Please help - What killed my chickens?

[JessicaEm]

I'm so sorry for your chicken loss.

 

[G-Dekeyser]

it sounds horrible, but the best way to break a dog of chicken killing is to punish them with the dead chicken. my great dane was fond of killing mine until he got a couple good whacks with a dead chicken, and hasnt looked at them since

 

[dainerra]

no, you taught your dog that his master was a crazed lunatic. The best way to stop a dog from killing chickens is to teach them the proper way to act around the birds. For most people, that is to simply ignore the birds - reward the dog for paying attention to you, distract him when he focuses on the birds.

beating the dog with the dead bird, tying a dead chicken around his neck, punishing him while standing over the dead bird all teach the dog nothing. If you are lucky, the dog might become afraid of the birds. Otherwise, he just learns to not get caught.

 

[G-Dekeyser]

all i know is that is what worked for me, by the time we did catch him doing it it was too late to "teach" him to act properly around the birds, and now he is perfectly fine around them

 

[Ashdoes]

The best way to keep a dog from killing chickens is a proper fence and protection from the dog. Then you don't have to chase it with a dead chicken, which was his natural instinct anyways. I can't imagine ever doing that, it's almost comical, if it didn't make me a little sad for your big dopey Dane. I do understand trying to get all the animals in some sort of free ranging harmony, but I'm thinking that's not always possible.

 

[dainerra]

all i know is that is what worked for me, by the time we did catch him doing it it was too late to "teach" him to act properly around the birds, and now he is perfectly fine around them

the time to teach starts when you add the puppy (or the chickens) to your family. Don't wait until there is a problem to try to fix it.
As Ashdoes said, a fence is the easiest way, though that isn't 100% fool-proof either. Having a prey animal (chicken) living in close proximity to a predator (dog) takes a lot of work. Expecting them to live in harmony with no effort on the part of humans is highly improbable.

Even if the dog has already killed birds, you can still teach proper behavior.. It might take a bit longer since it's always harder to break a bad habit then to prevent one.

 

[Eggnog101]

Sorry for your loss

 

[G-Dekeyser]

the time to teach starts when you add the puppy (or the chickens) to your family. Don't wait until there is a problem to try to fix it.
As Ashdoes said, a fence is the easiest way, though that isn't 100% fool-proof either. Having a prey animal (chicken) living in close proximity to a predator (dog) takes a lot of work. Expecting them to live in harmony with no effort on the part of humans is highly improbable.

Even if the dog has already killed birds, you can still teach proper behavior.. It might take a bit longer since it's always harder to break a bad habit then to prevent one.

i totally agree, but the dog was there and grown long before the chickens, and that is what i was told to do, and that worked for me, i wasnt nessearily saying that it would work for everybody. to me anyways, punishing your dog once or twice is worth saving the lives of many chickens. and i did teach my other dog to leave the chickens alone before a problem started.