Pet dog chasing chickens

[TheTwoRoos]

Good to hear this,two shocks that’s it?Defiantly getting a shock collar for my dog,she has an aggression/high prey drive issue.

This is one method that I absolutely would not employ. This leaves the dog alone with the chickens, even though in a fenced environment. He learns that he can bark, lunge, and engage in other aggressive behaviors to get the chickens to cluck, scream, flap their wings, and otherwise react in ways that are stimulating for him. All this while he receives no correction from his owner for that destructive behavior.

I would put him on leash, and take him with me to do chicken chores. make him lie down. give verbal praise when he avoids looking at chickens, or remains calm in their presence. My dog has high prey drive. I tried this technique for the better part of a summer. It works for a lot of people. In her case, I had to resort to a behavior modification collar on vibrate mode. 2 collar reprimands were all that were necessary.

The last time I mentioned employing such a collar on BYC, I was called all sorts of names for being so "abusive". Is it more abusive to have a dog who can be trusted around birds, or have a killer dog???

 

[lazy gardener]

The behavior collars come with variable modes as well as intensity. There is an audio, shock and vibrate mode. B/C my dog uses a transmitter/receiver collar to define her yard, I chose the vibrate mode for the behavior collar.

But, the collar we bought was a cheap import from China. It broke before the summer was over. She does well with the chickens unless I am verbally correcting or handling them. Then, she feels that she must deliver some chicken discipline. I need to buy an other collar, to repeat the lesson learned 2 summers ago.

If you have not yet looked into the wireless transmitter/receiver collars to define the dog's yard and keep her in her range, you might look into that. This collar allows my dog to come and go in her yard without ever being hitched. She knows just how far she can go. But she's a smart little brat, and is always testing the boundaries to see if the batteries might be low! She knows just how far she can go "out of range" to grab an acorn, and rush back "into her range" without getting zapped. There is a series of warning beeps before the corrective "jolt" is delivered. And, yes, I have tested it on myself. I would not use any such device on an animal if not testing it on myself first.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have used the "Petsafe" brand collar with invisible/buried fence. I am happy with the quality and the instructions it came with were easy to follow in terms of installation and training. I have not used their training collars, but based on my experience with their other products, I would not hesitate to try them.

 

[lazy gardener]

My wireless system is also Pet Safe.

 

[Birdsong 82]

When I got my chickens both my dogs needed to be trained. I had a young one that wanted to chase and play with them. No intentions of harming them but she 60 pounds so she would’ve hurt them on accident. The other one just instinct coming out of her that I never ever expected both of them got trained on their basic overall commands sit stay no, you know the basics. But I would take them outside only on a leash and when we were around the chickens When she went to lunge I would stop the leash pull her back and reiterate not being pleased (assertive tone!) with her bad behavior but when she did not lunge towards the chickens I made sure I had treats in my pocket and she got lots of ear scratches aand a treat and lots of ‘good girls.’ I don’t think anyone ever necessarily have to not be a dog owner because they own chickens it just takes a little training. Some dogs are much easier to train on these things than others. And each dogs going to require a different method of training depending on the dog It took a while of going outside and a lot of training in time but now they will actually step out of the way if I chicken is headed towards them. They eventually learned that they are friends and not play Toys or food. Teaching basic commands patience and consistency are going to be the best tools

 

[Birdsong 82]

How is it abusive to let your dog kill chickens instead of training? Even if some people say the solution is to not have chickens I’ve heard people say well it’s good to have your dog trained to be around those animals so if they happen to be around other people’s chickens it doesn’t happen to others. Mine will absolutely positively not leave the property line even when they’re chasing a squirrel hey somehow know this invisible barrier. It’s weird because it’s hard to tell where it is because we live in the middle of nothing. The leash training worked for my dog but my dogs don’t have a high prey drive and they’re easier to train. I’ve met several dogs that have extremely thick head and need something like a shock collar to get them to pay attention. There is ways a shock collar can be abusive but not when you used it for what it was made for which is training. And it’s definitely not abusive when you’ve tried other methods

This is one method that I absolutely would not employ. This leaves the dog alone with the chickens, even though in a fenced environment. He learns that he can bark, lunge, and engage in other aggressive behaviors to get the chickens to cluck, scream, flap their wings, and otherwise react in ways that are stimulating for him. All this while he receives no correction from his owner for that destructive behavior.

I would put him on leash, and take him with me to do chicken chores. make him lie down. give verbal praise when he avoids looking at chickens, or remains calm in their presence. My dog has high prey drive. I tried this technique for the better part of a summer. It works for a lot of people. In her case, I had to resort to a behavior modification collar on vibrate mode. 2 collar reprimands were all that were necessary.

The last time I mentioned employing such a collar on BYC, I was called all sorts of names for being so "abusive". Is it more abusive to have a dog who can be trusted around birds, or have a killer dog???

 

[bobbi-j]

I will most definitely not ‘refrain’ from being a dog owner. He’s an indoor dog and these problems only occur when he’s outside and nobody’s there to distract him.

Nor should you. Training is more than leaving them in a crate for a few days. That's not training at all. You sound like you're willing to put in the time and effort to actually work with your pup, so I believe you'll succeed in modifying his behavior. Right now he sees those chickens as self-propelled squeaky toys. You can change that, and I believe you will.

This is one method that I absolutely would not employ. This leaves the dog alone with the chickens, even though in a fenced environment. He learns that he can bark, lunge, and engage in other aggressive behaviors to get the chickens to cluck, scream, flap their wings, and otherwise react in ways that are stimulating for him. All this while he receives no correction from his owner for that destructive behavior.

I would put him on leash, and take him with me to do chicken chores. make him lie down. give verbal praise when he avoids looking at chickens, or remains calm in their presence. My dog has high prey drive. I tried this technique for the better part of a summer. It works for a lot of people. In her case, I had to resort to a behavior modification collar on vibrate mode. 2 collar reprimands were all that were necessary.

The last time I mentioned employing such a collar on BYC, I was called all sorts of names for being so "abusive". Is it more abusive to have a dog who can be trusted around birds, or have a killer dog???

Used correctly, those collars are good training tools. Unfortunately, there are people who will go out, buy a collar and set it to "Stun" before trying the less intense settings first. I have never used one, for fear of using it incorrectly and doing more harm than good. (Because I read that somewhere, and didn't want to take a chance.)

 

[Michellep224]

I have started my puppy really young! She is 6 weeks, and she shows very little interest in the chickens, unless the rooster crows, and she perks her ears up. That is when I tell her "No! Leave it!" And she quickly turns away again.
She follows me around the whole time I'm doing chicken chores around the coop.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Yep. When my dogs hear me say OK I’m going to go out and feed everybody now they get all excited and they’re out the door before I am waiting for me to get to the shed and following me to the goat shelter the pig shelter and the chicken coop.

 

[Birdsong 82]

It very much helps that you’re starting at a young age. I think you will have success. You’re putting forth time and effort into asking advice and trying different training methods. Some dogs take longer than others but it can’t be done and just from your post I think you will be successful