roosters and dogs

[Chickenrandomness]

as some of you know, my dogs wiped out all but one of my chickens. my parents are letting me start a new flock of started chicks or older pullets.

now heres the thing, i really want a rooster for showing, breeding, protecting the flock, etc. but my mom thinks one of the reasons why our dogs killed our preivous chickens because the roosteres crows egged the dogs on.

does anyone know if that might have triggered the attack/will trigger an attack?

 

[Moonkit]

I doubt the rooster's crow "egged it on". More likely the chickens moving or perhaps even running from the dog triggered its prey response. As some have said on here.. once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer. I notice that with my border collie, when the chickens flap and jump, she gets excited and makes "lunges" for them. However, I'm all over her for it and putting the fear of various deities in her for doing so. Now her attempts are half-hearted and she backs off when I look in her direction or lays down.

What breed is your dog?

 

[TrystInn]

With all due respect to your mother, the dog killed the rooster because of three things: the dog wasn't trained or supervised correctly and the birds weren't secured safely from the dog.

You'll have to figure out a system to keep your dog away from the chickens.

 

[TingChickens]

Our neighbors dog killed our chickens a while ago because he liked the thrill of the chase!! We came home and found them all dead not eaten just dead

Luckily we took care of that problem by putting a high chain link fence around the coop and chicken wire attached to the bottom with sod over top! Seems to work now our new babies are doing well and love it

Dogs like to chase things so be careful!!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
I would have to respectfully disagree with that.. granted some dogs may be like that.. but I have two that have killed birds in the past.. and now can be trusted with them 100%.. one is a LGD.. she looks at the birds now as if they are her babies.. though as a pup she did kill a rooster and enjoyed it
the other is my Aussie.. when i got her she was free.. and at her previous home had killed several chickens. Now I could leave her with a flock with no worries that she would attack.. cause now she knows it's unacceptable.

My dachshund is another matter.. he is so prey driven I will never trust him with a bird... so.. no I don't believe "once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer".. I believe it really depends on each dog as an individual

As for the dog in question.. he probably killed the birds cause to him it was "fun".. he was just being a dog and would go after them if they crowed or brayed or hopped like a bunny.. to him they were really cool toys.. and he needs to learn that they aren't. I don't know how old he is or what kind of dog.. but he does deserve at least the chance to learn that the birds are not toys. a good pen/fence would be a great idea too. Even if he learns that they are not toys.. there are other predators around that the flock needs to be protected from.

 

[Chickenrandomness]

Quote:
female Australian shepherd and a female Blue Heeler

 

[Moonkit]

Quote:
female Australian shepherd and a female Blue Heeler

Then they're both herding breeds without the full herding instinct. The herding instinct is really just a modified prey drive. My border collie gets the chase part, but doesn't stop there. She'd go all the way to the kill if I let her. As Yinepu said, the chickens were moving, flapping toys to your dogs. Put in some hours training them and working with them to ignore the chickens. Personally, I started with my first three when they were chicks. I let my border collie see them, but the instant I saw that "hunting" look come on her, I stopped her and told her, "No! These are mommy's babies.. you don't touch!" Stay consistent. Thankfully, both Aussies and heelers are known to be smart. They'll figure it out if you work with them.

 

[Lacey1988]

My dogs are scared to death of a rooster.....It comes around they move

 

[aggie9296]

Quote:
My dogs are afraid of my HENS!

 

[Chinchilla2]

Both my dogs love the chase. The one is full blood dachshund and the other is a dachshund / chihuahua cross. If it runs, makes a noise, or looks the least bit interesting, they go after it like white on rice. It is instinctive. No crowing, no noise, no "egging" needed. If it moves, the game is on. This works on any bird excluding the neighbor's peacock and the wild roadrunners. Those two birds they leave alone.

However, both completely and totally avoid the bobwhite coop, even when I am out there with them. I can stand beside it and call them and they stay at least five foot away. This is because they have been trained to do that with the use of a water hose. I set up one of those jet sprinklers under the pen with a sheet of plastic to prevent water from spraying upwards into the coop. I then placed the bobs in the pen and stood by the faucet. If telling the dogs "No" or "Bad" failed to head them off at the pass, I turned on the faucet. A few good blasts by the water and they no longer get close enough to get wet. I plan on doing the same thing with my chickens.