Pet Dogs & Chicks

[homeschoolmama]

chkinut- yeah I'm considering some sort of tractor-maybe a hoop coop sort of thing-or just a run addition. Gotta gently intro these "projects" to my hubby one at a time!

 

[Doll Maker]

We have two Pembroke Welsh Corgis also. An old guy and a youngster. Since we live in the country, ticks are always a problem, so our Corgis are seldom if ever outside our yard fence. The chooks are in their coop & run behind the house near my workshop. We do sometimes take the boys out on leash so that they can visit the chickens, but I don't know that I'd trust them not to eat them without supervision.

The methods mentioned should work beautifully...especially offering treats for good behavior. I firmly believe in positive reinforcement. Bad habits are hard to break, much easier to just show our four legged friends what we expect and avoid the accidents.

Years ago, my husband had several German Shorthaired Pointers. If a chicken escaped one of them would "retrieve" her and bring her back to my husband, soggy and indignant, but totally unharmed

 

[kilkieran]

We always have the chicks in the house with us until they are ready to go outside. I have three hound dogs that don't bother them at all. I think if you treat the chicks like they are part of the family, SOME dogs will treat them that way too. I also have an American Bulldog that we rescued. I use a training collar on him when the chickens are free ranging and its seems to be working but I will always with be with him when they are all outside together. I would never trust him with them alone. I guess it all depends on the dog and their personality.

 

[clucky2]

I love this topic because I worked so hard at training with my Lab. He's turned into a great chicken dog, but we always watch closely for any type of unacceptable behavior just to keep things reinforced. Treats are at the ready.

One thing to be very on top of is absolutely NO STARING! And NO LIP LICKING! Keeping the dogs with you when you're tending the chicks, and rewarding calm energy with a treat is a good way to assimilate the chickens into thier daily life. My dog comes along with me every time I go out to give the chickens a bowl full of treats, and he always gets a bit too!

Be patient, remember dogs are dogs. Never get mad at what they can't help. Good Luck!!!!

 

[ChickenMama18]

Quote:
This is good advice! The only thing I would add is to remember that some dogs are hunters and no matter how much training you do you may not be able to break that instinct out of them. We have one like that. She's a fox terrier/jack russell mix. She wants to kill the chickens...bottom line. I can take her out, and she is under voice control but if I even turn my eyes off her for a second she is ready to take off after them. On the other hand...our shepherd aussie mix 10 month old could care less about the chickens and is actually a little afraid of them. He always gives the chickens a wide berth when they are near him.

Good luck!

 

[SweeChee]

Well guess I had it wrong...Took my GSD mix out on leash and had her sit by me. Did good until one of the chicks flew to follow my daughter; then she lunged...good thing I had a hold of the leash

. Sprained my ankle in the process (ankle that was healing from being sprained previous month!

)

My Aussie mix did great she wouldn't even look at the chicks. Layed down next to me facing away from the birds

I guess her being around chickens when she was a baby did make a difference.

We'll keep working at it.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I have 6 dogs, and only one do I trust. And the funny thing is, he's a breed that you usually wouldn't trust! He's a mini daschaund! But he is the complete opposite of the typical daschaund. He doesn't bark excessively, he ADORES kids, no matter the age, he welcomes strangers with a big kiss, and is the most gentle thing you could ever meet. He's the only one I really trust to bring around the birds with me. I also have 2 chihuahuas (my male will eat baby chicks if they are close enough for him to get to, yet he's gentle in every other way!), a pomeranian that hates everything, including most other dogs, all cats, and most other animals. We've only had her for 5 months and she was given to us to save her the fate of ending up in a shelter because she has so many issues from abuse as a young dog before her last owners got her, but she fit in pretty good here. But I still don't trust her around my birds. Probably never will. I also have a black lab mix that would probably try to use the birds as chew toys if given the chance (she is absolutely the DUMBEST dog I have ever met, and there is not a single command that she will heed except sit), and a chow/old english sheepdog mix that I don't trust alone even with the other dogs. She and the lab decided suddenly last summer that they hated each other and attacked one another to kill. They now can no longer be in the same room. She has snatched wild birds out of mid air and ripped their throats out, so there is NO way I would trust her around my chickens. On the few occasions that she escaped her leash, she headed straight for my coop and was trying to tear her way in, snarling and barking the whole time. Thankfully my birds were locked up at the time. She is NOT bird friendly at all, or small animal friendly. She's 6 now and I've had her since she was 4 months old, and I love the old mutt,, but I don't trust her any farther than I can throw her. Each dog is different, and I think that a lot of how the dog will react around your birds is dependent on what they were bred for as well as how they are introduced to the birds. Sometimes though, a dog will surprise you, like my daschaund. He's actually afraid of the birds and keeps a respectful distance. Down the road, should I get another dog, I will definitely take into consideration the dog's breed, temperment, and what they were bred for. No more hunting dogs or bird dogs!

 

[pdsavage]

I have 2 dogs and trust them both with the chickens,well guess it helps that they are LGD (livestock gaurdian dogs).I also had up untill last year a Rott mix female running around with my free range chickens,but she has been around chickens since she was a pup.

 

[MotherJean]

I agree with you PD, it helps to have a dog that has been bred for and trained for working with farm animals. When I was a kid (back when the earth's crust was still cooling) we had a big ol' fluffy white dog with big brown spots named Rusty that was Husky/Spitz/Collie cross - bred primarily as a cattle dog. He'd sleep in the barn at night. The folks brought home 100 day-old chicks for the farm. A week later, the power went out in a storm and, of course, the brooder light with it. The next morning, we found ol' Rusty nested nearby with all the chicks tucked in around him in that long white fur. Dad figured he laid there all night keeping those chicks warm.

That being said, you should know that there are limits to anyone's patience. We also had a real nasty roo that would flog us kids and gig the dog all the way back to the house every time we went to collect eggs. We came home from church one Sunday to find the roo deader than 4 o'clock and laid up on the burn pile. That roo must've pushed Rusty too far that day and he snapped. He didn't get punished - no one but the hens liked that roo anyhow. Point is, even a real saint of a dog can kill a chicken depending upon the circumstances.

 

[nancypo]

My one Aussie dog is seeing the chicks daily, but I wouldn't trust her in the yard with them. So we have a nice coop/run we're building, with a seperate tractor/run, so everyone has their own space. Hopefully over time we can let the chickens out, but there's hawks in the area too, so it would be supervised...