Teach my dog to chase my chickens off my porch

[raterus]

I have a bunch of free-range chickens that just roam around my country farm-house. When we got them, I went to a great training exercise to teach my dog (6yr Golden Retriever) NOT to chase the chickens.

Unfortunately, the chickens come up on my porch during the day, or sometimes roost on the rails for the night, and leave their poo poo behind in the process, which makes our front porch just a nasty mess.

I'd really like to teach my dog TO chase my chickens off the porch if she sees them up there. I'm not much of a dog trainer, I've tried to point to them up there and say "sic em!", but she doesn't get it.

Anyone have ideas on how I can teach her a moderate balance here, I don't want my dog to chase them in the yard, or otherwise hurt them, just keep them off my porch!

 

[Lauren Kim]

Well, you could always keep fake hawks on the porch... haha just kidding. Chickens are smarter than that.

 

[TwoCrows]

This might be very difficult to do, if you only want the dog to chase the chickens off the porch and not chase them in the yard. I would think dogs would have a hard time distinguishing the difference of chasing off the porch only. This might require some very intense training with your dog to get him to understand the difference.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not teach the dog to chase chickens away from anywhere. Dogs have a very strong prey drive, and might not stop the chasing when the fluttering and squawking commence. That IMO would be a great way to initiate a dog to the idea of chickens being an interactive squeaky toy.

Better to keep a hose or squirt bottle handy when weather is appropriate. Water would be a death sentence to my birds this time of year.

 

[sourland]

Find another way of keeping the chickens off the porch. After going to the effort of teaching your dog not to chase chickens you want to have her 'selectively' chase the chickens ?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have trained a few of my dogs to herd my birds when necessary. Mostly my rat terrier mix as she doesn't grab. My dogs are always with me, so they can't chase chickens without my authorization. I use my dogs in general for herding my poultry, and goats.

That being said I'm with the others, in that finding another way to keep them off the porch is a better idea, especially if your dog had troubles with chasing chickens. I don't allow my boxer to do any chasing because she's high prey drive, and has killed poultry as a pup.

I recommend a wire fence around your porch steps, or keeping your birds locked up. It can be near impossible to keep chickens out of areas without fencing the area off. Even if you train you dog to chase the chickens off they always come back, especially early in the morning.

 

[twilightgecko]

it's hard to keep them off the porch.. in warmer weather, there is a smorgasbord of bugs gathered around the outside light.. they also know safety is at the front door..
so
every few days, i hose off the porch..