Training dogs and cats to leave chickens alone

[can you hear me now?]

Last year I traded a llama for a bunch of 14 week old girls. I did what i thought was right for my dog which had killed every one of my chickens previously. I put a pet electric fence around our run. We brought her out and let her do what she does best. (she is a lab mix)
She went to go through the chicken wire and when she hit her nose she ran for the hills. Since then I have only seen her go out there one other time which i leashed her up brought her to the fence and just got her to tip it once. Now I never see her there anymore. Only took two times, now she is cured of chicken killing. I kind of feel bad about it though. First time she killed em she was waiting with wifes favorite cinnamon queen in the front yard when we got home to show us. She was so proud and didn't eat not a one of em. What did she get? Scolded and spanked for doing what comes to her naturally.

 

[rooster0209]

I have one cat that has taken a liking to the corner nesting place that the guineas didnt use. I find her sleeping in there a lot. She doesnt bother them. They roost and she sleeps

Of course, i never trusted her with them when they were little. She is a talented hunter!

I think she prefers the quite seclusion of the ground nesting area.

 

[suebee]

I successfully trained 2 Golden Retrievers to protect my chickens. A great breed who wants to please it's owner. I trained like this. When the dog's brain is zero'ed in on the chickens, interrupt his zone by making a sound that gets his attention, like "shhhh" or low "aaak" or "NO". Make sure he's laying down by you. You have to watch his eyes to see if he's looking at the chickens. Keep interrupting his "zone" and keep a ticked off attitude when training.
Now they just look past the chickens and on to other things. This pic shows he's interested in the new babies but not because he wants to get them...just fun to watch the little ones. My chickens will walk right over the dogs feet and the dog won't flinch.

 

[jonusko]

Quote:
I trained our two dogs in a similar way. They ignore the chickens and even wild turkeys. The other day a turkey laid down 10 yards from the dogs in the middle of the day. If any chicken starts to squawk, the dogs bark and look for a predator.

The firm "no" from training early on continues to work now whenever a dog gets that look in their eye because a chicken is running away from them. Because of that look they sometimes get, I would not fully trust any dog all the time. We do not leave the property with dogs and chickens mixed for extended periods of time. In four years, I have never had a chicken injured by our dogs.

We do have a younger lab that does get more excited by running birds. For a refresher course, I take him into the coop with me and sit with him as chickens walk all around us.

We also do not let the dogs chase turkeys or deer. They respond to the firm "no" if they bark at them. Usually they ignore them. They do bark at and chase predators.

Quote:
100% agree. We have four cats. They are afraid of the hens, but will kill any smaller bird they can catch. It is always the hens who are the aggressor.

It is nice when the dogs, cats and chickens all hang out together.

 

[Beekissed]

I trained my young dog, a Lab/Border Collie mix in one afternoon using the Cesar Milan method and a little sumpin', sumpin' of my own. I call it the Mom method! I disciplined him like his own mother would if he showed more than a passing interest in the chickens. I've seen my older dog use the same method on him when we got kittens. The first fast or aggressive move he made towards them got him a growl, a lunge and a snap at the neckline from ol' Lucy Lou. He never bothered the kittens after that. So.....I used it for training him on the chickens and it worked!!! I also let him sniff and lick one all he wanted, then I turned her around and let her peck him very hard. That dog will barely even LOOK at a chicken now!!!

 

[Solsken Farm]

Each situation and dog is unique. I do not know if I believe EVERY dog can be trained to be safe around small critters. I just do not have enough knowledge or experience. I suspect there are some dogs that just cannot control their impulses, but I have to say, I didn't really need to train either of my dogs. We are lucky! I just did a few no's and let them nibble on the treats I put out for the chickens at the same time. Our cats could care less about them. It has been this way since the chicks were about a month old. Before that, they were too much like squeak toys for my black and white cocker.

This is Lily, who bit everyone and everything when we got her 12 years ago.

She is deaf and cannot see well, but has been fantastic with the chickens. I would never leave her alone with them however, nor our sweet parti cocker, Chloe.

Here's a portrait in black and white....

She's not growling, just crunhing on a premie apple that fell from the tree. She let puff daddy just grab pieces from her. Amazing! Considering she is quite territorial of food.

I love Ceasar, BTW!

 

[bossynbella]

You have all had some wonderful ideas. When we first got our chickens we had a tom cat that liked to chase them as well as a German shepherd/Chow Chow mix who would carry the hens around in her mouth if we wern't looking. We chained her if we let them out to run and scolded her if we saw her after them. I'm not sure when or how but she figured it out. Now she lets them walk all around her and even eat from her bowl if she isn't eating.
The cat learned the first time it tried to pounce on a hen and she flew up in the air and Karatie Kicked the cat in the head on the way down. All our pets are great around the grown chickens and the chicks once they are 5-6 wks old.
We keep the young chicks away from them compleatly because I think its unfair to expect them to not want to eat them. The Cats look at them as a bird, and a nice snack.
Lani the dog is terrified of them if we try to approach her with a young chick she backs off and avoids us till we put it away.

I do believe some dogs will not leave them alone no matter what. We recently had to take my DH's parents dogs for a couple weeks due to flooding and no matter what we did there Welsh Corgi would go crazy at the site of the chickens. We couldn't let him run for more then a few minutes before he would be trying to dig into the pen. There young beagle Was absolutly fine around them. The day before we took them back The Corgi Broke his chain and killed one of our young barred Rock pullets. I have never been so mad at a dog ever. and you could tell he knew it was wrong.

Good luck, sorry this is so long. Just remember different dogs are different and I think its harder the older the dogs are.

Melissa