Training puppy

[cknmom]

Our puppy is about 6mo.old. He is border collie/shepard/boxer mix.
We got him when he was 5 wks. old.(I thought he was 8wks) He chases the chickens to watch them scatter AND most importantly to eat their POOP!!!
We have an 11yr.old rottie, he can be out there and the chickens just wander around him, they more or less ignore each other. I would like that to be the case with the puppy, any suggestions?

Monica

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, don't have a dog but can tell you this much. Eating poop. Normal. Chasing birds, break that ASAP.

 

[buckbeak]

Lots of firm "off" and "leave it" corrections from you whenever the dog does something you don't want. I don't leave my dogs unattended when the chickens are out. Even though they are old and mellow, they are still dogs and are likely to go after chickens.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'd like to have a dog that can protect my flock, but have no idea how to go about training one. I would think that keeping a puppy on a leash when around the birds would be a good idea -- then you can stop the puppy from getting too curious . . . . If you accompanied that with "leave it" commands, I think that would be a good start.

 

[JFL1950]

My mother-in-law lives next door she has a germand shepard-wolf dog that since we started raising chickens ducks and turkeys has be staying with us 24-7 we can't get him to go home.
At time we get a bit excited because he keeps an eye on them and at night he rounds them up and puts them in the chicken tractors we made.
Then he just spends the night in the yard.
teh Turkeys don't seem to mind him a whole lot of the time and can fly away if they need to.
The ducks just qwack and waddle past him. As the chickens run away from him most of the time which I don't care for as I think it will tire them out.
We never trained him and found him in my mother-in-laws yard one day.
Just wondered if anyone else has the same problem.
Yelling and tieing him up don't help his in breed nature.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

cknmom- from your post I saw that you have turtles, what kind and how big are they?

 

[TransplantedTexan]

http://backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1880

 

[cknmom]

JenniferjoIn
I have a red-eared slider. He is about5-6yrs old,I think. He is huge. He is about 10" in dia. and his body oozes out of his shell. We would like some russian box turtles later on maybe.

Monica

 

[BarbK]

The first thing you need to do if you haven't already is to take the pup to puppy classes. This establishes basic commands and teaches you how to train. Then I would enroll in herding classes so he learns how to use his instincts.

 

[cknmom]

BarbK
I would love to do that but we live up in the mts. at least 40miles from any place that training would be available. I do not drive (trying to accomplish that) so the weekend when my DH could drive would be the only time. The weekend is the only time we have to do things around the ranch.

Monica