training a dog to leave chickens alone

[Amastacia]

I have 8 hens and a 11 month old Australian Shepherd puppy. this morning she got out and injured one of my hens. before this, whenever she got out with them she would chase them (i think she was trying to herd them but didn't know what she was doing) but didn't touch them, just stared at them if they stopped or didn't run. does anyone have advice on how to train her not to catch them? i do want to get her trained for herding, but i haven't yet found any one that can teach her in this area.

additionally, probably this weekend my husband will be building a run for the chickens so we can let both them and the dog out at the same time without issues, but i do like letting the hens have the whole yard too.

 

[centrarchid]

I have had many chicken friendly dogs during my life. Most killed at least a bird or two before training put a stop to it. None of the dogs were what you would consider exceptional with respect to poultry or other livestock and most were used for hunting raccoons, rabbits, squirrels or even foxes. Those dogs were invaluable for enabling chickens to be free-ranged. My assertions are based on experience, not simply reading a bunch morbid post or simply a couple of bad experiences with an untrained dog. There are many parties here that know their way around dogs and poultry; concentrate your queries with them to get sound advice on how to get dogs into a poultry friendly mode.

 

[cafarmgirl]

The way to train a dog, especially a pup, is by repeated, daily exposure while under your direct control. Pups, or adult dogs new to chickens, should never be allowed access to the birds when not on a leash. You have an advantage in that your dog is young. Ideally training would have been taking place from the day the pup came home. I raise dependable ranch dogs by simply taking them along with me every day when I do barn chores in addition to teaching the usual obedience commands of come, sit, stay etc.. Pup is attached to my by it's leash and goes right along with me into pens and coops etc. That way I can immediately stop and discourage inappropriate behavior. This is accomplished by a sharp tug on the leash and a firm NO. This goes on every day. Eventually all this becomes old news to the pup, chickens become a boring, every day thing. When I see the dogs interest in birds waning it eventually gets to trot along with me off it's leash. But only when I know it has a rock solid recall, even in the face of great temptation.

This all may sound like a lot of work, and guess what? It is! And it can go on for a long time, just depends on the dog and it's temperment. Dogs are pups until they are a year and a half or two years old, even longer for really large breeds. Training has to consistently going on every single day. But the effort put into raising a pup this way pays off many times over in the years to come in the form of a truely good ranch dog who does NOT slaughter your flock the moment you turn your back.

There is a caveat to all this: Not every single dog can be trained to be trustworthy around chickens. Some just do not have the right temperment no matter how much you train them. If you never reach that spot in training, even months down the line, where you see the dog start loosing the intense interest in the birds, if he just continues to fixate on them intensely and completely tunes you out in those moments, that dog is probably not ever going to be trustworthy.

 

[NikonD2xer]

You can train just about any dog at any age. It all depends on the tools you use.

One training tool I will NEVER EVER use are treats to reward good behavior.
When treats are used, what happens when you don't have treats.
You can easily tell a dog that has been trained with treats when seeing them with the owner or handler.
Watch the dog, if it is always looking at the handlers hand or hands, guess where the treats were.

Praise and affection are much better of a reward for obedience and good behavior. Your never without those.

Consistency and repetitive training exercises are by far the most important tasks to master for both owner and dog.

Start with the basics. NO........SIT..........DOWN..........STAY.
You can not expect a dog understand chickens or anything else that matter are off limits if they don't obey the basic commands instantly.

I always use a choker chain to train. The chain needs to be the correct size and used properly.
It must be able to release with no tension applied for it to work. If it doesn't chances are it is on backwards
To correct a dog with a choker chain, simply snap the leash back quickly just to the point of tightening around the dogs neck and then release it.
It is the zzzzziiiiiipppppppp sound of the ring moving on the chain and the feel of the slight tightening around the dogs neck that gets the dog attention and re focuses them.

Correct your dog instantly when they make a mistake.
With practice you will be able to tell they are about loose focus or do something undesirable correct with just a word.

If chain is tight around the dogs throat and / or the dog ever chokes......it is not being used correctly.
It is miss use that caused so many people to think that a choker chain is a cruel way to correct a dogs behavior.

I have never needed to use a shock collar on any of the dozens of dogs i have trained because they know what i say is what they are to do, even when they are out of my reach.


I have a 70lb chocolate lab that i got from a rescue when she was 3. She was a holy terror when i brought her home.
She would chase anything that moved with intent to kill. I worked with her for a week before i would let her out on her own.
I kept my eye on her for the next couple of weeks with only a strong NO to correct the chase / hunt instinct that flair up every once in a while.

Since then i have had no problem with her at all. Cats will literally use her as a rubbing post. She was even adopted by a kitten.

When i got chickens this spring, I had no reservations about letting them free range with her outside unsupervised.
She has been surrounded by the chickens, had them run under her, even pecked with no action taken by the lab.
The chickens actually feel safer with her around and are more adventurous when she is near.

 

[Hayduke27]

I wanted to chime in here. I have a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, he is 120 lbs and a hunting dog. He isn't just trained to hunt, he actively hunts pheasants, ducks, geese, and grouse for 6 months out of the year, retrieving hundreds of birds every year. This dog knows his way around birds.

I have raised him from a puppy, and I spend a LOT of time with him, so he's very used to reading me, and knows when I am pleased or displeased. The more time you spend with your animal, the more you will learn to read each other, and know what to expect as far as actions and reactions.

I have had my dog at the park around ducks and geese that are relatively tame, and he is no problem. Not only does he not chase the birds, he pretty much pays no attention to them, except to make sure they don't come near him. He knows from past experience that he is not supposed to chase them in that setting. As a puppy I had to yell at him a few times for getting amped up around the domestic birds, but he now knows that dad gets mad when he chases them in the park. This has not negatively affected his hunting abilities in any way.

He had his first experience with chickens just within the past 3 months (he is almost 7 years old). I took him to a friend's coop. At first, he looked at them briefly from outside the run, but was far more interested in the pig. The next day I took him into the chicken run, and he was actually quite shy when the chickens started running up to him to check him out. He prefers to keep at least 5 or so feet away from the chickens. I think he knows he has to resist the instinct to grab them, so he just keeps his distance to make it easier on his willpower

Anyway, the point to my post is that I have a dog that is well trained to flush and retrieve birds, and has plenty of experience with wounded and dead fowl in his mouth, and he is still very good around the chickens. This is not to say that if I left him unattended with them all day he may not end up hurting one. It's a balance of your dog knowing you, and knowing that you don't want it to chase the chickens; combine this with your knowledge of the dog and how it reacts around chickens, and know when to watch your dog.

Dogs and chickens can be compatible, but the human is the key component. You have to make it clear to the dog that it must obey you, and that the chickens are off limits. With most dogs this will be easier to train into them from a young age. However, puppies are also probably most dangerous to the chickens because of their energy and desire to play. They could hurt a chicken without malicious intent.

Dogs are inherently predators, I do agree with this. Most dogs may never be able to be left totally alone with the chickens. However, playing your part as a responsible human will certainly tilt the odds in your favor.

One more thing: until recently, I never liked shock collars. I trained dogs without them, and never saw reason for them. However, recently I met a very good young bird dog that was just so intense and high energy in the field that she would just lose track of her master entirely, and go chasing the pheasants like the Tasmanian devil from Looney Tunes! However, the shock collar was the tool that snapped her out of her frantic chasing and reminded her she needed to check back in with her handler. The collars should not be used as punishment. They are simply a very strong reminder that the dog needs to stop what it's doing and check back in with master. Once the dog becomes accustomed to the process you can turn the electricity down, or even just use a collar that has a low audible tone, and you get the same effect. Once again, just a matter of training the dog to read the human's desires.

 

[blondie34]

I have trained my hunting dog to be nice to and actually take care of our flock so it CAN be done! If I can turn my little killer into a "mama hen" anyone can do it! My lab comes hunting with us and retrieves goose, pheasants, ducks, you name it. When we first got chickens it was definitely an issue as he was used to carrying birds around in his mouth

What I did was a lot of heavy training and contact with the chicks and hens. I would hold a chicken in my hand and ask him to smell it and "make nice" like I tell him with my nieces/nephews.. if he got too interested and tried to lick to hard or do anything unsavory I would swat him in the bucket and put him in time out while I held the chicken in my arms to let him know that he was bad and that I care for the chickens. Since dogs like to please their masters I think it "clicked" when he saw me handling them and loving on them so often.


We've had chickens for a few years now and now Remington takes care of chicks and loves to be around his brothers and sisters.















it can be done

 

[LilyD]

I have an Australian shepherd who is from working dog lines and is now 6 months old. For those who don't know what that means I will try and explain a bit. In breeds that are used for work there are lines that are shown for conformation that might have less drive and then there are those that are bred specifically to be worked. Luna's mother and father were both working line dogs and are bred and trained to herd cattle and horses as well as sheep and goats. Because of this I have set up a fence that separates her from the chickens and ducks for now and gives her access to a portion of the yard that she can use all day long where the birds can't go.

We are working on training when I go to the coops to feed the ducks and chickens and when she is on lead she is spot on and perfect. She is much more interested in eating the chicken and duck poop (ew) and sharing in their treats than eating any of the birds. Would I trust her off leash right now with them? Right now no. We have a wonderful game that all Aussies know at birth called chicken bowling (dog runs through the chickens to scatter them then tries to get them back into a group to do it again.....the ladies do not approve).

The problem that I have and I am sure that anyone else would have with a dog from lines trained specifically for herding is that they are very movement sensitive. We had problems when she was little with her going after ankles when they were moving just because there was movement. It's all a work in progress and she needs to learn what animals she can use her skills with and what ones she can't. She has no training in herding right now but when animals are spread out it really bothers her. She will go to my sisters (who has sheep, goats and cows) and will herd the sheep and goats into a group just through instinct along without ever touching the stock.

What does this mean as far as my birds are concerned? My muscovy ducks are slow and don't run or move fast. If one gets into her area of the yard she will watch it and will totally leave it alone while it is pecking away and will not get excited until it flies over the fence again (once the wings start moving she wants to know what is going on). The chickens tend to be a bit more crazy in their movements (chasing each other and flapping their wings while walking). This gets her excited and she wants to herd that movement and control where it goes. The chickens in her yard have never been hurt other than a few ruffled feathers. Usually she will herd them to the porch and will hold it there for me to come and get them. She is pretty early in her training and we are doing as others have suggested and bringing her out in the yard when I do chores with the birds on a long line (30 ft) that is attached to me. She knows her obedience commands (Aussies are brilliant stars at figuring out what their humans want) and so when I am there and she is attached I can tell her leave it and correct if necessary when she shows too much interest (chasing, nipping etc).

For off leash we will be using an e-collar once she is ready and once again she will be out in the yard only with me and if she shows too much interest she will be given a verbal command, a sound that will distract her and then a correction (don't think I will have to go above vibration with her level of sensitivity). My other dogs were around before e collars and we put pennies in a soda can and taped the top and would shake it hard to make a loud noise when we wanted them to stop a behavior and then give them a command for a good behavior. My goal is an off leash animal that will understand that those animals belong to me and I don't want her to touch them but that will still be able to work around them in the end.

I have had dobermans and even wolf hybrids (yes she had a strong prey drive too) and they all understand which animals are okay and which are not once done training. The doberman and wolf hybrid did not need an e collar for training either, but they understood that I am the pack leader and that I choose what they hunt. My doberman and wolf hybrid would be out in the yard with the birds and would leave them alone but snakes, skunks, porcupines, opossums or any other thing that didn't belong was in trouble.

This has nothing to do with animal type either because the wolf hybrid I had (Kasha) lived in the house with a bunny who was potty trained and would actually run all around her on the floor and outside in the yard with her without us supervising and she would never touch him, but let her loose outside and have her get the scent of a wild bunny and she would hunt and kill it and then lay down and eat it in the yard. She had learned through the years that the house bunny and the poultry we have belong to us (as a pack) and the wild things don't. Anything that doesn't belong in our territory has to go. The animals I tell them are part of the pack are protected and left alone. The ones that don't belong are not.

Don't know if this makes sense but it has worked for every dog I have ever had on the property.

 

[DiamondFrazieur]

I'm worried how my dog might react with chicken. He doesn't like the rabbits or squirrels.

Hi Ty,

I have an old dog that considers everything inside her fence her personal property. She's absolutely spastic about the squirrels and won't even allow wild birds to land in my gardens. This is a good thing! I am overrun with squirrels and while I don't mind sharing the bounty with the native wildlife, I'd like my fair share of it too

Koke still has that " If only you weren't watching ... " look a lot when she spots a chicken. You know, the beady eyed Wile E Coyote syndrome. She's a super smart dog. Too smart for her own good at times. Plus, she has breed instinct going against her ... She's a retriever. A Chesapeake Bay. Chesie's are the toughest, most stubborn and brutish of all the retrievers. They don't understand the concept of " it can't be done ". This particular dog more so than most, I suspect. She was formerly trained to eat anything tossed her direction. And I mean anything. Got to be so careful but she's a wonderful dog

I also have a fragile young cockerel (Henri) that spends a lot of time getting extra TLC. He's a Faverolles and is slow to mature so he's not ready to be out in the coop 24/7 with his harem.

Here they are:



So far, in less than a month, Koke ceased the panting and drooling whenever she's in proximity to a chicken. It was bad at first. I thought she might fall on a chicken and maul it right in front of my very eyes she was so intensely focused and hyper alert.
Now she no longer paces like she's caught between the instinct to snatch a chicken and the knowledge that I won't allow it either. The dogs stress level is way down.
Outdoors she lays down about 10 feet from the coop and keeps a vigilant anti-squirrel stare on the surrounding trees. (Only occasionally getting fixated on the chickens now)

I'm not ready to leave her alone with the chickens. That would be cruel and expecting too much-too soon. But its going to happen. And I'd bet dollars to dimes she sails through as rock solid flock guardian.
A bit of a side note: I do exaggerate my facial expressions and offer discouragement or encouragement as needed. Dogs are one of the few animals that can read human facial expressions. When she's staring at the chickens with that intense must-have look, I call her name and frown heavily at her. She gives me the "I've had a naughty thought" look and goes back to scanning for squirrels and other birds. When she's good I give her positive attention and a banana chip. The banana chips are her favorite thing in the whole world. She knows she's been especially awesome when she gets one so she's starting to associate being protective of the chickens with rare much coveted rewards.

Its doable. If this dog can do it, any dog can do it. You just have to show them what's expected. Their instinct is in opposition to your expectations. Training, lots of training and patience.

 

[Dylon]

I just realized the the OP asked for advice on how to teach the dog to leave the hens alone.


Try a remote controlled shock collar. Right when the dog gets to the hens, give the dog a little jolt. They will associate the discomfort with the chickens and actually run away from the chickens when they get to close. My neighbor did this and it really did work!!!

 

[debramr1]

hi i have quite a large dog and we introduced him slowly to the chickens when we got them...always under supervision at first...gradually over time he has come to love them and is quite protective of his'girls'....to be honest he thinks he is a chicken now as i find him quite often in the coop with them...(most of the time eating their corn!!)....