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- #11
humblehillsfarm
Crazy chicken lady
Beautiful doggies! Yes I did reach out to a shelter and they allowed a 3-day "trial." Personally I don't think that is long enough for the dog to even decompress, but I understand from their side why they wouldn't want to do longer. Luckily for all the doggos, shelters have had very few options! There have been very few dogs in any of my local shelters, but the few that are there are most often pit bulls. I'm somewhat open to a pit, but that isn't my preferred breed because they can have a high prey drive.My mutt (1/8 American bull dog and 1/8 rat terrier rest was to muddled for the dna test) does just fine around my chickens, she also did fine around my guinea pigs, and if I bring a cat into the house she does fine with them as well. I can even let her in the chicken coop and all she wants to do is eat the poops. That said if neighborhood cats are in the backyard or alley behind the house she will chase them off, and when she see rabbits while on walks she stares at them with a very focused stare like she wants to chase them down. Though that might be because she just wants to smell them.
She was raised around cats and bearded dragons and a small Pomeranian was her doggie role modal. and when I got my guinea pigs I made sure to introduce her to them in a way that made her know that they were apart of the pack. I did the same with the chicks as I was raising them, made sure she got to know them and sniff them. when I first got her (she was a rescue) her very first owner starved her and her brother so badly they almost died, and she was terrified of the world around her, would hide behind the couch (on top of that the person that originally adopted her from the shelter, their house burned down and my dog was inside the house for most of the fire took her home after that) I now can get her to sit in front of a fire place and she does not give a single care in the world, she loves meeting new dogs and animals and people. With the right socialization and training she managed to get over her fears.
I think any dog can be good around chickens if you get them as a puppy and make sure that they are very well socialized around many different animals. Though like others have said stay away from high strung dogs, hunting dogs, huskies and herding dogs are very athletic dogs and are very high strung because of it, they have drives if not worked in a way that satiates that drive they can be too much to handle for most dog owners. That said if you have plenty of experience in raising and training dogs then I would think you could do just fine with a breed like that.
Another option is to go to shelters near you and bring one of your chickens and test to see how the adult dogs do around your chicken and just pick out a dog that is chill around them, nice thing about adult shelter dogs is you can already tell how they will be and know their personality.
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Mika (my dog) and her best friend Kira
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I don't really want to go to a breeder and most shelter dogs are adults. Also I work long days so it would be more challenging to handle puppy energy. The door isn't closed to a breeder or a puppy, but it isn't a preference. I *did* find an excellent training facility very close to my home in hopes that someone with more experience can help "teach an old dog new tricks".If you want an adult, it may be harder to train.