What breed of dogs do best with free-range chickens?

[dainerra]

lunging is pretty normal behavior. Teach her a "leave it" command. If she is lunging, though, you ARE starting your training too close to the birds. Keep them in their run and start from a distance where she just notices them. Tell her "watch me" and reward her for ignoring the birds. Once she is 100% with ignoring the birds and paying attention to you at that distance over several days, you can move closer. Start the process again. If she ignores you and stays focused on the birds, back up until she focuses on you and then gradually move forward.

Teaching a dog to ignore chickens isn't a 2 minute process. It takes patience and time. Do NOT leave her outside unattended until you know that she is 100% reliable. If the birds are out, the dog is up. If the dog is out, the birds are away. If she gets a bird, take the dead body and beat yourself in the head with it while saying "BAD OWNER"

I'm not a big fan of dogs left outside unless they are livestock guardian breeds who have been selected for generations to not be as reliant on humans. GSDs and Boxers are both VERY human-oriented. The GSD is a herding dog, but they are bred to be 100% obedient to their shepherd - hard to do if they are outside alone. I've seen many happy working dogs who sleep outside at night, but they spend all their waking hours in the company of their owner who is also outside.

 

[Skyesrocket]

I had a chow/shep many years ago and I agree....they are great all around dogs.
I agree that it depends on the dog although some breeds would have a stronger prey drive than others.
First, have someone walk your dog around the chickens with you. Dogs want to smell a new animals butt. Have the person that isn't holding the leash pick up chickens one at a time and hold them for the dog...butt facing the dog. Keep doing this until you can see the dog getting bored with all of the butt smelling.
That is where I would start. This way it doesn't set up a chase situation. A loose dog will go to smell a chicken and the chicken moves away, the dog moves faster and spooks the chicken and it runs....the dog chases....ugh. Try to avoid this.
Good Luck!

 

[Kevin565]

All of my dogs (Great Danes, High Content Wolf Dogs, Chiweenie) free range with my birds. All of them were raised as babies with the exception of the chiweenie around the birds and have grown quite fond of them.

 

[yomama]

I have 4 dogs, 1 Shih Tzu/ poodle mix, 1 Maltese/ Doxie mix, 1 Pit/ /Shepherd/Akita/Pointer? mix, and 1 Pit/ dang near every breed mix. I agree it depends on the dog. None of these dogs were raised with chickens. In fact, when my neighbors' chickens would sneak into our yard, they would dang near kill it. When we first got chickens, my dogs did laps around the run, fascinated with the chickens. Didn't take too long until the newness of the chickens wore off. I would say within about a month, it wasn't the first thing they ran to when they were let out. Now, mind you, I would never leave any of my dogs alone with my chickens, but that's just me. However, I can have my dogs loose out with me and the chickens, without a problem. Now they won't even chase the neighbors' chickens if they sneak over. My chickens are in another yard, so I didn't necessarily have to have my dogs on a lead, since they already knew the "leave it" command very well. I would say my best dog with the chickens is my Pit/everything mix, and my worst is my Shih Tzue/ Poodle. I truly feel that any dog is capable of being around chickens. Just depends on how committed you are to training. I do feel that breeds that aren't born with a huge prey drive might prove to be more at ease with chickens, but you never know. Seeing as you already have a new dog, all I can say is stick with it. Most dogs are attracted to little things that move, it's only natural. I was really surprised how well my dogs adjusted, considering how obsessed they were in the beginning.
Keep with the training and don't get discourage!!

BTW, I strongly agree with dainerra's last post. DO NOT LEAVE THE DOG OUT WITH THE CHICKENS UNLESS YOU ARE 150% SURE IT IS GOING TO BE FINE. If not, you are not only putting your chickens' lives in danger, you are truly setting your dog up for failure. Not only that, harder to train a dog that has had the chance to kill a chicken.

 

[heathergreen]

I agree with other posters...it's the individual dog. We have two Great Danes, our female Duchess has an extremely HIGH prey drive...if it's small and moves she wants to eat it. Our male, Earl has no prey drive but he has a high PLAY drive, lol... we have our chickens in a chain link coop so the dogs can't get in. Earl will actually watch them through the fencing and will do down on his front legs wanting to play with them. We don't even let Duchess go over to the coop.

When adopting a dog, I'd go for something that at least likes cats and small dogs...that will help in getting it used to being around chickens.

 

[AHDCST]

I have a miniature dachshund that would eat anything that moves,except for a baby chick or chicken. He tells me when one has hatched in the incubator and takes his job at checking on them very seriously! If I say go check on the little ones he will go straight to the brooder box. If I tell him to round up the chickens he goes out and actually barks and tells them to come out of their houses into their open pens. They wait patiently as he escorts me to each pen with the scratch. He even has to stick his nose in the bucket to be sure I have it right. I had a Black Sexlink get out of the enclosure last week. Ozzy held it down by one wing and barked like a mad man until I came outside. He never once has offered to harm any of my chickens. Breed does matter. I also have a Dachshund/German Shepherd, yes you read it right, that would eat any and all of the chickens if given the chance. Be careful!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I've only known one Black and Tan Coonhound well. That dog was the worst sheep killer I've ever encountered, so I suggest caution about a coonhound and birds without a lot of careful monitoring and training. They are hunting dogs.

 

[Squawkbox]

How do you even get that?? I'm guessing an assisted mating..?
Got any pics? I can't imagine the cross of that lol.

I also have a Dachshund/German Shepherd, yes you read it right

 

[Skyesrocket]

My guess is that the shepherd was the female and that she layed down. I saw my neighbors shep lay down for her toy poodle once...lol.

 

[Squawkbox]

Lol layed down..interesting. I had a neighbour that her GSD got mated by an English Bulldog, those were some ugly puppies.

ETA I'd hope the Shepherd was the dam as I'd hate to see a Dachshund whelp Shepherd pups!

My guess is that the shepherd was the female and that she layed down. I saw my neighbors shep lay down for her toy poodle once...lol.