Why do my ducks harass our dog?

[AKnewbie]

It's mostly the drake who does but sometimes the female gets in on the action too.
Are they playing or are they really wanting to hurt the dog?
The dog is a 30+lb mini-Aussie so not small by any means.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It's mostly the drake who does but sometimes the female gets in on the action too.
Are they playing or are they really wanting to hurt the dog?
The dog is a 30+lb mini-Aussie so not small by any means.

I haven't had a problem with my Muscovies but my geese, my one gander has popped the dogs on the backside so many times they hate him and my med mix breed who has grown up with everyone attacked him, Thank goodness it was through the dog door so only alot of feathers were missing. Now they cannot be together unless myself or my dh is there, The dog had just had enough. So be very careful. Most likely the drake is trying to show the dog he rules the roost so to speak. I now have a long piece of plastic trim that I use as an arm extention and when the geese zero in on one of the dogs I put it out in front to stop them from coming any further. Any kind of long stick would work. The geese are learning it's not appropriate behavior to come after the dogs. It would work on your ducks too.

 

[AKnewbie]

Thank you. I've been trying to figure out how to keep the ducks from doing that. The long stick is a great idea.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you. I've been trying to figure out how to keep the ducks from doing that. The long stick is a great idea.

Learned it right on here. Let us know how it goes. I was also told that a very light tap on the duck/gooses back will enforce it even more, I haven't even had to do that.

 

[Lamar Estate]

Just be careful.

All of my ducks poke or charge our mini-Dachshunds. Usually, the dogs just snap back and walk away. It's as if the ducks get a kick out of getting the dogs to react to them. It happens so often, that we usually just yell at the dog and move on.

My dogs are usually very sweet. They are used to having ducks and geese inside the house. They are even used to having our duck Penny sleep on the bed with all of us. We usually keep the dogs and waterfowl in separate rooms when we leave the house, but there have been times that they just stay in the living room together (only if we're going to be gone for a short period of time).

Last night at 11:45 pm, my Pekin Percy, who is staying inside the house while being treated for bumblefoot, poked Fritz. Fritz snapped at Percy and bit him, puncturing a hole all the way through the top his of beak. It was a 2 second shuffle, but the amount of bleeding was unbelievable.

We were getting ready to take Percy to the emergency vet at the University of Minnesota (which is really expensive), but thankfully, our avian vet answered her cell phone. We emailed her some pictures. She told us to clean the cut with a 1-10 ration solution of betadine (purchased last night from a 24-hour Walgreen's). She said that beaks bleed profusely, but tend to heal very well. Since there are so many nerves in the beak, pain medication might be necessary.

I held Percy for a long time, making sure that the wound finally clotted. Since he's drinking and eating just fine today, he probably won't need to see the vet.

We're not upset with Fritz since it was his natural reaction. We are the ones to blame. We are responsible for the well-being of our pets. The dogs are still co-mingling with the ducks and geese, but we are much more careful about their interactions.

Orville sleeping while Gizmo and Sebastian get comfortable with mom.

 

[LissyB]

My khaki campbell drake would attack my 65lb. golden doodle, poor Amos got so sick of it. He never bit or snarled back. He would just sit or run off! It was hilarious to watch! we thought it would stop after a couple weeks or so when PJ (my drake) figured that Amos knew he was the boss. No, that didn't happen, I got to the point where I would just tell PJ to get lost. It lasted all summer long, until we got Myrtle, she is a 5 month old Catahoula Leopard Dog, (thats a mouthful!) Myrtle was 2 months when we got her. At first she was scared of the ducks but... she has a shorter fuse than Amos, or she thought that PJ was playing with her. She would drag him around by the head and pin him to the ground by his wings. She did learn that she wasn't supposed to mess with the ducks, but every once in a while when they were sleeping then would wake them up and chase them into the pond. What I did with my drake, (my duck didn't like to associate with these little things) I would charge at him when I was with Amos or with PJ, if I was in the house and they were at the pond I would yell at PJ and he would stop. Of course your drake would need to know his name. Also one reason he would attack the dog, was because Amos would wade through the pond and try to get PJ's girl. That was a trigger. Hope this stops with your ducks as it is very annoying!

 

[ks1961ks]

I had my ducks bitten several times now. They are relentless in attacking the dogs. Once they do, I lock them up in a small section of the yard.
I let them out after 30 mins.
After a week of this, the attacks have decreased significantly.
I‘m waiting for one of the dogs to attack and kill a duck.

 

[416bigbore]

It's mostly the drake who does but sometimes the female gets in on the action too.
Are they playing or are they really wanting to hurt the dog?
The dog is a 30+lb mini-Aussie so not small by any means.

Regardless of whoever starts it....... It's not going to end well. Keep them apart so your not back on here asking for help because your dog hurt your duck. Sorry just being honest about a potentially bad situation.

 

[Jlw0903]

Most of my ducks will "charge" my 60lbs dog when he starts showing too much interest in them or is being what i assume they see as annoying. My dog cannot be off leash so there is a fence between them but they would stick their head through the links! Idiots would have have their heads torn off if i didnt put chicken wire around the dog run at duck level!!! They still charge him but not as much i think they understand that with the chicken wire he cannot get them (even though he mostly ignores them). Unfortunately i think they dont see the dog as a threat like they should and i know my Drake nipped the neighbors dachshund who stuck his nose into their run! Haha!

I think setting boundaries with the ducks with the stick method mentioned qould work or having physical barriers if possible is probably the best way to keep everyone safe.

 

[Beaglegal]

My ducks are curious about one of my dogs but ignore the other one. My dog always runs away when they get too close. They are afraid of my smaller barn cat. Who knows how they decide who to run up to, who they are afraid of and who they ignore?