Teaching the puppy not to chase the chickens

[randomchick]

I had the same problem. I have a mini dachshund who loves to rip out bird feathers. She especially loves my big welsummer roo. She was scared of them when young, but once she realized how much fun feathers were thanks to the great dane knocking over the garbage bin of feathers on processing day, she wouldn't stop trying to jump on and eat the chickens.
Here is how I completely nipped the problem in the feather, so to speak. I made my dog into my personal assistant. I brought her right up to all the feed, water, etc. I forced her to walk in circles around the coop with me, and not bark. I brought her right up to each nest box and made her sit in front of every one while I got eggs. I even made her do tricks like sit, circle, sit in the coop while we were working. Then I would give her a nice treat when we were all done, but while we were still out with the chickens. Seems to have worked, and now there are no leashes, no barking. I do have to trip over the dog while getting eggs each day now.
Good luck what ever you do.

 

[rrhall]

We have been working with are puppy every day,at least two times a day if not three, at least a hour a day.We take him with us when we do are chores so he will go into the chicken coops and runs when we feed them and collect are eggs,the best way we have found is to take him by his ruff around the neck and shake him a little and role him over on the ground at the same time telling what ever phase you use to let him know he is being bad in a firm voice so he knows you mean business.We were lucky or puppy was unlucky that one of my Big Buckeye roos got a hold of him and gave him a flogging,bad thing was,he wasn't doing anything accept trying to see what they were eating off the ground,he respects the chickens pretty good now.We have him living with are goats in their pen,the older goats keep him in line for the most part.Make sure you keep him close and keep on him,another good thing is just take him out and let him run some of that puppy energy off.

 

[cobrien]

Many people say it can't be done, but I have two dogs, both mixed with different breeds, different ages, genders and temperaments and both are perfectly behaved around my chickens and can even be left alone with them. I have had one of the dogs + chickens for 12 years and the other dog for 2 years. The fact that your puppy has tried to play with chickens does not mean he can't be trained, it just means he is a puppy!

I believe that with training, most dogs can be trusted around the chickens when supervised. Most people do not take the time to train their dogs properly. Most don't know HOW to train properly. I didn't either, even though I was a former vet tech and groomer. I took my dogs to inexpensive group obedience classes at my local animal shelter and this is where I learned to communicate with dogs. It takes time but it is so worth it. I can take my dogs anywhere with me, including hotels, airports, long trips in the car and they are very well behaved. Even non-dog people enjoy being around them.

However, you may not get to the point of being able to leave dogs with the chickens when unsupervised. If that is your goal, it will be a lot more work and it comes with obvious risks. I think I was lucky in this regard, especially because my older dog helped me train my younger dog by example.

I agree with several other posters - you must not let your puppy have the chance to make any mistakes with the chickens. Also agree with taking the puppy with you on chicken chores - on leash.

First, I would always keep puppy on the leash around the chickens. NEVER let the puppy put his mouth or paws near the chickens. Distract puppy from this and encourage good behavior with treats. For example, work on teaching him to sit while the chickens are around, reward him with treats. Any opportunity the puppy has to do something wrong can effectively un-do weeks of hard work on training.

Second, I highly recommend a group obedience class. It is how you learn how to communicate with dogs. It is not as obvious as it would seem. If you can't do that, ask your local animal shelter for advice on a good training book or CD. The classes are better because you can ask the trainer questions about any specific problems you are having. Some advice for training: first exercise your puppy, but not to the point of exhaustion. Just to the point where they are not acting hyper. Then do short 15-20 minute training sessions. then lots of rewards and love. Do this 2-4 times a day, if you're too busy then at least once per day, preferably twice. It is amazing how much progress can be made even with only 20 minutes per day (after exercise).

Some important commands to work on with your puppy, this is done when the chickens aren't around:
"leave it" - I trained my dogs this command with food. I can put food on the ground in front of my dog and say leave it, they will not touch it. In order for your puppy to learn not to chase/play/kill chickens, they must know this command. The command can be taught in steps, email me and I can describe it, but most obedience classes will cover this. A key point is not to use a command unless you are pretty certain puppy will obey. So, unless you have this command down, do not let puppy run free with the chickens and yell 'leave it' from across the yard. Practice this command once you have it down when you are around the chickens. Take treats with you. Walk by chickens, puppy goes to sniff, say leave it, when he looks at you (which he should be doing after some training), good puppy give him a treat.

"gentle" This can come months after learning leave it, as you only will want to use it when your dog can safely go near chickens without playing or mouthing them. I taught this command by getting my dogs to take treats and toys very gently out of my hand. Once I trusted my dogs near the chickens with the leave it command, I let them investigate the chickens a little closer, reminding them to be nice with "gentle".

"come" This is a simple command at first, but the more advanced command comes when you train your dog to come even if they are distracted. This is especially important if your dog gets to the point where they can be trusted with chickens when supervised, but not unsupervised. You may start experimenting with letting the dog off leash to test him out, but to do this without chickens being killed, you need to be able to stop them in their tracks. You first perfect this command on leash without distractions, rewarding with treats, then move to off leash, then off leash with distractions, like at a dog park or walks in the woods where there are critters to chase. Only when you are very confident that you have this down should your dog be off leash with chickens. You will be very happy when your dog is trained to come to you no matter what. Although my dogs are great with the chickens, they both chase other animals, but even if they find a deer to chase, I call them and they come to me.

Feel free to email me to discuss more. Good luck!
Colleen

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
This is how I trained my dog (Laborador) as well. Not with the chickens -- that was easy as she was 2 by then and very clearly understood the hierarchy of our pack (of which, SHE is at the bottom). She accepts that the chickens are MINE and absolutely off limits to her. Even tho she is a bird dog, and hunts with my husband, she has NEVER chased or harassed my chickens.

Anyways, when she was a pup, I used a 6 ft. fabric leash looped through my belt loop. She was attached to it at all times, inside the house and out. We called her "Umbilical Zoe." She learned quickly that she was to be WITH ME at all times, sitting and waiting when necessary and walking beside me when we were mobile. When she did what I asked I always had a tiny kibble in my pocket for her. Labs are super food-motivated, so it made training her very easy. It was a bit of a pain for the first couple of days having her underfoot... well, that and she was so freak'n cute that I just wanted to pick her up and smooch her when she was being a ding dong, but we both got over that. Anyone who's had a toddler in the house can handle stepping around a puppy for a couple of days. Anyways, by the end of the week she was really doing great. This worked out awesome for potty training too. Now as a grown dog, she heals well and does not run off. Additionally, she obeys immediately - who knows, maybe she just "forgets" that she's not on the end of the lead and therefore in immediate danger of getting a flick on her nose/forehead...

 

[cobrien]

Yes, what CityChook said! That sounds exactly like what I did.

 

[possumhunter]

Wow! Awesome information...thank you so much Colleen and Citychook. Both of those ideas sound great. I know I have been really bad at letting him run around the property without training him to "come" first. It's been so long since we've done the puppy thing and I don't remember anything about training our other dog. I just know that she did so good at everything...and I don't really remember teaching her anything

I've been teaching him "no good" in the place of "leave it" but didn't think about how counter-productive it could be to use that phrase when he doesn't really understand it yet. He's a really good puppy and has obeyed better than our last dog did as a puppy. He is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/American Eskimo mix...and really pretty mellow for a puppy. Just hope that we can do a better job training him. I love the advice that you guys have shared and I am definitely going to give it all a try!

Thanks!