

 

[nzpouter]

yes they are trainable...

but for you, I think your problem will be trying to contain him first.

 

[Beekissed]

There are alternatives to tying for a dog. You could try invisible fencing and the dog has an amazing amount of freedom but cannot leave the yard. I use the wireless, as I found the wired one a bit unreliable and difficult to move, troubleshoot, and didn't work well if during bad weather.

I've not had on ounce of trouble with my wireless system and I don't have to worry about my dogs or my neighbors!

 

[Jonathanq1]

The dog has to be trained by pup and even so there instinct sometime will overcome there dicipline and they will kill chickens i had this happen twice. Good luck though it takes a smart Boxer, German Shepard, or St. Benard

 

[Jameberlin]

You can discipline any dog into modifying it's behavior, but all dogs are different and some are more difficult to deal with than others. You could call an expert, but that can be costly.

Smart dogs are harder to train, since they always need to be challenged in order to continue to respect you as their alpha. Dominant dogs are difficult too, and that can be dangerous to try if you don't have a professional helping you.

If it were my dog, and i wanted to keep it, i would make sure she was confined to a run when she was unsupervised, a long with a strict discipline routine to establish the rules.

It sucks you have to deal with that though, i'm sorry

 

[Spotted Owl]

In the past we have had two things work for us. One, find the dead bird and rubb the bloody mess into it's nose and face, then tie it to the dogs collar. Everywhere the dogs goes that bird will be, it can't get away from it. Two, we got ahold from a neighbor or local farmer an older tom turkey. Put the dog in with that old cranky turkey and see what happens. If you do this make sure you are there the whole time, that tom will get to spurring and you want to be able to save the dog after a bit or incase it's face is getting hammered you will need to stop it before it is spurred in the eye area.


Owl

 

[dancingbear]

I have 4 dogs. Three of them are former chicken killers, I trained them all not to bother the chickens. I've had another dog I did this with as well, for a total of 4 re-trained former chicken killers. The 4th died of old age a few years ago, but he was with us for many years after he learned to leave the birds alone.

I use a combination of Cesar Milan ans Victoria Stillwell methods. (Yes, I know there are people who don't like Cesar, I don't care. Some people don't like spinach either, tat doesn't make it bad.)
It takes time, patience, and dedication. Some dogs are more difficult than others, and techniques sometimes have to be adjusted for different dogs.
It worked for me. My dogs can be outside with the chickens at anytime now, and they do not bother them at all.

Training by pain or fear is a bad idea, and unreliable.