My Orphinton chicks are 6w old now and I have one boy who is crowing like crazy. Since I don't want any roos I decided to use him to train my dog. Today's training went well. My dog Arwen is an 8 year old Australian Shepherd. She still has the energy of a 1 year old! She has been dying to see the chickens up close. She gets very excited with new animals so the trick is to keep her from hurting them out of excitement until she does not see them as novel anymore.
I used the same method I use with introducing her to my new rabbits. The trick is not to let her chase and to have her control her herding instinct. I put her in a down stay and got the chicken. I held the chicken and made her stay. I then let the chicken go and it walked around clucking. Arwen's tail was going to fall off and she was soooo excited. When she stood up, I made he lay down. If she was laying she could sniff the chicken, if she stood I made the chicken leave. We did a 10 minute session and it went well. She sniffed him all over and gave a few kisses. I'll do it again this afternoon in short sessions.
Eventually I'll build up the sessions to longer times and then let her start walking around. She will eventually not be so excited about the chicken, then I'll bring two of them out and see how she does with them moving around more.
My ideal goal is to have her in the yard when they are out to keep an eye on them, and to help me round them up when needed. She is excellent at "finding" my pets for me when I can't find them (like when a rabbit is under the couch). She will find all my pets by name.
She also hates hawks and vultures flying overhead and is always looking for them. She will chase them away by running under them and barking. She is going to be a great chicken protector.
Arwen also likes to enforce the "rules." (What she thinks are rules). Once she realizes that chickens have to stay in the yard I am hoping she will automatically herd them back to the house or "tell on them" with barking. She does this with the cat so I think I will be able to transfer the behavior to the chickens.
I have a lot of work but I think she will be very useful. On the same note - I do not leave my pets outside alone ever. If my pets are out, I am out. I am just going to use her as an extra line of defense for supervised free-ranging. She is so alert, she sees things I don't even notice.
I used the same method I use with introducing her to my new rabbits. The trick is not to let her chase and to have her control her herding instinct. I put her in a down stay and got the chicken. I held the chicken and made her stay. I then let the chicken go and it walked around clucking. Arwen's tail was going to fall off and she was soooo excited. When she stood up, I made he lay down. If she was laying she could sniff the chicken, if she stood I made the chicken leave. We did a 10 minute session and it went well. She sniffed him all over and gave a few kisses. I'll do it again this afternoon in short sessions.
Eventually I'll build up the sessions to longer times and then let her start walking around. She will eventually not be so excited about the chicken, then I'll bring two of them out and see how she does with them moving around more.
My ideal goal is to have her in the yard when they are out to keep an eye on them, and to help me round them up when needed. She is excellent at "finding" my pets for me when I can't find them (like when a rabbit is under the couch). She will find all my pets by name.
She also hates hawks and vultures flying overhead and is always looking for them. She will chase them away by running under them and barking. She is going to be a great chicken protector.
Arwen also likes to enforce the "rules." (What she thinks are rules). Once she realizes that chickens have to stay in the yard I am hoping she will automatically herd them back to the house or "tell on them" with barking. She does this with the cat so I think I will be able to transfer the behavior to the chickens.
I have a lot of work but I think she will be very useful. On the same note - I do not leave my pets outside alone ever. If my pets are out, I am out. I am just going to use her as an extra line of defense for supervised free-ranging. She is so alert, she sees things I don't even notice.
