Our Dog Killed the Neighbors' Turkey Poult

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Consistent training, and keep the dog away from the chickens, unless it's leashed. It happens some times. He is just a young boy and is still learning. Don't give up hope. My female pitbull has a high prey drive. At first she went after my chickens. Now she doesn't even pay any attention to them. Constant correction with her and me personally letting her smell a chicken in my lap. She got over them. But when I add new chickens to my flock. I have to integrate them with her also. If not she thinks it shouldn't be with the original flock and will go after it. She is a good dog. 8yrs old now, but I still keep up with the constant reinforcement of Good behavior and correction when she is being bad.

This is all very helpful, thank you. I think we did a much better job with the cats and lapsed with the chickens which are definitely more enticing to him. Hard lesson to learn but it seems there is hope.

 

[CharcoalDragon]

Instincts are a very hard thing to combat, and honestly, it's very possible that no amount of training will 'fix' it. At that point, you will just need to manage it- crate, long-line, supervision, etc.

The most you can do is lots of impulse control games, coupled with working on making yourself more rewarding than the chase. Teaching him how to switch from high-energy to low-energy (and back again) will improve his ability to listen to you when he is excited.
This is how we trained our GSD/Husky mix not to give chase to the rabbits on our walks. If one bolts in front of her, she will give chase out of instinct, and then perform what I call an "abort pursuit", where she stops in her tracks before I even have the time to call her off. She ends up no more than five feet from her original location, and the animal always gets away safely.
Even still, I would not fully trust her around free-ranging small animals, I do not want an accident.

All her training was done with a long line and treats, I did not use correction or punishment because she truly would not understand why I corrected/crated/yanked/yelled/scolded her.

 

[LaFleche]

Accidents do happen, so do not beat yourself up. Keep up the daily training (10 minutes daily works better than once a week for half an hour) and do not let him roam unsupervised as he is still a puppy although a quite big and very cute one!

EDIT: And most importantly: Do not bear a grudge against him as he will not be able to relate this to the incident and will just get insecure around you.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Y

Instincts are a very hard thing to combat, and honestly, it's very possible that no amount of training will 'fix' it. At that point, you will just need to manage it- crate, long-line, supervision, etc.

The most you can do is lots of impulse control games, coupled with working on making yourself more rewarding than the chase. Teaching him how to switch from high-energy to low-energy (and back again) will improve his ability to listen to you when he is excited.
This is how we trained our GSD/Husky mix not to give chase to the rabbits on our walks. If one bolts in front of her, she will give chase out of instinct, and then perform what I call an "abort pursuit", where she stops in her tracks before I even have the time to call her off. She ends up no more than five feet from her original location, and the animal always gets away safely.
Even still, I would not fully trust her around free-ranging small animals, I do not want an accident.

All her training was done with a long line and treats, I did not use correction or punishment because she truly would not understand why I corrected/crated/yanked/yelled/scolded her.

He has husky in him too--high prey drive for sure. This is helpful. We will step up the impulse control games. He's pretty good when it's just us on our property or on a walk, but he gets overstimulated in play with other dogs and shuts us out (of course, he was actually doing well right before this happened). In fact, this morning when I was playing fetch with him in the yard he saw a small bird, dropped the ball, started towards it and immediately stopped with the "leave it" command. Guess he has a small bird thing

I am worried we will never be able to have him around chickens, even supervised. It's sad because he started out seeming like he'd be a good flock guardian. We even placed his kennel--mistakenly, in retrospect--by their coops/runs. It's super sturdy but now I want to make it Fort Knox. That said, he's never seemed very interested in our flock when out. They're like part of the scenery. I'm scared to leave him in his kennel now in case he gets ideas and breaks out/has a buffet. Luckily my husband and I both teach and he's never out there for longer than a few hours at a time. Still plenty of time to do damage though..

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Accidents do happen, so do not beat yourself up. Keep up the daily training (10 minutes daily works better than once a week for half an hour) and do not let him roam unsupervised as he is still puppy although a quite big and very cute one!

He's already pushing 80 lbs and still some growing to go. I don't know if he meant to *kill* the bird, rather he caught her, and the trauma of the chase and his giant jaws did her in. Nonetheless, it's moot what his intent was. More training is right. Thank you.

 

[LaFleche]

Y

He has husky in him too--high prey drive for sure. This is helpful. We will step up the impulse control games. He's pretty good when it's just us on our property or on a walk, but he gets overstimulated in play with other dogs and shuts us out (of course, he was actually doing well right before this happened). In fact, this morning when I was playing fetch with him in the yard he saw a small bird, dropped the ball, started towards it and immediately stopped with the "leave it" command. Guess he has a small bird thing

I am worried we will never be able to have him around chickens, even supervised. It's sad because he started out seeming like he'd be a good flock guardian. We even placed his kennel--mistakenly, in retrospect--by their coops/runs. It's super sturdy but now I want to make it Fort Knox. That said, he's never seemed very interested in our flock when out. They're like part of the scenery. I'm scared to leave him in his kennel now in case he gets ideas and breaks out/has a buffet. Luckily my husband and I both teach and he's never out there for longer than a few hours at a time. Still plenty of time to do damage though..

Is he a King shepherd? If so, you might want to contact with https://www.backyardchickens.com/members/vickichics.571072/ as she has one too and might be able to help you out with a trick or two.

 

[Mmanist]

This is all very helpful, thank you. I think we did a much better job with the cats and lapsed with the chickens which are definitely more enticing to him. Hard lesson to learn but it seems there is hope.

Dog naturally want to chase things that runs. They can't help themselves some times. Chickens run from everything. Cats will learn the dogs won't hurt them

 

[CharcoalDragon]

He has husky in him too--high prey drive for sure. This is helpful. We will step up the impulse control games. He's pretty good when it's just us on our property or on a walk, but he gets overstimulated in play with other dogs and shuts us out (of course, he was actually doing well right before this happened). In fact, this morning when I was playing fetch with him in the yard he saw a small bird, dropped the ball, started towards it and immediately stopped with the "leave it" command. Guess he has a small bird thing

I am worried we will never be able to have him around chickens, even supervised. It's sad because he started out seeming like he'd be a good flock guardian. We even placed his kennel--mistakenly, in retrospect--by their coops/runs. It's super sturdy but now I want to make it Fort Knox. That said, he's never seemed very interested in our flock when out. They're like part of the scenery. I'm scared to leave him in his kennel now in case he gets ideas and breaks out/has a buffet. Luckily my husband and I both teach and he's never out there for longer than a few hours at a time. Still plenty of time to do damage though..

He looks like he could have some King or even Shiloh Shepherd in him.
It's true- he might never be a flock guardian. He is still young, so all you can do is your best- he might rise to the occasion, or you might just have a lovable fluff that you can't have near your birds.

-The Holy Grail of dog training. Applies to both fear-based, AND excitement-based reactivity. This is how we brought our dog's prey drive down from a 7 to a 3. Also used for her phobias, as well as her unbridled excitement at seeing other dogs.
-Impulse Control Games
-Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol

-The Protocol itself​

 

[Birdie mom]

My English Shepherd T.J. was crazy as a puppy, and every now and then we would have accidents with our chickens. as he got older though he stopped chasing the chickens (this may have been partially to us getting him neutered). keep up the training and he will get better. An occasional accident is O.K., as long as your dog isn't constantly killing chickens on purpose. It sounds like what happened to the turkey pullet was him playing and not him trying to kill it. Don't get rid of him just because of this one thing, he is just a puppy, and what happened wasn't your, or his fault. I am sure almost anyone who has had a puppy and chickens have a story similar to yours.

i am so sorry,

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

He looks like he could have some King or even Shiloh Shepherd in him.
It's true- he might never be a flock guardian. He is still young, so all you can do is your best- he might rise to the occasion, or you might just have a lovable fluff that you can't have near your birds.

-The Holy Grail of dog training. Applies to both fear-based, AND excitement-based reactivity. This is how we brought our dog's prey drive down from a 7 to a 3. Also used for her phobias, as well as her unbridled excitement at seeing other dogs.
-Impulse Control Games
-Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol

-The Protocol itself​

THANK YOU for the resources Especially relating to prey drive AND "excitement based reactivity"--that's exactly Albie's problem. He is so obedient in normal contexts/situations but when something new happens OR another dog is involved his mind explodes and he gets overstimulated.

He is mix--we know working line GSD in his grandparents side, husky, malamute, many other things. Not the best choice for a chicken house, I suppose, but we love him dearly. The problem is we love our (and our neighbor's) chickens, too.