The thread for bad farm dogs

[NotabitaiI]

Just curious to see if anyone else keeps a dog who is not well suited to a farm. I've got one who is not meant for the farm life, I've tried many different training methods but I can't train his prey drive away, can't desensitize him, can't redirect him, and I don't see a future where he improves and calms down. I'm okay with that and I keep him separated from the animals, he is indoors primarily and he LOVES his humans, he lives a happy life here and I've worked around his special needs and I will continue to do so for the next 10-15 years. Let me know where you draw your lines, how you train your high prey drive dogs, what methods you think work, why dogs haven't worked out etc.
Please don't fight, I think this topic is important even if it's controversial to keep a high prey drive dog on a farm.

 

[NotabitaiI]

My first bad dog was my Aussie, she was raised in the suburbs with only dog and cat friends. After killing several chickens I worked on desensitizing her, she eventually learned to share her space with them and it was very common to look out the window and see the chickens dust bathing right next to her in the holes she dug. She was always a little rotten with the little animals though, one of the last things she did was try to sneak away with a guinea pig, I found her slobbering the poor thing up while it squealed with joy and sat contentedly while being basted in drool.

 

[NotabitaiI]

Another one was my lab mix, he also came from the suburbs, a couple of scoldings was all it took to make him a great farm dog. He learned quick and regularly shadowed me as I did all the animal chores, he was a really amazing farm dog and I hope I can someday have another like him.

 

[NotabitaiI]

My current mini Aussie is a little too smart for his own good, he knows when I'm gone he can mess with the animals, but if I am with him he's a little gentleman. He never harms them, he just pushes them around, I think his problem is just not having a job, he craves some sort of chase or task but has no real chore so he resorts to playful chasing. I'm hoping to teach him to put up the ducks and goats. He's super obedient and intuitive so it won't take much training.

 

[murphynhazel12]

I've got a dog who just can't be trusted around any small animal. When we had ducklings, she got out and got one in her mouth! Fortunately the duckling was alright, but anything that's small and moves is like an extra-exciting toy to her.

 

[MyBabyHens]

Just curious to see if anyone else keeps a dog who is not well suited to a farm. I've got one who is not meant for the farm life, I've tried many different training methods but I can't train his prey drive away, can't desensitize him, can't redirect him, and I don't see a future where he improves and calms down. I'm okay with that and I keep him separated from the animals, he is indoors primarily and he LOVES his humans, he lives a happy life here and I've worked around his special needs and I will continue to do so for the next 10-15 years. Let me know where you draw your lines, how you train your high prey drive dogs, what methods you think work, why dogs haven't worked out etc.

My bad dog was a pitbull / labrador mix. Untrainable even though highly food motivated, and had already killed 4 of my farm animals. She was incredibly smart, but used it for the wrong reasons [ silly as it may sound, opening some cages and gates from my livestock. Video/camera proved ] We eventually had to euthanize her unfortunately, because she was getting more aggressive against the animals, and occasionally, us. We were worried for the younger kids in my family that go outside around her. We tried to rehome her, but no one wanted a Pitbull [ understandably. ]

She use to be indoors, but didn't seem happy in the house. We loved her while she was here, and she had a pretty good life, especially when she was outside.

 

[NotabitaiI]

My bad dog was a pitbull / labrador mix. Untrainable even though highly food motivated, and had already killed 4 of my farm animals. She was incredibly smart, but used it for the wrong reasons [ silly as it may sound, opening some cages and gates from my livestock. Video/camera proved ] We eventually had to euthanize her unfortunately, because she was getting more aggressive against the animals, and occasionally, us. We were worried for the younger kids in my family that go outside around her. We tried to rehome her, but no one wanted a Pitbull [ understandably. ]

She use to be indoors, but didn't seem happy in the house. We loved her while she was here, and she had a pretty good life, especially when she was outside.

Aw that's so sad
I love my pittie, he's great in every way except for his prey drive, but I totally understand how they can be prone to aggression. I used to be a hater, didn't like em at all, then I was a lover and vehemently against discrimination and bans, but now I see how in the wrong hands this breed is absolutely dangerous. I think it'd suck really bad to lose the breed, especially since in a hundred years they'll be completely different, so I'm still against the bans, but maybe people should have to get licenses to breed and obedience classes should be utilized more often. They're so incredibly fun when they have good temperaments, I want to own more in the future even if my current pittie has been a massive headache.

 

[McChooky]

Just curious to see if anyone else keeps a dog who is not well suited to a farm. I've got one who is not meant for the farm life, I've tried many different training methods but I can't train his prey drive away, can't desensitize him, can't redirect him, and I don't see a future where he improves and calms down. I'm okay with that and I keep him separated from the animals, he is indoors primarily and he LOVES his humans, he lives a happy life here and I've worked around his special needs and I will continue to do so for the next 10-15 years. Let me know where you draw your lines, how you train your high prey drive dogs, what methods you think work, why dogs haven't worked out etc.
Please don't fight, I think this topic is important even if it's controversial to keep a high prey drive dog on a farm.

My chicken coop is in the driveway beside the house and sits under a big security light .Predators can't hide out front but the back of the coop and run is dark.Its only 20 ft from the woods. My dogs can't see my chickens in the run but they can hear them. It made training them a little easier the longer I had them.I kept them contained while training them then turned the chickens loose in the backyard.My original flock still hangs out in the backyard with the dogs but my younger flock free ranges in the driveway .2 of the younger chickens disappeared a couple years ago while they were free ranging in the backyard(the dogs were in the house at the time )They won't go anywhere near the woods anymore and avoid the backyard

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I have a bunch of terriers, who are meant to be ratters but have a high drive for a lot of other things too. They're all VERY individual. Some go for the chickens, some go for the sheep/goats, some chase cats, some don't care about anything
I'm not the best with training dogs so I eventually went with (mainly) separation, supervision and some training.
Many of them are actually pretty unfazed with other animals when they're alone. I've had some that play with the cats when they're alone, but once another dog starts chasing them it's no longer a game.
So while I also aim for at least one fence between them and my chickens, if there's just one of them following me around to do chores I supervise closely and some of them can even come into the paddock with me.
One of my current dogs refuses to step foot into the area the chickens live after one of the roosters attacked him once for absolutely no reason
I taught two of them a "leave it" command but it's definitely not strong enough for me to trust it without a fence between, it's mostly for distracting from spooking other animals, like chicks, for fun.

 

[Finchbreeder]

My dog was a Jack Russell - her hunting instinct was very strong.
Which made her the best Ratter I have ever met - but also meant she thought the Rabbit was to be hunted even though he was as big as her.
We had to have a fence between them to avoid trouble.