whats the safest dog to have with 3 chickens?

[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!

 

[maizey]

no untrained dog is going to be safe with chickens. Its not the breed so much as the personality and the training. having said that, any hunting breed is going to have that much more of a prey drive to over come with training. good luck and stay vigilant..no unsupervised visits to the chicken yard.

 

[easttxchick]

I don't have one, but a friend of mine raises/breeds exotics and he swears by the Great Pyrenees as flock protectors. Fight to the death to protect "their" animals. They do eat a ton, though.

Other than that, just like the above poster said, no lab mixes or hunting breeds-period, their hunting drive is just too much for them to resist.
Good luck!

 

[augustmomx2]

The only suggestion I can give you is from my personal experience. Our dog is a golden/chow mix, he is over 9yrs old and we got him as a stray as well, 8yrs ago. We had our girls pinned up for several months, gave him an opportunity to get used to them, etc. One night we left chicken door open after an afternoon of free-ranging. I though for sure our dog had a chicken breakfast, but amazingly enough, he was just roaming the yard, along w/them.

I really think, had we had the chickens when he was still young and wild, he would have ate several. But now that he's old, he could careless about the chickens.

I'm not sure if its the breeds in him that make a difference, his older age or the fact, that no matter what, he is always given the 1st treat before any chickens (this is very important to him!). So sorry its not much advice, just a personal experience. Good luck and I think its wonderful you're adopting a dog. Mutts are the best and shelter dogs really love and appreciate their owners

 

[ldkovacs]

I agree that it is not a breed specific trait as much as training one. I have several dogs, most are rottweilers& 2 are hounds, and each one is different with the chickens. I also have horses and cats

The dogs who came before the chickens are never allowed to go out near the coop without me. All of my new pups and young dogs are raised going to the coop with me. The hounds are way harder than the rotties with this training!
If I had to recomend a breed to go with, look for the gaurdian breeds. Anatolians, Pyrenees, Kuvasz, ect. Check out the shelter as well as rescues for these breeds. Herding breeds can be good if they are not too hyper and want to be with people. A herding dog who does not want to be trained is tough to live with.I do alot of rottweiler rescue and some of them retain the herding instinct and do great on my mini farm here.
Look for a calm dog who seems to want to be with you and listen. Dogs who are too hyper and lack focus can be hard to train in the time you need. Good luck and I am happy you are rescuing a dog in need.
Oh and on a side note, my friend has 2 pitt bulls a Lab Chow mix and 2 cats who live with his Chickens, Turkeys, pigs and goats. Anything is possible with proper training and the right temperment!

Leslie Kovacs
Central Florida

 

[Keara]

I am going to agree that the best dog is a well trained (by you) dog. But I disagree about the labs or retriever dogs, my chessie is great with the chickens. We started training him as soon as we had chicks, to leave them be. A rooster can attack him and he just walks away. retrievers do not have a high pray drive, they have a drive to retrieve the thing you ask them to. A terrier has a high pray drive, but even still, if trained, should not chase or kill unless asked.

 

[BlackBart]

Any trained dog can be safe with chickens.
A dog trainer told me if you give your puppy/dog squeaky toys then don't expect them not to chase animals that squeak.
Bascially don't give your dogs squeaky toys.

 

[mychookschick]

Hello,

I just wanted to chime in and add that we have (what we believe to be) a Austarlian Shepherd/beagle-ish type mix... We adopted her from our local shelter well before we owned chickens and at first she wanted to lick and chew them like a toy but after a few times correcting (and now that they are grown) she has absolutely no problems with them.

In fact, I trained her to herd them up for me!

EB: I can't type today!

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

I will concur with the general consensus; it's all about training except that dogs breed for guard duty seem to spend more time guarding the property than our non-guarding breed dog. Pyrs are great at guarding, it’s their passion.

Jim

 

[Judy]

My dogs run free with my chickens. They don't guard them, but they certainly leave them alone, and are good about running off any animal that doesn't belong here. I have had what looks like a pure lab, a retriever mix (who looked like a mix of different retrievers,) what looks like a Jack Russell (who I've heard can't be trained not to kill chickens,) and another mutt who looks like an overgrown Chicuahua; I have no clue what he is.

I simply taught them to leave the chickens alone, just as I taught them to leave the cats alone. Took some supervision for a while, but not any more. I'm no professional trainer, but they know what "no" means, and they know who is the pack leader around here.

I must agree that generally, a pound mutt is quite trainable. Two of these were pound dogs and two were strays that we adopted.