I have an 11 month old Australian Shepherd puppy, Moya, who last Thursday injured one of my hens. (the hen seems to be recovering nicely). I posted when it happened asking for advice on training her and seem to have sparked quite an argument. people have opinions all over the board, many saying it isn't possible or at least not worth it. I have decided that i am going to train my dog and i am going to let people know how i do it and how well it works.
for those who don't know, Australian Shepherds are a herding breed, and like most working breeds are highly intelligent and trainable; they need to have a job to keep from going crazy. and many herding dogs are trained to herd using ducks, so chickens aren't a far stretch. i am trying to get Moya into herding classes, though i haven't heard back from the person in the area i found, and they do train with sheep there. Aussies also are very high energy. so far, the energy is the biggest problem we're having with getting her well trained. she needs to run and if she hasn't had enough exercise she literally cannot stay still long enough.
Moya
At this point, Moya behaves well in the house and for the most part on the leash. we are working with her responses when outside (she likes to decided that "come" means to play chase, which is an issue). her history with the chickens has mostly been with her in the house and them free ranging in the yard. she has been trained to not go in the coop (sometimes she would be in the yard when i go into the coop to feed/water/collect eggs). that seems to have stuck, since even when she got the hen, she didn't go into the coop to harass the one that was in there. she has been in the yard with the chickens on a leash and is always interested, but doesn't pull too much.
she has gotten out with the hens on a few occasions. the first time she chased one of the Buff Orpingtons, but when the hen stopped and hunched down Moya stop and just stood there staring at her. the second time she cornered a hen against the screen porch, but we got her before that one went too far.
one time a friend's dog got into the coop (i was going in to water/feed and she pushed past me). thus, all the hens got out into the yard with the dogs (no damage was done, though i did end up sitting on the dog that got into the coop to keep her from eating any of the birds). we managed to track down and catch all the birds but one with the dogs outside the fence. this time we intentionally let Moya into the yard to find the missing bird. she found it and scared it out of it's hiding place so we were able to catch it.
Moya does have an unbelievable focus. when she is in the house and the hens are in the yard, she will sometimes sit at the sliding door staring at them for what seems like forever. we are working on breaking her of this, telling her "no" and interrupting whenever we see her doing this.
my first steps in training are going to be taking her in the yard with the hens on a leash and not letting her focus on them. we will probably get a shock collar and slowly introduce that, mostly to reinforce "come" when outside as a first step. depending on how this goes, we will see what else needs to be done.
i will keep you all updated with whatever results we get.
**a few disclaimers: i make no claims that what i'm going to try will work for my dog. even more so, anything that works for my dog may not work for any other dog. each breed has different tendencies and each dog is an individual.
for those who don't know, Australian Shepherds are a herding breed, and like most working breeds are highly intelligent and trainable; they need to have a job to keep from going crazy. and many herding dogs are trained to herd using ducks, so chickens aren't a far stretch. i am trying to get Moya into herding classes, though i haven't heard back from the person in the area i found, and they do train with sheep there. Aussies also are very high energy. so far, the energy is the biggest problem we're having with getting her well trained. she needs to run and if she hasn't had enough exercise she literally cannot stay still long enough.
Moya
At this point, Moya behaves well in the house and for the most part on the leash. we are working with her responses when outside (she likes to decided that "come" means to play chase, which is an issue). her history with the chickens has mostly been with her in the house and them free ranging in the yard. she has been trained to not go in the coop (sometimes she would be in the yard when i go into the coop to feed/water/collect eggs). that seems to have stuck, since even when she got the hen, she didn't go into the coop to harass the one that was in there. she has been in the yard with the chickens on a leash and is always interested, but doesn't pull too much.
she has gotten out with the hens on a few occasions. the first time she chased one of the Buff Orpingtons, but when the hen stopped and hunched down Moya stop and just stood there staring at her. the second time she cornered a hen against the screen porch, but we got her before that one went too far.
one time a friend's dog got into the coop (i was going in to water/feed and she pushed past me). thus, all the hens got out into the yard with the dogs (no damage was done, though i did end up sitting on the dog that got into the coop to keep her from eating any of the birds). we managed to track down and catch all the birds but one with the dogs outside the fence. this time we intentionally let Moya into the yard to find the missing bird. she found it and scared it out of it's hiding place so we were able to catch it.
Moya does have an unbelievable focus. when she is in the house and the hens are in the yard, she will sometimes sit at the sliding door staring at them for what seems like forever. we are working on breaking her of this, telling her "no" and interrupting whenever we see her doing this.
my first steps in training are going to be taking her in the yard with the hens on a leash and not letting her focus on them. we will probably get a shock collar and slowly introduce that, mostly to reinforce "come" when outside as a first step. depending on how this goes, we will see what else needs to be done.
i will keep you all updated with whatever results we get.
**a few disclaimers: i make no claims that what i'm going to try will work for my dog. even more so, anything that works for my dog may not work for any other dog. each breed has different tendencies and each dog is an individual.
