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Smacking Dog w/chicken?
- Thread starter danielle82
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Thank you! I'm a quote-aholic.
I think that the mistake most folks make in trying to train a dog to not kill, or to stop killing, a chicken is not having committed to training the dog already with just regular obedience training. When a dog is trained to be submissive to you and to react to your displeasure when they are engaging in bad behavior, training on livestock is 100% easier.
I read many stories on here about dogs who will pounce on a chicken right in front of their owner and kill the bird before they can stop it. A wise owner is always monitoring body language of their dogs in these circumstances and, with enough familiarity with their animal, can sense potential aggression towards other animals. A dog is, after all, merely a dog. They do doggy things and will do this first unless trained to check with the alpha for permission. I know that sounds like a bunch of hooey, but my dogs are always tuned in. They don't always do what I say but, when it comes to chickens or other livestock, they are very much aware that these are MINE. When I trained my pup, I always used the words "MY chickens" quite firmly, while forcing submissive posturing.
That was three years ago.....I can still walk out in my back yard and stand near the dogs and say, "MY chickens!!!" and they will both slink away....and the older one was not trained using this method! She only witnessed my training the pup, but she knows exactly what this means. She also knows, "WHO dug this hole???" and "UH,OH!!!". They also know, by the infraction, just who is in trouble. If I ask "who dug this hole?", the older dog submits automatically, while the younger just watches alertly. The younger dog never digs holes so he doesn't feel a bit ashamed!
Dogs are so much smarter than we give them credit for....it just takes a little one on one, no hitting necessary, good communication.
I read many stories on here about dogs who will pounce on a chicken right in front of their owner and kill the bird before they can stop it. A wise owner is always monitoring body language of their dogs in these circumstances and, with enough familiarity with their animal, can sense potential aggression towards other animals. A dog is, after all, merely a dog. They do doggy things and will do this first unless trained to check with the alpha for permission. I know that sounds like a bunch of hooey, but my dogs are always tuned in. They don't always do what I say but, when it comes to chickens or other livestock, they are very much aware that these are MINE. When I trained my pup, I always used the words "MY chickens" quite firmly, while forcing submissive posturing.
That was three years ago.....I can still walk out in my back yard and stand near the dogs and say, "MY chickens!!!" and they will both slink away....and the older one was not trained using this method! She only witnessed my training the pup, but she knows exactly what this means. She also knows, "WHO dug this hole???" and "UH,OH!!!". They also know, by the infraction, just who is in trouble. If I ask "who dug this hole?", the older dog submits automatically, while the younger just watches alertly. The younger dog never digs holes so he doesn't feel a bit ashamed!
Dogs are so much smarter than we give them credit for....it just takes a little one on one, no hitting necessary, good communication.
You can't punish the dog unless he is caught IN THE ACT. If you tie a dead chicken around a dogs neck all you are doing is being an abusive owner, same with hitting him with a dead chicken. The dog has no idea why you are abusing him, he does not connect the abuse with the dead bird with his killing the bird. They don't think like humans.
I used the Ceasar method for my very aggressive female border collie.
In evenings I would lead her INTO the chicken run and put her on her back. Daughter would catch a chicken and we would bounce the screaming hen on the collies stomach while one of us would hiss sharply and jab the dog around her shoulder with a hand.
We would shape our hand as if trying to get it through a nylon hose (all fingers straight and narrow) if you can imagine that position.
1st- all dogs hate that on belly and getting attacked position, it is a dangerous place to be in Doggy land.
The dog sees the hand in a biting position, (like a dog mouth) so she feels that you are reprimanding her in doggy language. We don't hurt the dog, only use that as a pay attention type of move.
After about 3 lessons, we would let her come with us as they free range and every time we saw her begin focusing on chicken, we would hiss and show her the "biting hand". She very quickly looks away, as if to say, "Ok I'm not looking at your chicken!"
Hope it works for you.
btw, Ceasar has a training clip on YouTube showing this in a training dog and chicken lesson.
In evenings I would lead her INTO the chicken run and put her on her back. Daughter would catch a chicken and we would bounce the screaming hen on the collies stomach while one of us would hiss sharply and jab the dog around her shoulder with a hand.
We would shape our hand as if trying to get it through a nylon hose (all fingers straight and narrow) if you can imagine that position.
1st- all dogs hate that on belly and getting attacked position, it is a dangerous place to be in Doggy land.
The dog sees the hand in a biting position, (like a dog mouth) so she feels that you are reprimanding her in doggy language. We don't hurt the dog, only use that as a pay attention type of move.
After about 3 lessons, we would let her come with us as they free range and every time we saw her begin focusing on chicken, we would hiss and show her the "biting hand". She very quickly looks away, as if to say, "Ok I'm not looking at your chicken!"
Hope it works for you.
btw, Ceasar has a training clip on YouTube showing this in a training dog and chicken lesson.
Since we have German Shorhaired Pointers, hunting dogs, we do use shock collars. However, ours is very old & out-of-date & no longer works. I don't have an eBay account...but the cheapest I've found what we actually need as far as shock collars go is upwards of $200. I'm po....so po you can't even bother putting or at the end. LOL! We are getting a couple dog kennels from people and covering the tops with poultry wire. Also we are 'circling' the kennels with wire (for when there are chicks). Problem will be solved! Thank goodness! I'm still devastated. So sad.
Jsimply - We did the exact same thing when the chickens were chicks. My hubby & I were just discussing how we would hold down each dog & allow the chickens to 'bounce' off them as you said. We are planning our training as I type this. LOL! It is what it is...this is one of my fav sayings. That's why I can't be angry at my dog. She is what she is. However, my accident happened because of human error. I have a mentally ill cousin - she's severely bipolar - and she's 42-yrs old, but she behaves as if she's 10 most of the time. She KNEW to look for chickens in our backyard before letting the dogs out, but she 'forgot'. Grr. At this rate, I'm going to end up being like my Great-Grandmother...NO ONE was allowed to touch her chickens, collect eggs, etc. but her! LOL! I understand WHY now!!
Jsimply - We did the exact same thing when the chickens were chicks. My hubby & I were just discussing how we would hold down each dog & allow the chickens to 'bounce' off them as you said. We are planning our training as I type this. LOL! It is what it is...this is one of my fav sayings. That's why I can't be angry at my dog. She is what she is. However, my accident happened because of human error. I have a mentally ill cousin - she's severely bipolar - and she's 42-yrs old, but she behaves as if she's 10 most of the time. She KNEW to look for chickens in our backyard before letting the dogs out, but she 'forgot'. Grr. At this rate, I'm going to end up being like my Great-Grandmother...NO ONE was allowed to touch her chickens, collect eggs, etc. but her! LOL! I understand WHY now!!
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Smacking them with a dead chicken didn't work for me. And thats why we are -3 mutts........
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