Of course it depends on the dog (its genetic drive, your relationship to it-- ie does it matter to the dog what you want?, etc)... but I can say that you can most certainly reform a chicken killing dog...
Not sure how much I want to go into it, its on some other threads.....
But our chicken killing giant schnauzer is now reliable with our free range flock (dogs and chickens are out on 2 acres) and the dogs have been a great deterrant against predators-- other than the dog, which killed 7 or 8 in the first 6 months..... nothing has gotten them (and we have predators- raccoons, fox, coyote, cougar, there is even a bear that has been out all week at the neighbors, but we have big, barking dogs)....
And, she LOVES killing. still catches the odd rodent or two.
Our current issue is goats. Not that she has killed any, but we are familiarizing her with them.... so will see how that goes.
All I can say is, it does take time, and perservarance on your part, and after about 6 months (it feels like FOREVER, and so tedious) it was like a switch turned OFF in my dog, she just is not excited by them in that way anymore (and she still likes to run along the fence and bark at bicycles and joggers going by, its what worries me about the goats we just got)...
While in the training period, I put a mini tire on her with a short chain, this slows her down, and also she has come to associate it with the consequence of chasing a forbidden animal....
(Leave it wasnt very practical, and she had shock collar on for a YEAR to imprint the recall.... I might have been tempted to try it for chickens, but daughter lost the charger and I never got around to replacing that part)...
PS its been well over a year since the last chicken assault so I feel she is safe around the chickens....in fact they are so bold if they catch sight of a dog eating from its bowl they will swarm the dog and try to drive it off to eat the chow!
Not sure how much I want to go into it, its on some other threads.....
But our chicken killing giant schnauzer is now reliable with our free range flock (dogs and chickens are out on 2 acres) and the dogs have been a great deterrant against predators-- other than the dog, which killed 7 or 8 in the first 6 months..... nothing has gotten them (and we have predators- raccoons, fox, coyote, cougar, there is even a bear that has been out all week at the neighbors, but we have big, barking dogs)....
And, she LOVES killing. still catches the odd rodent or two.
Our current issue is goats. Not that she has killed any, but we are familiarizing her with them.... so will see how that goes.
All I can say is, it does take time, and perservarance on your part, and after about 6 months (it feels like FOREVER, and so tedious) it was like a switch turned OFF in my dog, she just is not excited by them in that way anymore (and she still likes to run along the fence and bark at bicycles and joggers going by, its what worries me about the goats we just got)...
While in the training period, I put a mini tire on her with a short chain, this slows her down, and also she has come to associate it with the consequence of chasing a forbidden animal....
(Leave it wasnt very practical, and she had shock collar on for a YEAR to imprint the recall.... I might have been tempted to try it for chickens, but daughter lost the charger and I never got around to replacing that part)...
PS its been well over a year since the last chicken assault so I feel she is safe around the chickens....in fact they are so bold if they catch sight of a dog eating from its bowl they will swarm the dog and try to drive it off to eat the chow!
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