puppy is chasing and attacking chooks

[SammiW]

Hi I have a major concern about our 6 month old maremma puppy is chasing and attacking (we think but at least picking it up in its mouth) our chickens.. which we havent had for long (probably a month) and we have had the dog for 4 months..
He was born on a chicken farm but hasn't seen a chicken in 4 months. We have trained him to sit, wait, come (he comes to an extent.. when he knows he gets a treat or when he wants (lol). We keep reinforcing him that it's not his by saying "not yours", "be careful" or "no" for a couple weeks now but still no improvement. We chain him up if he has done something wrong and in a stern voice we say "no!", "naughty!" And "don't chase chooks!"
Any suggestions in how to train him a bit better so he doesn't attack our chickens or our neighbours' chickens...
Cheers!

 

[HuskerHens18]

Keep him on a leash at all times around chickens. When he shows interest in a chicken, pull him back and give a sharp "No." and walk away.
Keep the puppy with you, on a leash, while you do your daily chicken chores. It will become a routine for you and him. If a chicken approaches, let it come over, if he sniffs that's okay, but if he advances or tries to bite it, pull him away and give the sharp "No."
If he lets a chicken by him and behaves well, praise him for being good.
If he is not responding to a sharp "No." you may have to try a sharp tap on his nose, nothing hard or painful, but enough to get his attention back to you.

If you have free time, you should sit in the middle of your chicken pen with your dog on a leash and just let him get used to their company.

One thing I am doing is I've purchased a muzzle for my German Shepherd while we train around chickens, this way he cannot bite the chickens. This way there's no accidents.

 

[SammiW]

Keep him on a leash at all times around chickens. When he shows interest in a chicken, pull him back and give a sharp "No." and walk away.
Keep the puppy with you, on a leash, while you do your daily chicken chores. It will become a routine for you and him. If a chicken approaches, let it come over, if he sniffs that's okay, but if he advances or tries to bite it, pull him away and give the sharp "No."
If he lets a chicken by him and behaves well, praise him for being good.
If he is not responding to a sharp "No." you may have to try a sharp tap on his nose, nothing hard or painful, but enough to get his attention back to you.

If you have free time, you should sit in the middle of your chicken pen with your dog on a leash and just let him get used to their company.

One thing I am doing is I've purchased a muzzle for my German Shepherd while we train around chickens, this way he cannot bite the chickens. This way there's no accidents.

Great tips.
But there's a few things, we also have geese and ducks as well the chickens (he only attacks the chooks) they all have the same coop with a small pen area so we let them out as we have a big backyard. We try and make sure he stays near the house but there 2 ways that he can get down the back and viseversa with the chooks. The chooks can get out of the pen area too.
My partner has a full time job 4-5 days a week and I go to TAFE 3-4 days so we are gone most of the week most of the day.
We don't want to tie/chain him up during those times.
Cheers

 

[Pugsabi]

There's no magic way to train other than consistency and patience. If you don't train out the bad habits it's not going to get any easier as he grows older. You might have to resign yourself to keeping him pinned up until he's properly trained or face the chance of coming home to injured or dead animals. It's not just the birds who at in danger but they could also peck out the pup's eyes! Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Great tips.
But there's a few things, we also have geese and ducks as well the chickens (he only attacks the chooks) they all have the same coop with a small pen area so we let them out as we have a big backyard. We try and make sure he stays near the house but there 2 ways that he can get down the back and viseversa with the chooks. The chooks can get out of the pen area too.
My partner has a full time job 4-5 days a week and I go to TAFE 3-4 days so we are gone most of the week most of the day.
We don't want to tie/chain him up during those times.
Cheers

You might have to or sooner or later you will come home to a slaughterhouse. Dogs think ducks and chickens are toys, they sound just like a squeaky toy. Once they kill one, the fun is over so they start killing all the birds. Either you have to keep all birds penned up while you are away, or the puppy. If your puppy tastes blood or kills one, it's going to be 100x harder to train him not to kill.
Do you have any close friends who would be willing to spend a couple days a week training your puppy around the chickens while you and your partner are gone? Training a puppy to ignore his natural instincts takes a lot of time and patience. A lot longer than just teaching him to sit.