What breed of dog should we get?

[TheFarm41]

as i've told many chicken keepers, NEVER GET DOGS AS GUARD ANIMALS!! they will kill your flock when you're not looking. no matter the breed, no matter the size, no matter the training. they all have the predatory urge to kill small animals, including chickens. for protection, use geese or emus. they are certainly less expensive to hatch from eggs than dogs, and if you let a broody hen raise them, they will grow up bonded to that flock, willing to risk their lives to protect it. a stinking mutt will only pretend to love the flock in return for treats and food, and will kill your chickens without hesitation once it stops receiving treats. geese and emus are the way to go. many online hatchereys carry goslings, and you can find emu eggs usually under 60 us dollars on eBay.

I disagree we had a female pitbull that was an excellent farm dog. We got her when she was two, and we had horses. She was good with them. When she was about 8 we added chickens, sheep and pigs to our farm. She would go in the pasture and never bother any of them. She slept in the orchard with the chickens, they would crawl on her even eat her food. She never killed or chased a single chicken. I think some how she could tell the difference between the animals that were suppose to be part of the farm and wild animals, because she would chase and kill rabbits and rats. We even trained her to watch for hawks, eagles and herons (we have a koi pond). If she saw them circling the pasture or pond she would run the fence line barking at the birds in the sky until they flew off. We had chicks in the house in a tote and she would look in the tote and watch them. Sadly she passed away at age 14 and a half. We would like to get another dog, but not sure we can find a replacement.

 

[CatMom2]

We have a German Shepherd that is very protective of our chickens. In fact, if she is outside she doesn’t allow any animal to be on the property that doesn’t live here. She is very gentle and when we bring new chickens home, she knows they belong to us and her, so she protects them. We do bring her inside at night, so the chickens’ only protection is being inside the coop. If you wanted a dog to stay outside with the chickens, a German Shepherd would be a good breed to do that.

 

[FogHornLegHorn79]

I disagree we had a female pitbull that was an excellent farm dog. We got her when she was two, and we had horses. She was good with them. When she was about 8 we added chickens, sheep and pigs to our farm. She would go in the pasture and never bother any of them. She slept in the orchard with the chickens, they would crawl on her even eat her food. She never killed or chased a single chicken. I think some how she could tell the difference between the animals that were suppose to be part of the farm and wild animals, because she would chase and kill rabbits and rats. We even trained her to watch for hawks, eagles and herons (we have a koi pond). If she saw them circling the pasture or pond she would run the fence line barking at the birds in the sky until they flew off. We had chicks in the house in a tote and she would look in the tote and watch them. Sadly she passed away at age 14 and a half. We would like to get another dog, but not sure we can find a replacement.

From a 60,000ft view I have to completely agree with Chicken Wizard. I have worked and played alot with the guard dog propositions and have had more trouble than solutions. While I understand that what you have works for you and I am happy it does, odds are if you tried out 20 dogs for the role of chicken guardian you'd probably get one, maybe two that would actually work out for you. You got lucky and I am happy for you. It's tough to find a good dog that wont kill chicks or chickens AND not do it consistently.

 

[Shepherdesscmh]

First of all, you need a fence. If you cannot have a fence, you at least need a solid, predator-proof coop and run in which to house your chickens at night.

Dogs as guards of poultry are a crapshoot. Some will be great, others will kill the flock, but as a previous poster said, NO dog really understands traffic well enough to keep himself safe let alone keep chickens out of the road without a fence.

I have seen coyotes kill geese AND emus. Seriously.

Fence, fence, fence plus predator-proof coop.

 

[clembone]

I have kept chickens and dogs together since 1995 in the same large fenced area. The chickens roam free in and out of their coop at will. The dogs often sleep in the bottom part of the coop.

One dog was half german shepard, half retriever. One dog was a stray who looked like a big black wolf. My dog now is a rescue dog who appears to be a full blood, good breed of chesapeke bay retriever.

Each of these dogs protected the back yard and the chickens from foxes, possoms, and raccoons.

They were all excellent helpers who knew what to do. The only problem was the half retriever, who liked to pick the chickens up and run them around the house once and drop them. The chickens seemed to wait in line for their turn on the carnival ride. She never hurt one. But I had to stop her, as in my part of the country a dog with a chicken in its mouth might be shot by someone more or less automatically.

Only the half retriever was a pup when I got it. The wolfy one and the chesepeke were both well over a year old when I got them. I think the chesapeke might have been four or five, even.

as i've told many chicken keepers, NEVER GET DOGS AS GUARD ANIMALS!! they will kill your flock when you're not looking. no matter the breed, no matter the size, no matter the training. they all have the predatory urge to kill small animals, including chickens. for protection, use geese or emus. they are certainly less expensive to hatch from eggs than dogs, and if you let a broody hen raise them, they will grow up bonded to that flock, willing to risk their lives to protect it. a stinking mutt will only pretend to love the flock in return for treats and food, and will kill your chickens without hesitation once it stops receiving treats. geese and emus are the way to go. many online hatchereys carry goslings, and you can find emu eggs usually under 60 us dollars on eBay.

 

[Holowinko]

I have dogs and wouldn't trust them around my chickens .I have an electric fence from premier1supplies.com that is solar power.and hawkstopper.com Hawkstopper which is a visual defelection net for above the electric fence. Area is around 20x40. We have hawks, fox and bear and fishercats in the area and have not had a problem. We use hardware clothe which is a quarter inch around the chicken run which has a roof. Our dogs went right up to our chicken yard when we put them in there a got a good zap! Other people in town who free ranged don't have any chickens left.

 

[CatMom2]

We don’t have backyard chickens as maybe some do on this page. We live in a mountain area where we have lot of predators. There is no such thing as a “predator proof” coop up here, unless it is built like a normal house with insulation, heating and cooling, etc. Even then if it’s too far from the house and a bear or mountain lion knew chickens were inside, they might tear it open. We have a secure coop with a large fenced in area that keeps out small animals, but it would be no problem for large predators to tear it up. During the day in nice weather the chickens free range on the property. In 3 years of having chickens here the only ones that have been killed were ones that decided to roost in trees instead of going in the coop at night and 2 were killed by stray dogs. We have a good coop and we love our chickens. They are for eggs and pets, we never eat them.

 

[Jeddice]

I think our dogs keep out any wild life from our chicken yard. This includes 2 coops and a secure pen in between them, which sits in a walled in yard. The chickens have run of the yard during the day, the dogs have dog door so they come and go. My dogs aren’t guard dogs but they have been with the chickens since they were days old. And they can cause a racket when something comes in yard. I have 6 female Shih Tzu’s and 2 male chihuahuas.

 

[cmom]

Years ago a daughter had a Walker Hound. She left it with us because she couldn't have pets where she was living. She was an older dog and didn't bother with the birds. My personal opinion is there may be some breeds better at protecting poultry than other breeds but there are always exceptions. Some dogs will absolutely protect the birds, others could care less and others would rather kill the birds. After Daisy died, no more dogs. Prior to Daisy we had an English Setter and a Lab/Sheppard mix. Instead of dogs, I fortified my coops and pens but it was after some losses from predators. I think if the dog is raised with the birds as a puppy, it can be trained.

 

[CatMom2]

Quite a number of people have stated that their dogs have not killed their chickens and that proves not all dogs kill chickens. Our German Shepherd is alone with the chickens a lot and had never hurt them. She was about 3 years old when we got our chickens and she was told they are ours and don’t hurt them. She’s really smart. She loves the little kittens that were brought home too. One time before we let the chickens free range, one got out and our dog was trying to herd the chicken back. When that didn’t work, she held it to the ground with her nose until we got there. The worst that happened was a snotty wet spot from her nose. The chickens aren’t a bit afraid of her or the 3 cats on the property, which is really not good because I think that might make them not afraid of anything.