training a dog to be safe with and even guard my flock...

[danischi24]

If given a year or 2 to mature, it's feasible. A pup will want to play with them which will lead to attacking. If your pup is trained to ignore them, as an adult, he might be safe to leave around them & might even protect them.

 

[Rosalind]

Search for posts by Mountain Man Jim on dog training. Basically, you need to introduce them gradually on-leash and disallow any play behaviors at first. Dog should be with you on the lead for all routine chores. Correct any chasing, nipping, eyeballing, and thoughts of yummy BBQ as soon as they occur. Then graduate to supervised work with the chickens, with you right there. Then and only then can they be left unsupervised. The whole process takes 18 months - 2 years.

And still, when doing the unsupervised thing, I would say that letting them mind some packing peanuts or extra roosters for the first several months is a good idea. My Pyrenees wasn't 100% trustworthy until he tangled with a really angry broody hen defending some chicks--he still does a lot of herding behaviors, although the broody hen taught him to keep his distance when he has them cornered.

The giant breeds I think are better for having fewer prey instincts. Or maybe it's just that the chickens can outrun them. I know my Newfie pup is actually scared of the chickens because they can run faster than her, and she's just not that into chasing anything in general.

ETA: And yes, our dogs sleep inside. On the couch, usually. Once the chickens go to bed, there's no need for them to be out there when we can use them indoors as foot-warmers.

 

[Buster]

Quote:
I trust my dog 100% alone with my chickens and she's a cattle dog. I have trained her on livestock. She just doesn't care about my chickens at all. She hates other dogs though, so if my chickens are free ranging I try to let her out as much as possible. She's a good deterrent for strays.

I wanted to add that she never met chickens until she was three years old. And even then I'd be in the coop and she'd wander in to check it out and I would yell at her to get out. If she took any interest in them I scolded her. A couple of times she would do a half-hearted run at them to watch them fly in the backyard and I rolled her for it. Now the only time she really pays attention to them (other than to thieve my eggs) is to herd the ducks off the driveway. They do not like this and have big meetings with each other to quack about it.

 

[brandywine]

It's quite possible that with an English mastiff, your problem with him as an LGD will be laziness, not predatory behavior towards your birds.

There's a reason English mastiffs are no longer used as guard dogs in any significant way, even if that was their heritage over a hundred years ago.

 

[ChickenFanaticAB]

Some dogs can definitely be trusted around chickens. When I got chickens I already had two rat terriers and at the time they were about 10 and 12 years old or so...so they were definitely not raised with them! They were fine with chickens from day one, and I completely trusted them, they would even share their bed with our duck who thought she was a dog. I don't have either dog or chickens anymore, but those dogs understood what was part of the family, and were avid hunters otherwise.

 

[redhen]

thanks everyone for all the great advice!...awesome!..

....so, my understanding is..it will take quite a while for him to be safe around them..once he gets out of his puppy stage...
and another question....if i know my hens, like i think i do...i can BET that when i bring him into the run to meet them..they will scare the crud out of him....my girls always run up to me and swarm me...(they want their treats..

..)...and...give my feet a few pecks if i dont feed them fast enough...LOL....so....if i have my pup there with me..i am sure they will also swarm him....maybe even give him a peck also..

...so...should i let them do this to him...so, he has a fear of them from puppy-hood...or will that make him attack them when he is older....

....theres alot to this...i just want to do it right...i also want to say..my hens arent mean or anything..they get excited to see us and they know we always bring them food..

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

PM sent on dog training ... Let me know if this help and/or sounds like a good plan.

Jim

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Jim...thanks so much!..it will help me very much!.., Wendy

 

[ninny]

I dont know if you have gotten the pup or not yet. But a mastiff is not a good livestock guardian choice. They were breed to guard land not livestock. We use ours to protect our home, but they will eat the birds if given a chance. You are not going to have much luck with a part time guard dog. You will have better luck having the mastiff guard the ground around them. If you want livestock guard dog get a great pyrense.

 

[Beekissed]

What dogs were bred to do and what they actually do can be two different things. I have two lab mix dogs who are completely safe around the chickens and have proven this. One was safe from the beginning, the other was a pup and took a total of about 20 min. to train to respect the birds.

Everyone says that they are bird dogs, retrievers, hunters with a high prey drive and one shouldn't trust them around chickens.

Everyone was wrong.

Any intelligent dog can be trained effectively by any intelligent person to respect livestock. It just takes consistency and having the respect of the animal. Don't let anyone tell you that any particular breed cannot be trained to guard livestock...if you read these threads you will find that good LGDs come in all breeds, shapes, ages and sizes!