Topic of the Week - Dogs and Chickens

[chickens really]

What a great thread to start...
First two pictures are of my Maremma LGD. His name is Finn...No real training was needed...Instinct to protect animals, home and property run high with the breed. The most relaxed gentle giant I know. He loves his birds. He totally stays and protects the flock..The last two pictures are of my Golden Retriever/Aussie cross. Her name is Bindi.
Bindi runs off anything that comes into my yard, Coyotes, Fox and other dogs...She did take a bit of training to get to where we are today..A month ago I really did not trust her alone with the birds...My training methods were easy. First she had to know basic commands, sit, stay, lay down and come..She is fantastic.. I taught a key work for leave it from the age of 8 weeks.I use the word OFF...She is now on payroll and I have no concerns for my Birds with my two fantastic Chicken and Duck protectors....


Cheers!.

 

[kaperi]

I have a four dog pack and the first flock I got they killed me one. It's been some training but now they all roam free and happy
I have two dobermans, a pinscher and a German shepherd

 

[kaperi]

 

[Peep Nerd]

I just recently got an 18 month old great pyr/Anatolian/akbash mix. She's beautiful and great with the chickens. My problem is that she was raised in a house and refused to stay outside alone. She barks loud enough to wake the neighbors almost a 1/4 mile away. Any tips on training her to stay out overnight?

 

[I Love Layers]

I just recently got an 18 month old great pyr/Anatolian/akbash mix. She's beautiful and great with the chickens. My problem is that she was raised in a house and refused to stay outside alone. She barks loud enough to wake the neighbors almost a 1/4 mile away. Any tips on training her to stay out overnight?

Does she have a dog house? If you have a garage or barn I would start by putting her in there and slowly graduating her to fully outside

 

[mpearce684]

Both of my dogs (Boxer mix and lab/husky mix) were adults when we started raising chickens. I was really nervous about it because they both loved to hunt squirrels and rabbits. I finally let my chickens out to free range with my dogs outside. My husband and I both stayed very close and any time the dogs acted interested in a chicken we firmly told them "Mine" and gently tugged on their collars away from the birds (something we had previously trained the dogs to follow). After a few times of this they didn't seem very interested. I can leave them out in the yard together for long periods of time it no problem. One of my chickens even pecked the lab/husky mix on the tail and she just looked at it. They all hang out together just fine though.

 

[Emmsykate]

I think its important to kniw your dog. We have 3 dogs, a Portuguese water dog, a toy poodle, and a tenterfield terrier.Mia our Portuguese is great with the chickens, her breed was raised to be guarders of fising boats, retrieve nets, guard flocks etc so thats in our favour but I think her temperament and personality id the most important factor. She is very protective of us and doesnt like to have us in with thw chickens without her and she will block the other dogs and rouse on them if they get wierd with the chickens. Our toy poodle Milly is also fine, she is fascinated but not aggressive, she will stand there while the ickens peck at her and do nothing. My tenterfield terrier is another issue altogether, her breed was used for ratting, hunting small gamr through rabbit holes, foxes etc. Having said this, I had one when I was younger and she was fine to be in close quarters with my rabbits, mice, guinnea pigs and birds. She didnt like them but she knew she wasnt allowed to hurt yhemt. But my Simi is different, her temperament is very excitable and easily scared so yesterday I saw her chasing the chickens. She is now banned from being in the run with me and I will only let her near the chickens if I am beside her. Its not her fault, her instincts are just to chase and attack and thats ok, it just means I have to be close to her or leave her inside when we free range.
Also I have noticed if any one of us picks a chicken up ALL of our 3 dogs try to attack. I think this is either jealousy or protective instinct for us. As long as we dont pick the chickens up and they dont flap or fly into us our dogs are mostly uninterested.

 

[papita]

Hi, I have 14 chickens and 2 Newfoundland dogs and a Silky terrier. We previously had another Silky terrier that would go after the chickens and the best we could do was keep them separated. We no longer have her as she was old and became ill.The dogs we have now are no problem, the chickens actually have roosted on the Newfoundlands back the breed is very mellow. The terrier we have stays away from the chickens I think he is afraid of them since they are bigger than he is. The dogs were always socialized with the chickens from the start. They are all left together in the back yard and they do great.

 

[Beachglass3]

I have a yellow Labrador retriever and she got along with the chickens from the start. She would bark and run up to them and scare them but this was her greeting. She knows the chickens and duck are part of the 'good' animals. One day she went out there with a steak leftover bone though and the chickens all wanted to steal her bone. She quickly left with her bone. I never knew chickens would go after a steak bone with meat still on it.

We also have 2 goats and a pig and they all stay in the same enclosure but have separate sleeping quarters.

 

[Pixelvt]

I think sporting breeds in general might be risky, I have had two hunting springers and I doubt it would have worked out. Our Bichon gets along fine with our chickens, it really depends on the breed and probably training to some extent.