Urgent advice please!!!!!

[BlckAngl00]

Hi all,

I went out this evening to find that our 7 month old Karakachan Livestock Guardian/Maremma Sheepdog puppy had attacked/played-too-rough with two of our almost 5 month old Moyers. He left both alive (plucked ALL back feathers from one and left a small hold (slightly larger than my thumb) in her back, and seems to have just mouthed the other as I can't find any missing feathers but she was soaking wet and seemed to be playing dead, even had her eyes closed) and stopped and came to me immediately when he saw me. We have them in separate dog crates on the screened in back porch right now. They will both open their eyes and move when we touch them but are otherwise staying very still and quiet.

Any and all first aid advice would be much appreciated!! I have the Animal Desk Reference: Essential Oils for Animals by a Holistic Veterinarian that I'll be using but would like any tried/true methods you guys can suggest as we are Chicken Newbies and have no experience with Chicken injuries.

Our secondary concern is obviously to prevent this from happening again. Any suggestions there would be appreciated too!

Thanks in advance!

Katie and Larry
Night Prowler Farm

 

[J-Sanders]

Ok, no easy way to say this. You must be the alpha dog and the puppy must understand that his job is to protect the chickens. Unfortunately you don't say whether or not you scolded him when you found him. If not then it is too late to do so as he won't remember the infraction. The dog needs professional training if you are not up to it. LGD are not pets! Cannot be pets and do their job. But in any event you must be able to scold him and make it stick or he will go on doing what he wants. LGD are very willful animals and are supposed to make decisions on their own. This makes him a handful for folks who think he can be a pet and a LGD. Won't happen and you will be very disappointed.

As for the birds, they probably have internal injuries and will either recover or not and this will be outside of your control. So make them comfortable and hope for the best. Spray external injuries with Vetericyn spray to diminish the likely hood of infection. You might try a antibiotic in their water. But it may not do the trick. They will be forever scared of the dog and will react to his presence badly.

Jim

 

[Earthologie]

Hopefully all is not lost.

I would definetly keep them in sanitary condistions: secluded from the other birds. The chicken with the hole in its back definitely needs to have its wound cleaned. I would give antibiotics before an infection starts (dog mouths are so germy!)

Did there seem to be alot of blood loss? Even if there wasn't, I would give poultry "nutri-drench" in their water or directly in their mouth to help boost their immune systems.

Please keep us updated.

 

[BlckAngl00]

Thank you both for the reply. The two girls died overnight. Hard to see any animal perish but life is cruel.

J-Sanders: Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am alpha to ALL of our boys (4 unaltered male dogs, 2 equine geldings, one crypt-orchid gelding, one miniature horse crypt-orchid stallion, the cat, the cockatiel, and one husband

). And they all get along. We are always getting compliments on how well behaved our animals are and I know it's because Mommy runs a tight ship.

Mecho is most certainly not a pet and I stress that to everyone who comes onto our property that one pet on the head is allowed but NOTHING else. My husband is the worst as he never had a dog growing up and thinks all dogs (or cats, or horses or anything else) can be treated all the same way without issue. He's learning the hard way but still making progress so I'll keep him around a little longer. Mecho was immediately scolded when I walked out and found the scene. To his credit, as soon as he saw me, he immediately left the 2nd chicken (who wasn't missing any feathers, just soaking wet with slobber but I believe she died of internal injuries as she was the first to expire) and came straight to me. He knows Mom is law. He followed me back to where the two girls were lying and he was very obvious about observing my disapproval. And the day after the event described above happened, one of the Buff Orpingtons flew out of the yard (we brought the girls into the back yard to graze so that he couldn't get to them) and I walked out to find him slobbering over her. Again, came right to me, followed me back and was scolded. He was popped once and I used the "Mommy Tone" and he glued himself to my leg and wouldn't even look at the girls the rest of the evening. That chicken was fine as she was stood on her own feet at my urging and is happy and healthy now. Since then we do not let the girls out unattended. If we are not right there with him, Mecho goes on a generous zipline by the barn and the girls steer clear of him. He will chase them if free but is reprimanded every time and will leave them alone afterwards. He was fine with them for several weeks and had no interest in them until a HUGE growth spurt the week before this happened and now anything that fits in his mouth is a toy. The problem is that he's 90+ pounds at 8 months old...which means almost everything fits in his mouth: 2x4's, 3"-5" thick branches that fall from the the trees, giant 6"+ thick roots from the dirt piles, my bag of garden soil, etc. It's an interesting life we lead. He's not the smartest dog on the block but he is extremely in tune with me which helps tremendously with his training as he is, as you said, willful and independent (as he should be) but he has also decided that he's my personal body guard and is with me when I'm not in a building. He meets me at the backyard gate every morning when I go to feed (and every afternoon when I go out to check on everyone) and he escorts me to the barn. Once I start working, he leaves to patrol and will occasionally come back to check on me then leave to patrol again. And he 'helps' to catch the horses with his 50% Marrema Sheepdog side. He has been showing herding tendencies lately by keeping our large pony at bay while my student retrieves another horse from the field. It's quite amusing. If I can keep my husband from ruining him with cuddling/play time, Mecho will be a great non-traditional LGD (non-traditional as in we do not have sheep/goats but instead horses and chickens).

Thanks again for the advice J-Sanders and Earthologie! And I'll try to keep you posted as to our adventures.

Katie

 

[Eggcessive]

First of all, sorry this happened to your chickens. I am not a big fan of shock collars, but after our golden retriever attacked 3 pullets in our yard who had flown over the fence, and played with them, killing one of them, we decided to get one. These 3 incidents took place over a month, and the last chicken died, so we taught him that chickens will shock you when you go near them. Now if any of this year's pullets get over the fence he ignors them. Plus we have never had to use that collar again.