What dog breed would you recommend?

[Bigandlittles]

I believe it’s not so much about the breed of dog but the behavior. We have 2 lab/retriever mixes in our house. Ours,Max, a 10 year old and my sister in laws ,Bud,a 3 year old. Our older dog does not even so much as look at the chickens when he goes outside. Max totally ignores them. On the other hand every once in a while Bud will jump at my Jersey giant who likes hanging by the front door. He is called out on it immediately and goes the other way. Same breed dogs two totally different behaviors. You just have to stay firm and any move like he I going to go for a chicken I would let him know that you are onto him.

 

[Cloverr39]

Thank you for the information and suggestions. My dog is doing a bit better with the chickens. She doesn't try to dig under their fence anymore and only seems to be interested in them when someone enters the chicken enclosure. She's well behaved when I have a chicken out. I take my silkies outside of their enclosure when I need to take photos or when I just want to spend some time with an individual chicken.
When I'm around she's not too interested in them. I'm pretty happy with her progress. Only problem is she's unpredictable when no one's around. I woke up one morning to a pullet screaming her head off. Turns out she had somehow escaped the run and gotten into the yard. Peach was holding her down with her paws and ruffling her feathers(?). Idk what she was doing. She probably thought she was playing with the Esper the pullet. I called Peach over to the window and she came quickly, leaving Esper to run and hide. Esper was fine with no injuries other than being in shock and covered in dog saliva. I'm glad she didn't do any serious damage. But yeah, that's that.

This is Esper the same day that it happened.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Wolfspitz is supposed to be a breed with very low prey drive, but they do love to bark ( among others at intruders) and there will always be one who likes to chase other animals my dog, a mix between Australian Shepherd and Tervueren has a very strong prey drive. It took all of 3 years to train her to leave the chickens alone ( she is still very interested in baby chickens) I always corrected her when she tried to go after the chickens, and now, for the last year or so, she ignores them. When the stupid ones fly over the fence she just looks the other way or gets out of their way, but it was a long road to get her there

 

[Sussex19]

Just because a puppy chases chickens, doesn't mean it will when its grown up.
One of our dogs, a shar-pei x Australian cattle dog, has quite a high prey drive, and chased one of my Orps.
I think if we haven't rescued it, she would have killed it.
However, now that she's grown up she's mostly very good with them, despite the fact that we never gave her any formal training to leave them alone.
Well I still don't let her be with my most precious hens, she is often with the cockerels, and is actually starting to take care of them a bit.

 

[FerretzLoverz]

My family currently has 2 dogs - a 10 year old Jack Russell terrier and a 1 year old labrador/samoyed mix. The Jack Russell used to be interested in small chicks only, but nowadays has very little interest in chickens at all. The lab/samoyed mix (her name is Peach) is much more driven to chase after other animals. For example she sometimes likes to chase our 2 cats across the yard. Last summer she killed 3 chicks. After that I've tried to close off my chicken run and I try to keep a close eye on her when I can. Recently she's started to take interest in my chickens again (the 3 week old chicks specifically). Every so often she'll try to dig a hole under the fence. She also likes to run around the fence and watch them.

What dog breed do you think would fit for me? Now, were not getting rid of our current dogs, nor are we getting a new dog, but I've sort of been trying to figure out my "perfect dog breed" for over a year now with no luck. I'd want a loyal, medium sized dog with low prey drive. I've heard a lot about the great Pyrenees, but I'm not a fan of it and I've also heard they tend to kill chickens. My chickens are very precious to me and I name and get very attached to every single one. That's why I'm so scared to lose another one to a dog. Border collies were on my list for a while, but they need like a LOT of exercise and requires you to work with them a lot. I also absolutely love whippets, but they have a high prey drive, so I'll probably never own a whippet or greyhound. I'm not a huge dog person, so I'd prefer a dog that doesn't need me to play with it 24/7. Like a chill dog that will lay down in the shade while chickens walk around it, but wouldn’t hesitate to protect me and my house.

Is this a bit too complicated? Can you at least nudge me in the right direction to solving this "perfect dog breed" question once and for all?

I would recommend an aussie

 

[SandyRiverChick]

To address your very first question about finding "what breed is the breed for you," go to dog shows. Be around different breeds and it will happen. Just the visual will either get your heart rate up or down and then you can investigate those who you like at first impression, further. It's a way harder road to go down if you just get a dog breed hoping you'll love it and then you don't. I know without any shadow of a doubt what breeds I love and how much and what breeds just do not do it for me. And again, the way to meet the greatest variety and leave the show really intrigued by one or more particular breeds is just go to a local dog show. For the record I've had Newfoundlands, Leonbergers, Great Pyrenes, Golden Retrievers, Corgi's and Shelties around Chickens. All have been great with chickens EXCEPT Newfies.....

 

[Chicken poppy]

Snickerdoodle. Not only are they loyal, they taste delicious to.

 

[Pyramidt]

Thank you for the information and suggestions. My dog is doing a bit better with the chickens. She doesn't try to dig under their fence anymore and only seems to be interested in them when someone enters the chicken enclosure. She's well behaved when I have a chicken out. I take my silkies outside of their enclosure when I need to take photos or when I just want to spend some time with an individual chicken.
When I'm around she's not too interested in them. I'm pretty happy with her progress. Only problem is she's unpredictable when no one's around. I woke up one morning to a pullet screaming her head off. Turns out she had somehow escaped the run and gotten into the yard. Peach was holding her down with her paws and ruffling her feathers(?). Idk what she was doing. She probably thought she was playing with the Esper the pullet. I called Peach over to the window and she came quickly, leaving Esper to run and hide. Esper was fine with no injuries other than being in shock and covered in dog saliva. I'm glad she didn't do any serious damage. But yeah, that's that.View attachment 3217810View attachment 3217811

This is Esper the same day that it happened.
View attachment 3217819

My family currently has 2 dogs - a 10 year old Jack Russell terrier and a 1 year old labrador/samoyed mix. The Jack Russell used to be interested in small chicks only, but nowadays has very little interest in chickens at all. The lab/samoyed mix (her name is Peach) is much more driven to chase after other animals. For example she sometimes likes to chase our 2 cats across the yard. Last summer she killed 3 chicks. After that I've tried to close off my chicken run and I try to keep a close eye on her when I can. Recently she's started to take interest in my chickens again (the 3 week old chicks specifically). Every so often she'll try to dig a hole under the fence. She also likes to run around the fence and watch them.

What dog breed do you think would fit for me? Now, were not getting rid of our current dogs, nor are we getting a new dog, but I've sort of been trying to figure out my "perfect dog breed" for over a year now with no luck. I'd want a loyal, medium sized dog with low prey drive. I've heard a lot about the great Pyrenees, but I'm not a fan of it and I've also heard they tend to kill chickens. My chickens are very precious to me and I name and get very attached to every single one. That's why I'm so scared to lose another one to a dog. Border collies were on my list for a while, but they need like a LOT of exercise and requires you to work with them a lot. I also absolutely love whippets, but they have a high prey drive, so I'll probably never own a whippet or greyhound. I'm not a huge dog person, so I'd prefer a dog that doesn't need me to play with it 24/7. Like a chill dog that will lay down in the shade while chickens walk around it, but wouldn’t hesitate to protect me and my house.

Is this a bit too complicated? Can you at least nudge me in the right direction to solving this "perfect dog breed" question once and for all?

I have 2 Pitbull mix breeds. 1 Heeler and 1 purebred pitbull. They all would die to protect their chickens. The pure Pit and the Pit Akita mix found and killed a coyote that was hunting the chickens. I showed them that the chickens were important to me and therefore they should be important to them. The Akita mix will "get that chicken" when one of my girls doesn't want to coop up, which means she will corner her until I get there. It's all about training! A shock collar has worked wonders for me. The Akita will lay in the yard and let the chickens peck her butt with no reaction. All of my dogs are rescues. You just need to spend time with them. Dogs want to please you above all else. Show them what's important to you and they will follow suit. Like the other people said take them out with you to do chores and correct them as necessary they will get it.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I have a Chihuahua and a Boston Terrier/Doxen mix. They are both very interested in the ducklings when they are small and in my house but know better than to even think of going after them. They have seen them raised in my house for two years. I also had them around my bunnies that I had previously before the ducks. They were scolded enough when they were young that they are great around them now. I don't believe it is the breed of dog, I believe it is the training that they get around your Chickens or ducks. Any breed can go after them if they are not trained not to. My pet bunnies used to be in a range free enclosure and they knew better than to bother them after being around them. I also had a training color I used on them. I never had to shock them, they only heard the beep on it and knew whatever they were doing to stop. That helped a lot with the bunnies and ducklings both. Good luck with your dogs.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Thank you for the information and suggestions. My dog is doing a bit better with the chickens. She doesn't try to dig under their fence anymore and only seems to be interested in them when someone enters the chicken enclosure. She's well behaved when I have a chicken out. I take my silkies outside of their enclosure when I need to take photos or when I just want to spend some time with an individual chicken.
When I'm around she's not too interested in them. I'm pretty happy with her progress. Only problem is she's unpredictable when no one's around. I woke up one morning to a pullet screaming her head off. Turns out she had somehow escaped the run and gotten into the yard. Peach was holding her down with her paws and ruffling her feathers(?). Idk what she was doing. She probably thought she was playing with the Esper the pullet. I called Peach over to the window and she came quickly, leaving Esper to run and hide. Esper was fine with no injuries other than being in shock and covered in dog saliva. I'm glad she didn't do any serious damage. But yeah, that's that.View attachment 3217810View attachment 3217811

This is Esper the same day that it happened.
View attachment 3217819

You are most welcome and I am glad that you are seeing improvement in your dog. All animals can be unpredictable no matter how good they are trained. We just have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't slip up just like some of us humans do at time.