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

[noodleroo]

It will depend on the dog and it's training. My Rough Coat Collie (like Lassie) is great with the chickens; she is a well trained dog (that thinks she's a person).

 

[chickerdoodle]

noodleroo--I would HATE to see chick poop all over your dog's beautiful coat!!

Really though--gorgeous dog.

I agree with training being the key. Our dog is a herding breed, a Belgian Malinois, but she was a military dog in the US Air-force when we adopted her at 2 years of age. She injured her knee and we had her get the surgery so now is good as new. Yep--our house is explosive free and patrolled daily.

I took a lot of time and much patience as she has incredible drive (only the ones with high drive work in the military as its intense work) and now she believes its her job to protect them and herd back to the coop if necessary. Find the reward that works best for your dog and use positive training so they WANT to please you and not just afraid of the consequences (punishment).

 

[austinandkara]

We have a german shepherd and he is good around the chickens. He mostly just ignores them. We have had him around chickens since he was a puppy and I think that he knows that the chickens are our pets so he won't harm them.

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
Thank you, I just love her. Patsy (Patsy Kline, the collie) loves to swim in both fresh and salt water. She lives in the house with us so I brush her really often. In those pics she was throwing her coat. To my knowledge, they have never pooped on her! At least I've never found any on her

...

 

[speakup4kids]

My black lab is a big softy, she has "picked up and returned" an escaped chicken once but never otherwise harmed my chicks or chickens. She is very nervous if she sees them where they are not supposed to be though

She will keep watch and make sure they stay in the appropriate place…

My maltese, on the other hand is always trying to figure out how he can have a "chicks snack" but stays away from the big guys…

My third dog, a chihuahua terrier cross we keep far far away from the chickens completely… He tries to eat EVERYTHING!!!

 

[suebee]

Golden Retrievers are great with my free range silkies. It's all about the training.

 

[casuarius]

pretty much anything you raise up with chickens will be fine, but you will have to stop it from chasing, and train it. However sporting or hunting dogs have more of a killer instinct and will be more of a risk, such as hounds, bird dogs, etc. Livestock dogs would be the best, I keep Pembroke Welsh Corgi's, they are the smallest breed of livestock guardians, and have a natural protective instinct. They are also very intelligent, friendly to people, and love attention. Don't get much over 20lbs. Cute little dogs.

 

[Pawshpets]

My chicks are very young but we have German Shepherds. We have been sure to let them both be around the chicks as we hold them so that they get used to them. I dont know that we would trust them to be out without being with them with the chickens in the yard but I do know that they are very good at keeping the stray cats and other critters out of our yard. My 11 month old is very interested in the chicks and like to sniff and lick them and once the ckicks get older we plan to start working with them on leash with the chickens. The chicks actually dont seem to mind the dogs anymore since they both like to lay by the brooder and sleep and when the chicks get upset or loud my 3 yr old runs over to make sure they are ok and then she lays down by them. When I go to the brooder they scatter but when the dogs go over to it now they stretch their little necks as far as they can to see the dogs. The best advice I can give is to get the dog into obedience and maybe even try to find a herding trainer and teach your dog the proper commands and get them used to livestock and birds.

Chrissy

 

[Shady]

My Cattle Dog x does just fine with chickens. However, we've had problems with everything else. He was a rescue and ugh.. aggressive, chased cats, etc. I wouldn't recommend one, unless you got a very young puppy. My APBT is afraid of chickens... but that's rather atypical of the breed, as they tend to have high prey drives.
I'd get a calmer small-medium breed, preferably young, and work with it.

 

[Double-0 Chicken]

We have an Australian Cattle Dog/Australian Shepard mix and as a puppy (last summer) he was fine with the chickens. This year he tends to put them in his mouth-no teeth but it makes me nervous. Dog on lead=chickens loose. Dog loose=chickens in coop. Not much other choice until the weather is better and I can get him out there to train him properly. Yikes!

It usually goes something like this:

Kids outside playing with chickens, dog runs toward chickens and scatters them, kids yelling at dog trying to gather and protect chickens. Dog desparately trying to herd chickens but, well, chickens don't generally herd well when frightened so they "fly" which drives dog crazy. It's a never ending cycle of craziness which wouldn't be home without it