What is the best FLOCK Guard dog?

[chickensducks&agoose]

My Border Collie/ Black Lab mix is wonderful. Other than one accidental 'popping' of a chick 2 years ago, she has been an angel. She likes to chase our male mallard duck, because it cracks her up when he flies. She does not ever harm anything, chick to goose, though she does get 'goosed' by our BSB Goose if she gets too close to baby goose. Find a good nice dog, and train them from when they're young to NOT EAT Birds!!!

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Quote:
Well, there are several problems I can see. New dog, Shepard may be acting out because of jealousy. Many chained dogs become aggressive. You say you don’t let them play with the chickens. Do / did you let them interact with the chickens? My dogs are allowed to walk around, sniff and socialize with the other animals. Doesn’t take long for them to know what belongs and not to chase or try to harm it/them.

No one said you were stupid, but understanding a dogs behavior can be challenging. Training comes easy to some of us, others not so much.

 

[kateseidel]

We have a 9 month old Collie / shepherd mix and a new Golden Retriever puppy. The dogs are great with the hens, but let's face it - the hens are giant moving plush toys! I don't leave my dogs out while the hens are out unless I am there with them. That's just asking for a bad situation.

 

[Beekissed]

I would find chickens in the morning dead but not bitten.

Am I right in assuming that your young dog killed these birds when you were not around to witness it? If so, I would venture to say that the dog is allowed to play with the chickens unsupervised. That was the first mistake.

Being an alpha dog is much more than having a dog recognize you as the owner and loving to please you. Being alpha means they recognize what is yours and leave it the heck alone.

Making these observations does not in any way imply you are stupid...merely unfamiliar with what makes a good stock dog, as posed in your thread title. What we are saying is you could already possess some really good livestock dogs if they were just guided more. A lot of people know how to train their dogs but this doesn't mean they know how to train them to be around livestock unsupervised....and this doesn't imply they are stupid because they do not.

The first step toward solving a problem is admitting you have a problem. And its not all the dog's problem.... when you place dogs with chickens you have to take responsibility for the interaction between the two. You can't just let them all co-exist and hope for the best...and then become horribly disappointed because the dog just didn't pick up on how much you "love your chickens".

Give them a chance and work on them with this problem and you may be pleasantly surprised at how your dogs do with this.​

 

[beckyschicks]

I agree with the others and just want to say that take no offense to what they are saying. I'm reading it and taking it as a learning tool. The way I trained my dogs was to pick up one of my chickens and have to dog sit next to me focusing on the chicken. I would then toss the bird up in the air so it would flap. (The flapping is want kicks in the instict to chase at least that's what I have found.) When the dog moved or showed interest to would yell NO in a loud and firm voice and step forward taking a dominant position. I would repeat this until they either look away when the bird is dropped or looked scared. I have two dogs, one a austrailian Kelpie and the other a sheltie/chow mix. The kepie was my husbands dog and greatly disliked me in the beginning, but she respects me and leaves my chickens alone for fear of what I might do if she did anything. The mix is mine and I got him from the pound in Jan. He only wants to make me happy. I spend alot of time with my dogs and the Kepie is the dominate one between the two, so I try to duplicate her behavior on both. I have spent alot of time reading about dog behavior before I got chickens. I sorry for your loss and the disappointment you are going through.
Try it and see if it works. I hope that it does! Good Luck!

Also my girlfriend tried a shock collar and it worked for her. That also might work.

 

[sjarreau]

I have a Great Pyenese puppy. So far I've had very good luck training him. I've been having a coon problem so the feed mill told me about the GP puppies they had for sale. So I bought one. He did want to play with the chickens 1st but I remember scolding him really one good time and never again. He is 18 weeks old and I bring him back and forth in the chicken yard when I let the chickens in and out. The last 2 weekend's I have let him hang out in the barn the whole day while we work in there. I've even caught him sleeping under the tree with the chicken standing all around him. He has really worked out good. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful puppy. I just hope he can control the predators. I introduced him to his 1st coon the other morning. He just barked and ran around the the trap bucking up. Well long story short I spend 95% with him at the chicken yard the other 5% my 9 year old is playing football with him. I bought him mainly to protect the flock. I hope you have luck training your dogs!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I have two dogs and neither one of them is a keeper

It's very possible they can be trained​

 

[Bedste]

"My German Shepherd KILLED my best Rooster today..... (there was blood)..... my mongrel puppy plays with the chickens until they die...... I have two dogs and neither one of them is a keeper.... OMG"


I thought once you had blood that was it.... My German Shepherd left my BO Roo pretty bloody......

 

[pgpoultry]

I have posted on ' stories ' that my Border Collie currently has a broody hen who is brooding on his bed and I have had to give him another bed.

The hen is in the background wearing a saddle!
My BC has always had chickens around him and is safe, but I do not think there is a particular breed which is better than any others, it very much depends upon the dog.
Jared (the BC) is very protective of 'his' chickens.

Sandie

 

[3chimama]

Quote:
I have two chihuahuas that are great with my chickens as well!!