Our dog has eaten our chicken!

[suzanne28]

One of our dogs (we have 3) has eaten two of our chickens that managed to get out of the chicken yard by climbing beneath the wire. Any suggestions on how to train the dog to stop doing this? The first time she just killed it (I found her in time), the second time (today) she also ate most of it!!
Appreciate any advice!

 

[keljonma]

Pen the dogs until you can fix the chicken run so that it is predator proof.

 

[Bi0sC0mp]

3 things you can do here.. pen him up till you fix your pen..

try to train him this all depends on his age and what type of dog..

or find him a new home

so sorry for what has happened hope it all works out..

 

[Cuban Longtails]

You need to show the dog that the chickens are not prey. There was an episode on Dog Whisperer about it:

 

[Cetawin]

I remember many years ago my Black & Tan Coonhound went after the chickens. My grandfather took her and short chained her to a tree and tied the chicken she killed around her neck...close and tight so she could not get it off. He scolded her and left the chicken there for about a week.

Now mind you, this was summertime in Florida and the intense heat had that chicken smelling so bad, it drove the dog nuts. her nose was overly sensitive by nature and the smell was torture for her. After removing said chicken and releasing her, she would run AWAY from the chickens. It worked, she never again went after them and she avoided them like they were evil and life-threatening beasts.

So, trying that with a good scolding and a swat on the backside may get the point across...it worked for mine.

Good luck because the onlyother choice is to re-home the dog.

 

[AngieChick]

Hardware cloth chicken run. My lab has a high predator drive and I don't trust her one little bit. It's not that she's a bad dog, it's just part of who she is. The dogs and the chickens are never together. Prevention coupled with training is really the only thing you can do at this point.

Good luck & sorry about your chickens.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Depends on the breed, I have all retreivers and they are bird dogs. Build that run and coop to be dog proof and escape proof (keep the chickens in).

 

[Opa]

I have Jack Russell Terriers and I don't think that there is a Whisperer anywhere that could break them from killing. I just made sure that my run is predator proof and dog proof. After hitting the hot wire a time or two they stay away from the chickens, however, if a bird got loose it wouldn't last long.

 

[Jenski]

If a chicken can get around/under/through the fence . . . the run is definitely not predator proof!! I would never trust my dogs alone with my chickens. Heck, the chickens look pretty tantalizing to me too, with all that flapping, etc. ~

I'm not sure it's always reasonable to expect dogs to go completely against millions of years of evolution, and although there are a few exceptional individuals out there, chicken-safe dogs are very, very rare. Good, predator-proof coops and runs, happily, are not rare.

Sorry for your loss; it's a tough way to learn.

 

[Beekissed]

I've got not one, but two, rare dogs!!!???

Man, and all this time I thought they were just mutts!!