Puppy killing ducklings

:welcome To a ten week old puppy ducklings are nothing more than squeak toys. Start teaching her the 'leave it' command along with basic obedience, but don't let her anywhere near the ducklings. Right now sharing the same room will only increase her prey drive.
 
Hello and welcome to BackYard Chickens! :jumpy Glad you joined our community. Everyone here is very kind and helpful :)

So sorry about the loss of your ducklings.

Is this your first time owning ducks or a puppy?
How did your puppy even have access to the ducklings?
At this age I recommend that you keep her kenneled at night and put yo in a playpen when she is not being supervised. I always wear out my puppies with playtime or a walk until they're ready for a nap so I can put them up.



Once a dog kills them it's hard to train them to not do it again. She should never have access to them unsupervised, especially as a puppy that doesn't know any better.

If she doesn't yet know "leave it" you can start by putting some food on the ground (that's safe for her incase she does get it) and keep your foot right next to it so you can keep her from eating it. Say "leave it" and when she leaves it and looks at you reward her with praise and a treat. Do not let her have the price of food that you told her to leave.

Next, you'll need to put her onn a leash. Take out a duckling, but keep her from touching it. Naturally shes going to want to mess with it, even if she doesn't intend to kill it. When she does try to, say "Leave it" in a firm tone. Never use "leave it" on things like treats or food, or anything else that she will have access to eating or touching. Again, reward her when she leaves it and looks at you.

Make her do a simple trick such as sit and reward with a high value treat (boiled chicken works well). You want her attention to be focused on you and only you. If her attention is on the ducklings still, tell her to leave it and take her a few feet away until you can get her to focus on you. Work with her throughout the day. Keep it short and sweet.

It may help to get her some exercise first so she's not to wound up.

Do this daily until she doesn't care about the ducklings and is focused on only you. In the meantime, keep all the ducklings somewhere safe where your puppy cannot even see them. Only bring one out when you are training your puppy, and even then be absolutely sure that your puppy can't hurt her. It would work best for someone to handle the duckling while the other trains the dogs while on a leash.

Once the ducklings are moved outside you'll need to do the same. Dogs react differently in different environments, so you'll need to retrain her outside as well.
Again, keep her on a leash and the ducks in the coop. Tell her leave it when she lunges at them, barks, or is too focused on them and back up. When she leave them alone reward with a treat. When she sits or lays down like you tell her and she is focused on you then reward her.

The goal is to get her to completely ignore them.

Do not let her be with them unsupervised though. If she kills them again you'll have to start all over and the next time it will be much harder.

Goodluck, and I hope this helps.
 
Hello and welcome to BackYard Chickens! :jumpy Glad you joined our community. Everyone here is very kind and helpful :)

So sorry about the loss of your ducklings.

Is this your first time owning ducks or a puppy?
How did your puppy even have access to the ducklings?
At this age I recommend that you keep her kenneled at night and put yo in a playpen when she is not being supervised. I always wear out my puppies with playtime or a walk until they're ready for a nap so I can put them up.



Once a dog kills them it's hard to train them to not do it again. She should never have access to them unsupervised, especially as a puppy that doesn't know any better.

If she doesn't yet know "leave it" you can start by putting some food on the ground (that's safe for her incase she does get it) and keep your foot right next to it so you can keep her from eating it. Say "leave it" and when she leaves it and looks at you reward her with praise and a treat. Do not let her have the price of food that you told her to leave.

Next, you'll need to put her onn a leash. Take out a duckling, but keep her from touching it. Naturally shes going to want to mess with it, even if she doesn't intend to kill it. When she does try to, say "Leave it" in a firm tone. Never use "leave it" on things like treats or food, or anything else that she will have access to eating or touching. Again, reward her when she leaves it and looks at you.

Make her do a simple trick such as sit and reward with a high value treat (boiled chicken works well). You want her attention to be focused on you and only you. If her attention is on the ducklings still, tell her to leave it and take her a few feet away until you can get her to focus on you. Work with her throughout the day. Keep it short and sweet.

It may help to get her some exercise first so she's not to wound up.

Do this daily until she doesn't care about the ducklings and is focused on only you. In the meantime, keep all the ducklings somewhere safe where your puppy cannot even see them. Only bring one out when you are training your puppy, and even then be absolutely sure that your puppy can't hurt her. It would work best for someone to handle the duckling while the other trains the dogs while on a leash.

Once the ducklings are moved outside you'll need to do the same. Dogs react differently in different environments, so you'll need to retrain her outside as well.
Again, keep her on a leash and the ducks in the coop. Tell her leave it when she lunges at them, barks, or is too focused on them and back up. When she leave them alone reward with a treat. When she sits or lays down like you tell her and she is focused on you then reward her.

The goal is to get her to completely ignore them.

Do not let her be with them unsupervised though. If she kills them again you'll have to start all over and the next time it will be much harder.

Goodluck, and I hope this helps.
Hello,
No I have incubated and raised many ducklings before this and we also have a few other working dogs. One of them is an adult cocker spaniel who is completely fine with baby chicks and ducks so I thought maybe the puppy would be ok with them bit I guess all dogs are different especially a puppy.

But my 5 year old sister let the puppy in while I was away and I came back to only a few ducklings left in their pen.

Thank you so much for replying I am definitely going to try that tomorrow!
 
:welcome To a ten week old puppy ducklings are nothing more than squeak toys. Start teaching her the 'leave it' command along with basic obedience, but don't let her anywhere near the ducklings. Right now sharing the same room will only increase her prey drive.
Ok thank you!
 
So we got a 10 wk old cocker spaniel puppy and she has killed over 10 of our recently hatched ducklings overnight. She is now seperated but how do I train her not to kill them so I am able to have them in the same room?
Im not sure, personally i myself wouldnt let the dog anywhere near them at all, my friendd and such has older dogs, and they are perfectly fine with our poultry, they infact do nothing and just sniff them, (of course,mwe dont leave them unsupervised but then again this is with a much older dog that takes no intrest in hunting whatsoever)
 
I have 20 ducks and 3 dogs, 2 of which have a pretty high predatory drive. When we first got the ducklings we introduced them to the dogs while we were holding the ducklings, for just a very short time at first. The dogs saw them once or twice per day while the ducklings were inside. Only issue is when the ducks were first released into the backyard and the dogs were out loose, they immediately started going after them when the ducks started running, but none were killed and no issues since. Now they just want to eat all the duck poo :he:gig
 
Sooo, you raise birds and you somehow thought that it would be a good idea to get a dog bred for bird hunting. Then you give her unrestricted access to baby birds to play with.
Okay.
I have another cocker who is completely fine with any baby chicks.
 

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