Topic of the Week - Dogs and Chickens

[WhiteValleyChick]

Familiarity and consistency. We have Boston Terriers, they can be highly prey driven...especially in packs. Most of ours grew up around chickens and learned proper behavior through the help of our LGD (Great Pyrenees). Starting early on with training is important, as well as staying on top of refresher training. By staying consistent, redirecting and giving lots of praise for the desired behavior, they make habits out of that good behavior.
I feel that a good recall is imperative for training. If your dog can be recalled in an instant, it certainly helps set them up for success. Also, we NEVER leave our Terrier dogs unsupervised around our chickens! As exceptional as they've done, it would be counterproductive to give them even the slightest opportunity to regress.
I attached a video link of several of our Boston's around our free range chickens. There is a little more info in the post.

https://fb.watch/bMcu6voSHi/

 

[MadThom]

We have a black lab-retriever mix. Unfortunately, he is obsessed with our chickens and will harass them non-stop regardless of our attempts to distract or restrain him. It must be the retriever genes, as most labs can be pretty chill with chickens. He was already five years old when we adopted him. Generally he obeys our commands, but not as much with people or other distractions around.

Once he did get loose while our chickens were free ranging. He took off at top speed chasing them all over the yard. By some miracle they all survived untouched... maybe because we have plenty of hiding places!

So for now we've given up on training our dog to be around the hens. He stays inside and they stay outside!

We have an adopted black lab and unfortunately she killed our chickens. We were heartbroken but once she got one she was obsessed. I called a dog trainer who said, “once they’ve killed one there’s not much you can do to reverse it.” I’ll take any advice though!

 

[HennaPenHollyPol]

I have a red heeler mix that I had to train. She was taught that chickens are friends not food! It took time and patience but now she takes on more of a chicken guardian role than a chicken chaser. I also have a black lab mix but he could give a hoot about the chickys. They peck him then out of shame he retreats back to his couch to nap.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

My golden retriever puppy loves our chicks. She worries everytime she hears one of them cheep. She shows no aggression towards them. And we didnt even have to train her.

 

[Geena]

I called a dog trainer who said, “once they’ve killed one there’s not much you can do to reverse it.”

Must not be much of a dog trainer, absolutely not true.

 

[MadThom]

Must not be much of a dog trainer, absolutely not true.

It didn’t seem very helpful to me either. Have you had success “reversing” (if you will) this behavior? If so, how? I would love to work with her so we don’t have a repeat

 

[Luckywolf]

We have two Maremma dogs. To train the to not harm the chickens, when they are a puppy we have them on the lead and In my Mum's words, teach them "gentle". "Gentle" is simple just rubbing the side of the dogs face and saying "gentle". If the dog tries to harm the animal we simply just lightly tug on the lead and say "no" in a growly voice.

 

[Tallisdibrani]

View attachment 2950363
Picture by @Minidinochickens​

Most chicken owners have a dog or two in addition to their flock. Some keep and train their dogs as livestock guardians or flock watchers, while others find they can't trust their dogs with their birds. Keeping these two species together can be done very successfully though. I would like to hear from all you dog and chicken owners what advice you have and what your experiences were when it comes to keeping dogs and chickens together, or at least in harmony. Specifically:

- How do you/did you train your dog(s) not to kill or mess with your chickens?
- What is the best/most effective way to deal with/retrain a dog that killed birds already? (No cruel or inappropriate suggestions, please… Let's keep this thread friendly and informative)
- Tell me about livestock guardian dogs (LGD's)
- Are some dog breeds more or less prone to be a problem around the flock?

For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

When we had a cat not a dog she used to stay with us when we were we the chicks and she never harmed them it was like she knew those ones were ours we even let them out and she didn’t do anything she would just watch them and just waiting for us to feed her lol And she grew up with them and never tried anything.

 

[Dusty Chicken]

My dog loves her chicks. There are the six she raised and then the one from a prior flock. The one from the prior flock is not allowed to do anything to "her" chicks. She counts them every morning and evening and if one is missing she goes out to find them. Just the other day one was missing, she noticed before me and slipped out the chicken door to locate her. She let me know where to go to let the chicken back into the yard. It makes me smile every day, she is wonderful!

 

[Uwish]

Must not be much of a dog trainer, absolutely not true.

I completely agree with you! Seems anyone can be a (dog trainer) now adays! Ugh