What is a "SAFE" breed of dog to have with free range chickens?

[annep]

My great pyr ate a chicken...We are still working on that..so, just depends on the dog. I would for sure stay away from bird dogs..

 

[TrystInn]

I would recommend herding dogs. We have a marvelous Border Collie who herds our ducks for us and if a chicken decides she's not ready to go in the coop at night, Gracie will gently guide her with her nose into the coop with very little fuss.

 

[ScissorChick]

Doesn't matter what breed of dog. Training is all that matters. Get the dog young, raise it

with chickens. I hear Great pyrenese - That is probably spelled wrong

- Is a good dog, but

ofcoarse, still needs TONS of training.

 

[msbee]

We have a beagle, and he was about a year old when we got the chicks. He is smart and was easy to train. We would hold the chicks and love on them and let hm sit next to us and smell them. The funny thing was he would lay and roll over without being told because he thought we were going to give him a treat! But we told him NO repeatedly and continued to hold them and love on them and made it clear that they were ours, not his as they grew. Other than stealing their food whenever possible, he has never bothered them.

However, one of our indoor Zebra finches escaped once and we never found her. We just saw Sherlock exiting the room with a smile on his face... and a couple feathers floating in the breeze.

So, any dog would need to be trained...

 

[SlowRiverFarms]

As many have said, it's about training and the individual dog. Our property dog is a Border Collie. Her parents were "chicken" dogs who kept watch over a 1000+ bird flock. We got her young and trained her from day one. She does not let any chicks stray from the yard and she has only hurt one in the last three years - a bit too aggressive trying to get a wayward chick out of some rose bushes (but all turned out fine).

Read up on training dogs to work with livestock. The first several months I took our dog on a leash to the chicken pasture 2-3 times every day to learn "the routine". It's a lot of work, but definitely worth it.

 

[Badbaby05]

I have 2 pomeranians and a beagle. One pom could careless, the other will kill if I let her. I'm in the middle of trainer her to herd them (she's thinking HURT). Beagle is totally indifferent to them. Awesome bunch of dogs except her which I have to watch carefully.

 

[Dave's funny farm]

I have to agree it's how it is trained. My shepherd/lab x only went after the birds once-he learned his lesson. I'm afraid there is no helping the cats though....

 

[krcote]

None.

 

[schellie69]

I have 5 dogs that are great with the chickens. My son's dog no go when chickens are out she is locked up when dogs are out the chickens are locked up, we are working with her but it will take a lot of training. I think starting with a puppy and working for day one would be your best bet. Good luck

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I had an awesome Cattle Dog that could care less about the chickens. Chicks on the other hand she was ready to snack on. I have a new CattleDog girl who is showing a bit too much interest in the chickens.

As you have seen in these posts, training, TRAINING and MORE TRAINING is what is needed. Personally I believe larger dogs, Pyrs, Mir's are great flock dogs. Borders are wonderful animals who if trained to work stock will not let you down. Honestly, other than Borders, dogs with high prey drive are going to be very iffy around any stock unless trained extensively. My first CattleDog girl was my trained Service Dog, would do anything I asked on the first command. Would stop on a dime. Parents wanted me to train their kids after seeing her work!! But I would never have left her alone with chicks or young ones.


The thing to remember is a dog is a dog. No matter how well trained, it's still an animal with basic instincts. If something happens to your chickens because of your dog, it's not their fault. Not really. They are dogs and nothing more.