To the folks who trained their dogs to live with chickens…

I agree with the posters above.

I've had rough collies and worked with our local collie rescue, and am heavily involved with dog sports and training. I can't think of a better breed (in general) to have with chickens or small animals. In my experience even collies that have decent herding drive have a very inhibited bite instinct. Granted, my experience is with actual show-type rough collies, if you have a "farm collie" type your milage may vary.

My old collie, Katie, loved to "groom" our pet rabbit, which he didn't appreciate, but if he tried to make a break for the bushes she'd gently herd him back to the lawn. Sometimes he'd give her a solid thump in the face with those powerful back legs, but she never reciprocated. My little brother's hamster got out one day when we weren't home and she just carried it around in her mouth unhurt until we got home. Didn't have chickens then, but I would have trusted her with them.

But you have a puppy. Be patient. Puppies have to be taught; you can't expect them to instinctively know everything and be perfect right away. Mistakes will be made but the puppy will learn from them. (BTW "Leave it" is a great skill to have - just don't expect a young dog to be solid on that skill in every situation until mature).
Thank you. We bought a rough collie because we’ve heard from many people that if any dog is going to live with chooks it will be a rough collie. I will continue with the training but in the mean time we’ve put up a ‘safety area’ for the chooks, we have one little Pekin bantam who has been fascinated with the pup since we bought him home and I do have concerns for her welfare if she gets too trusting while he is so you g
 
Actually, smoothies and roughs can be and often are from the same litter. My rough, Katie, had a smooth dad. I think the roughs are often perceived as more mellow because all that coat makes them hotter and they often don't exert themselves as much. Most of the (show-type) smoothies I know are just as gentle as the roughs.

Anyway, to the original poster: your collie pup didn't kill that chicken, when it so easily could have. That is likely the bite-inhibited nature of a collie, though the pup didn't know better than to "play" with the chicken.
Thank you, I was wondering why he didn’t just immediately kill her and he is very mouthy, even with me, so thank you for shedding some light on that
 
Your pup isn't well aware of anything at only 10 weeks old, he's just a baby. Collies are generally very smart and don't have a much of a prey drive. Just keep up with the training and keep them separated at times when you cannot supervise.
Eventually they will most likely get along just fine :)
My little 15 yr old dog could care less about the chickens. But....we have 8 adult cats. We used a water bottle to spray them and supervision to train them that the chicks were off limits when they were free ranging. At 2 weeks to 7 weeks there was interest but we never had any incidents although once or twice when the girls were a bit bigger my granddaughter accidentally locked 2 cats in the coop. I found one just relaxing on the ground by the girls while the other was all upset crying to get out! Now the hens are bigger and all the cats steer way clear of them.
 
We have a couple of Shelties. Our younger one, Sammy, was 15 mo old when we got him and he had some, er ... issues. He was semi-feral, actually. He was very hyper, very active. He wanted to chase a ball, non-stop, all day. I didn't know how he would be around the chickens but I knew I couldn't take a chance. He would not come when called so I knew if he did go after them things could go very badly very quickly. I decided to assume the worst and go from there.

We have a small chain-link pen adjacent to the very large chicken run. It's probably 20x40 ft. We use it variously as a bachelor pen, a grow-out pen, or to put chicks in before integrating with the adults. I began to put Sammy there every day for a couple of hours. As in integrating chicks, he could see the birds but not get to them. I'd put him there for two to four hours a day. He was restless, pacing, watching the birds, barking, wanting to come back in the house. Eventually he would get bored, lie down, take a nap - and after he'd been quiet a while, I would bring him in. This went on for about a month. Gradually he calmed down. Finally one day I went out, put him on a 15-foot long line and took him into the chicken run. He paid no attention to the birds.

I let the birds out to free-range and dropped the end of the line. He stayed close to me. If he had chased, I could have stopped him by stepping on the end of the line. But he didn't. We walked around together for a bit. I repeated this for several days, sometimes throwing a ball for him to chase, always with him on the long line, but he never showed any interest in the chickens, and he still doesn't. Except to "clean up" after them.
 
Thank you. This is great advice. I have everything crossed that they will eventually all get along
Keep your pup on leash and correct her every single time she goes to a chicken.
I brought my dogs into my bathroom when my chicks were two days old. They were allowed to smell them when I held them but no other time. They learned fast that they were to be ignored.
Haven't had any problems with five different dogs in 16 years.
They totally ignore the chickens.
 
Hello,
We have a small backyard flock of bantams of various breeds who free range throughout our gardens.

We have also recently introduced a baby rough collie Pup, he is now 10 weeks old and we brought him home at 8 weeks.

He has always been interested in the chooks, more so trying to herd them, or he will run at them and watch them scatter and then walk away very pleased with himself, but up until recently has not hurt one. He knows the ‘leave it’ command and is well aware the chooks are off limits.

Yesterday, we had an incident where he caught one of the girls and caused her quite a bit of damage. She’s bruised and battered and has puppy teeth marks all over her, but she’s alive. I’m confident that she will make it although I’m keeping her inside until she’s ok. It’s quite rainy and cold here at the moment so she’s sat in front of the clothes dryer and is snug.

I am now terrified to leave the dog anywhere in the yard, up until now they’ve all free ranged together. Risky, yes, I did this as I was told if I raise him around them he will learn to leave them be. I know it’s about the individual dog and training, so with that in mind, clearly my method hasn’t been working,

My question is, for those of you who do have dogs that live harmoniously with chickens, how did you train them?
I’ve been told that if I give him a mission/job, ie, protect the chickens; that he will respond better, does anyone have any advice as to how I should go about this?

At the end of the day, if I am not confident he is the kind of dog that can be trained, I’ll just buy a bigger run for the girls, but they love their free ranging life and if possible I’d like to allow them to keep it.

Thank you all for your help
I have a 1/2 shepherd and Dane I kept chicken in cage at first bringing dog in few time a day making dog lay and chickens roam as she has tried few times. I would muzzle her when she went after chickens and bring dog back in cage to lay. With each new entry of cage I would not muzzle dog only when dog went to act with aggression I would muzzle. all said always made dog lay and no ma’am as the command to leave ______ be and kept eye on dog at all times watching for any mouth watering behavior and nip it before dog reacts. Now my chickens and dog sleeps together eats together without issue and yes chickens eat with dog and share veghi and raw meats or treats i have no problem at all and haven’t have a chicken hurt at any point
 
Training doesn’t start until the dog is mature enough to truly learn..but you can start a basic voice/NO training (usually a stern NO is the first actual signal with a pup) at a few months and it will be a building block to move forward. Use the same stern voice everytime, you will be surprised how it works even from a great distance, you must be the boss many people can’t grasp this concept, afraid to hurt the dogs feelings.. repetition is key, several times a day, over and over, that’s the most basic way to get started. No puppy will avoid chasing a live squeaky toy.. and when they catch it they will make it “squeak”, that’s what we give them when they are small some sort of squeaker chew toy and then expect them not to chase chew and squeak a live chicken? ..and with more than one pup it is mass chaos.. I have done it with as many as 10 loose pups at one time.. it’s difficult but doable.. I have 21 years in animal care, training and control, many certifications and framed papers on the wall.. but experience is not on paper it is in sweat and time in the field. Just my opinion. I didn’t read all the replies here just wanted to add my 2 pennies worth..
 
The 'NO' at a few months kinda contradicts the 'mature enough to learn' statement, otherwise spot on.

My newest springer spaniel was my toughest to teach of all my dogs. She now gets picked on by the chickens too. She has a bone, the horde wants it..... she has to pick it up and move away or give it up. All she does is look at me with this 'really???' look of bewilderment. Sometimes I give the horde her bone, and give her a fresh one. I started with her about 10 weeks old. As soon as they learn 'No' 'Leave it' and 'Sit' they are ready to learn whats off limits.
 
Hello,
We have a small backyard flock of bantams of various breeds who free range throughout our gardens.

We have also recently introduced a baby rough collie Pup, he is now 10 weeks old and we brought him home at 8 weeks.

He has always been interested in the chooks, more so trying to herd them, or he will run at them and watch them scatter and then walk away very pleased with himself, but up until recently has not hurt one. He knows the ‘leave it’ command and is well aware the chooks are off limits.

Yesterday, we had an incident where he caught one of the girls and caused her quite a bit of damage. She’s bruised and battered and has puppy teeth marks all over her, but she’s alive. I’m confident that she will make it although I’m keeping her inside until she’s ok. It’s quite rainy and cold here at the moment so she’s sat in front of the clothes dryer and is snug.

I am now terrified to leave the dog anywhere in the yard, up until now they’ve all free ranged together. Risky, yes, I did this as I was told if I raise him around them he will learn to leave them be. I know it’s about the individual dog and training, so with that in mind, clearly my method hasn’t been working,

My question is, for those of you who do have dogs that live harmoniously with chickens, how did you train them?
I’ve been told that if I give him a mission/job, ie, protect the chickens; that he will respond better, does anyone have any advice as to how I should go about this?

At the end of the day, if I am not confident he is the kind of dog that can be trained, I’ll just buy a bigger run for the girls, but they love their free ranging life and if possible I’d like to allow them to keep it.

Thank you all for your help
I have a 9 year old lab and a 4 year old miniature dachshund. The lab always seems as if she would gladly eat any chicks or pullets but completely ignores my full grown hens. Once the young ones grow, she pays them no mind. They’ll even go after her and peck her. The dachshund has killed one of my buff pullets and would love to get a hold of my chicks and pullets as well. She also ignores my full grown hens. She’s actually afraid of them. I say give it some time and patience and definitely a lot of supervision. Good luck🙂
 

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