whats the best breed of dog to get with 3 chickens in the backyard?

[cluckler]

hi everyone!
we are planning on adopting a dog (not a puppy) from the animal protection society soon. we have three chickens (two wyandottes and one americana) who are about 5 mos old (not laying quite yet).
i assume we will be getting some mixed-breed mutt, as it's from the pound. can you recommend breeds to stay away from and/or breeds that are good with chickens? we can keep them separated but i just want to be careful.
thanks!

 

[CMV]

Everyone is going to have different opinions about the best type of dog to get because frequently dogs and chickens don't mix. I am not so sure that breed has as much to do with good chicken dogs as training, training, training. Stay away from high prey driven dogs- terriers, huskies, daschunds. That's my only word of advice.

Good for you rescuing one from the pound. I have a lovely shepherd cross rescue who I would trust with my life. She is absolutely trustworthy around any animals- bigger or smaller. She went through a lot of training, though, because she was feral when she was a pup. Training is the key to a good dog.

Good luck.

 

[Terri O]

It's my opinion that any breed of dog can be trained to stay away from your birds...well, except maybe my jack russell terrier! Probably the best ones would be protection or herding type dogs. I would stay away from the bird dog type (although I have known many that are great with chickens) and the hunting type--the ones that hunt mice and stuff. It really is up to the individual personality of the dog and your set up. Good luck! Terri O

 

[sixlittlechicks09]

I agree with what everyone else says, it's less about the dog and more about TRAINING. Try to get a dog that's "smarter" I know that's hard to do by just picking one out, but the easier it is to teach, the easier your life is going to be. We've got a beagle who, in typical beagle fashion, will not listen to a WORD anyone says. We're just lucky she's too fat to want to chase the chooks. Our boston terrier on the other hand, is EXTREMELY prey driven, but also REALLY smart. We worked with some dog trainers in our area and actually taught us and him some basic commands: go left, go right, go away from me, come to me, heal and sit. He became a pretty useful dog around the chickens. I'm a firm believer that training above breeds will make or break any dog. Good luck! And hope to see some pictures of your new dog

 

[Inkheart]

I agree no spaniels - terriers - anything that might be gamey - tho my Dachshunds are great - mind you the one learned the hard way after an over protective hen gave him what for - been an angel since! LOL

 

[Bridget399]

My English Bulldog has never attacked my chickens... She'll sniff at them until she gets pecked, but she has no real hunting instinct. Most of the time she'll sit by me and watch them. She's very mild and is getting older.
Now, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever will chase after them, but she's very well trained not to snip or bite. We've worked with her since day one, and she is very eager to please her humans, so she listens to us very well. But I won't let her unsupervised with them. She is trained to retrieve birds, afterall.

 

[PepsNick]

Everyone will have different answers, but my Havanese is GREAT with them. Royal breed ya know.

 

[FinsUp]

I could quote everyone that said TRAINING. That is the key. If you do a search, there have been many, many, many ... discussions about what breed is best. We have a "gamey" breed (stupid dog, but still a gamey breed - Lab) that we "trained" for a couple of months with the chickens.

He could walk around the run and sniff - no problem, but when we let them out for free ranging he sat with us on a leash while we watched "chicken TV". This went on for months til we were sure he showed no interest in the girls. They would walk right next to him and he would pay no attention to them. Then we let him off the leash and still sat out there - still no interest. Now he thinks he is a rooster and sniffs chicken butts! That is the only interest he has in them - their little "presents" (gross, but not harmful to them).

Congrats to a rescue dog! training, training, and more training. No guarantee there will be no "accidents". It is a dog after all.

 

[centrarchid]

Mutt with floppy ears and good disposition. Your selection of the individual and training effort will greatly out-weigh what breed is used. Pure breed we have used that seemed docile and required minimal training has been Boston terrier. A breed that proven really problematic in our yard has been the beagle. They tend to be bone headed in respect to chickens.

 

[sixlittlechicks09]

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