dogs that don't kill chickens??

[colours]

For the second day running I have found one of my girls killed by our dog. I'm beyond despair because I love them both dearly, but can only tolerate so much carnage in one week.

Does anyone know of any breeds of dog that tolerate poultry?

Cheers,

Colours.

[Clara]

Oh yuck I´m sorry.

Sadly I don´t think it works like that. I have 4 dogs and free range chickens, no problems now, but when I first rescued one of them from a supermarket carpark she got in the shed behind me and killed 5 in seconds. She had been abandoned and was thin and hungry. She´d clearly got some "bird hunter" in her as she spends a lot of time staring into trees, but she will walk among the chickens and not make even so much as a sniff.

Personally, having all my dogs free in goat territory I take a pretty tough line against livestock interaction, when our oldest dog was tiny and started taking a curious interest in sheep (in the UK), OH held him on the ground and gave him such a fright that dear george won´t even look a sheep in the eye anymore (I had to drag him through a herd the other day, he was so upset). Fortunately as he is pack leader the others seem to have fallen into line behind him.

It sounds horrible, but we only had to do it once and it is far better for him than getting shot IYKWIM. If I were in your situation I would make a negative connection with the chickens for your dog, I´m sure there are all sorts of gadgets you can get for this, I prefer a more "country" approach (round here the shepherds stick their new dogs in a stable with a ram or billy goat for 15 minutes). Whatever you do needs to be immediate and firm in order to make a clear connection. Trust me your dog will still love you afterwards.

[contadina]

My Dad's remedy is to whack the dog with the dead chicken, making sure they know you are displeased and ensuring they know the reason why.

We were told by the previous owner that the dog which came with our house was a chicken killer, but by letting him know they were our chickens and that he could look but not touch, he's never attacked them. He's even saved their lives, protecting them on two fronts from a pack of wild dogs. We've since got two hunting dogs - notorious chicken killers, according to our neighbours, but we've tried the same tactic with them and they both know the chickens are out of bounds.

[colours]

Thanks for your advice, its not the 1st time our dog has killed our chickens. She got to them twice when we had very little ones. I thought that by now she was a little older, had settled down and the birds were bigger, they would be ok. The problem is that she is fine with them when we are around, but the second we turn our back, she gets them. The ones today and yesterday actually got through the fence, but they had been doing that for days and our dog didn't do anything.

I know its only natural for them, but trust me, she knows about it when she does it. She copped a, well, disiplinary after the one yesterday and I didn't think for a minute she'd do it again, ever. But when I stumbled across today's carcass, she saw me find it and bolted. So she knows its wrong and knows I hate her for it, but she just can't help herself.

She's just the gentlest natured dog, so good with the kids. But I want to keep chickens, I always have. Not too sure what to do. Do you think when the roosters get big enough they might be able to keep her away?

[Clara]

A tricky one, I used to have a dog that was definitely sly like that (when she´d do something wrong she knew to make a dash for it). I would also suggest doing some work to show her how pleased you are with her when she isn´t killing chickens , taking her to the pen and giving her treats when she is ignoring them and showing her the alternative the very second she takes any interest in them (she isn´t helpless against her instincts, her instincts can be honed).
Sometimes its embarrassing watching my large black lab cowering when a sheep wanders past him, but at least I can trust him.

I think people must think me very weird when I discipline my dogs, because I try to communicate with them in a way they understand naturally. If a dog needs telling what to do, I often growl (dogs definitely respond better to deeper voices) and if a dog needs reminding that I am the boss, said growling is often accompanied with a wrestle and a staring-out. I can´t abide it when I see a dog ruined because the owner tries to discipline them with lengthy conversations or worse just accepts thats they are the way they are and if that means they behave badly well then.......

Please don´t get me wrong I LOVE my dogs and I´m soppy as all hell with them, I just have well defined boundaries and that makes us all happier.

[VM]

Definitely dogs can be trained out of problem behaviour - but I also think it is easier or harder depending on the type of dog. After all, they have been bred over time to have certain characteristics and uses. We have two rescue lurchers and I can't imagine them ever being trained out of wanting to chase and kill. Our chickens are at the allotment so dogs and chickens not an issue for us (though neighbouring cats certainly are). Have settled for just managing dogs - but reluctantly, after ten years of having lurchers, I think I won't have them next time around - love watching them run but get stressed by need for constant vigilance about cats. With people of course they are lovely...

The rough collie we used to have would have had no interest at all in chickens.

[MINESAPINT]

We have 2 terriers but it was next doors labrador that killed 2 of our chooks. I saw what was happening but was not quick enough to sprint from the garden to the chicken run in mi wellies!. Damn dog scrambled over a 5 foot high gate. Although our terriers are keen hunters, rabbits etc they do seem to understand the situation with our chooks and I can let them in with our birds anytime with no problems. I think it is just a matter of training & perseverance.

[Bonniegirl]

Tie the dead chicken to its collar and make it walk around with it until it's sick of the sight of it.

[Esther.R]

Hard one, both our dogs are fine with our poultry, they are a collie and a whippet (which is the most unlikely breed to be chicken-friendly). The collie has always been fine with poultry, the whippet used to chase them but a few tellings-off and he has stopped so he was easy to train out of it (I was surprised how easy it was to stop him as I expected him never to be safe with them because of his breed, but he seems to be an exception to the rule).

[theabsinthefairy]

The problem with disciplinary action is that it is always after the fact and in any sort of animal training that is too late ( I am not suggesting that you don't do it, as it has a purpose but it does not 'teach' particularly well).

Aversion therapy ( gosh that sounds posh! ) is your best bet, and alongside a lot of patience and time spent retraining your dog may do the trick. How is up to you really, and I am sure that lots of people have advice and methods to offer, but I believe that this is difficult to do so on line never having seen the dog nor its behaviour first hand - you know your dog better than anyone.

So the things that you can try are - taking your dog on the lead through the chicken enclosure with you several times a day, reward heel behaviour, sternly NO him if he strays or pulls towards the chickens. Carry a chicken around with you for a bit, letting him sniff it and let him be aware of it, and everytime he ignores it reward him, play with him while holding the chicken, throw sticks etc, feed him but everytime he 'notices' the chicken - NO him and mean business when you say it. To the poster who growls - I agree - lower your normal voice even if you don't growl, use a tone of voice that means business.

The idea is to get your dog used to the chickens and then to ignore them. You can't teach a dog not to chase and kill once they have done it - it's too late, but you can teach them that that behaviour is unacceptable and that they have to modify their behaviours and control them.

It is also useful if you can to teach your dog an overriding command - like 'drop', so that whatever they are doing you can control them.

Best of luck. Monika

- I appreciate that my ideas may not match some other people's and that they have their own ideas, I am just trying to offer some help to the original poster - please don't shoot me down in flames.

[contadina]

No worries, oh fairy in the green bottle. My dad's seriously old school, hence the whack dog on nose with dead chicken suggestion. We've not had a problem with our own dogs due, I believe, to ensuring they know by command that the chickens are off limits. Besides which, they all prefer their chicken roasted .

[Esther.R]

The aversion therapy suggestion is similar to what we used on Suti the whippet and it worked very well - the 'tellings-off' were literally that, a good firm 'NO' and being kept on the lead in intially, then it grew to being off the lead with me watching and saying 'NO' if he paid them any attention and a growl at him if he started to chase, and now he is great, he can be out on his own with them with no problems. The only problem we have is if they are round the door, then you have to reassure him it is ok to go out through them

[zigspider]

I can only reply with my own experience from France, but our English Setter was bought from a hunter who bred. His advice was to get a thin branch from a tree or a willow withie and whack the dog once if he started to appear to be too interested in the chickens. We only had to do it a couple of times for Oliver to get the message.

After a while you had the situation of the hens free ranging, Oliver sitting with us while we ate outside, waiting for his free lunch, and a Chicken sitting next to him waiting for Her extras.

It will be intersting to see what will happen now we are in Canada and waiting on getting our new batch of chickens. Whether Oliver will retain his lessons, and more importantly, how long it will take to teach the new husky the same lesson.

Jerry

[oldfella]

In the past our Chickens, Geese, and Ducks, ran loose in the garden with the Cats and Dogs and we found that when we bought in a new dog into the family it would invariably chase the cats and chickens. The old Tom would soon sort the cat problem, and my method to stop the Chicken Chase was to pin the dog to the floor by the throat (Gently) and give it a right royal Frolicking. Worked every time. Just a little side story, a neighbour of ours tells me of a chicken that waited for his dog to take snooze in the sun and pulled out hair from his tail for her nest, until one day he saw the dog with tail feathers in his mouth, after which he never saw the chicken nest with dog hair in it.

[theabsinthefairy]

Our border collie was 6 months old and had never seen chickens before in his life when we moved out to rural France and set up our small holding. He thought he was in 7th heaven with the chickens and ducks and geese. We initially set up the horse electric fence around the chicken house, to give the chickens somewhere to retreat to where he could not follow - he only touched the fencing once - and learnt a lesson - chickens know how to protect themselves! Never a problem since, not with our free ranging poultry and wildfowl, nor with the neighbours.

Now the chickens are so used to him, they steal his food, and have been known to gang up on him and scare him away from a pork chop leftover - and he has to run around the corner before they spot him if he has a bit of bread because they will chase him around the garden to get it. But - he never snaps at them, occasionally he likes to give them a sniff, and he respects their sharp beaks and aggressive tendancies.

Friends have bought their dogs to us, so that we can use our dog 'friendly' chickens to help train their dogs. I would have sworn our collie laughed himself stupid the day a friend bought over his spaniel to try to stop him from chasing poultry, and the spaniel ran into the electric fencing 6 or 7 times before he realised what it was, and then got the Toulouse goose (who was obviously fed up at having his afternoon sleep disturbed) hanging off his floppy ears, hissing and flapping.