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I really want some chickens to run around my yard and eat bugs. I also really want a dog, or maybe two. Are these two desires mutually incompatible? I still don't actually have the yard for the dog or the chickens, but we are getting close.
Who has managed to keep both dogs and free range chickens, and what kinds of dogs either had no interest in chickens, or could be trained by experienced dog owners not to go after chickens? We will probably end up with an adult "rescued" dog since so many people ditch their perfectly good dogs when they bail on Hawaii (but that's a whole other thread).
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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My Beagle/Corie mix is oblivious to the chickens. Part of that is that he was always a well trained dog, and part is that he is like a hundred years old. We tried many varieties to add to our ranch family with little success. Once a dog is a year or so old, it is TOUGH to teach about the chickens. We are not tryig with a lab mix we got as a 6 week old puppy. She is smart but not well behaved. Chalk that up to the absent trainer (me). I do believe that starting with a smart puppy... young puppy... and doing formal training makes all the difference.
Good Luck.
Pam
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Stillhope,
I know that training will always help, my last dog developed a bad recreational cat habit after our last cat died, suddenly any cat was fair game. In spite of her being about 1/16th wolf, I could stop Ursula in her tracks while running full tilt after a neighborhood cat with one word, I think the "highly responsive to her person" doberman genes outweighed the "I'm gonna do what I want" wolf genes. Many years ago, I had an Australian Shephard mix who stole one egg a day from the chicken house, the rest of the time she guarded those chickens religously, even chasing off a coyote one winter.
I just figured that if I start with a dog that is less hardwired to go after birds it would help, especially when I'm not home and both dog and chickens are on duty patrolling the yard. Who has done well with both?
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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The ideal is to raise them together, cats too if feasible. As babies they'll play, and need watching till they get bigger, constantly making them behave.
We recently lost a 10 year old tom cat who ran with our dogs. The last time was during a pit bull attack, kitty got caught and died. The dogs were morose for days.
However one slip up, dog kills bird, dog is hooked and can't be trusted again.
Gordon J Tilley
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I have two big dogs. One is a heeler/pointer mix male,(hunting breed but never trained to hunt), and the other is a yellow lab/german shephard mix female. Neither of which is probably the best breed with chickens, however, I spent ALOT of time with them training and have had no problems. I think the key is letting the dogs know the chickens are now part of "the pact". I did that when we got 2 kittens too and it worked. Both my dogs are 3 years old, young but not puppies. For the first several weeks I let them all out side together, but didn't let the dogs out of my sight. I didn't let the chickens freerange until they were full grown about 7 months. I got them as chicks and had them inside in a box. I let the dogs sniff them periodically and they watched them grow up. When I first let the chickens out, the dogs got excited, mostly the pointer/heeler. But more because they thought they had new friends to play with, like the cats, than a malicious sort of thing. I followed the dogs like a hawk and scolded when they got too close. On the third day, the pointer got out of my sight briefly as I answered the phone, and I found him mouthing the chicken. He certainly could have killed it, but he was sort of scooting it, like he was playing. I scolded him strongly, gave him a time out locked in the garage the rest of the day, and "he got it". No more episodes. This was aboout a year ago and I now leave them all outside together and the dogs seem oblivious to the chickens. Once in a while The heeler/pointer will "herd" a loose chicken that gets separated from the others back to her flock, but that's a heeler's nature to "herd" things. I've heard a lot of theories like "You can never train a bird dog to not to kill a chicken", but I think it is possible especially if you start with baby chicks and teach the dog they are now part of the "pact". That's my experience.
Aloha, Angela
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We have a pair of border collies and free range chickens and geese. One of the border collies ignores the chickens unless they step on him. Then he gets up and moves away. The other border collie lives to herd the chickens. It is her vocation in life to keep the chickens in a group. Sometimes the chickens go a long with the idea and stay in a group sometimes they wander all over and keep the dog busy staring at them. Border collies herd things towards their handler by staring at what they want to herd so the dog intently watches the chickens a lot.
When we first got the geese this was a problem since the geese still had the idea that humans should be bit and having dog herding biting geese towards us was interesting for a while. Now the geese have been trained to come to get some sort of leafy handout (geese like vegetables) and are coming towards us as friends instead of attacking.
Our dog's niece lives nearby and her people have chickens too. When they first got the chickens their dog ran in and killed one right away. There was a huge outcry and the dog was severely scolded. She hasn't looked at chickens since then and when we go visit our dog herds their chickens while their dog hides since their dog is now certain that dogs aren't supposed to interact with chickens and she is worried about our dog being near them. Their dog has a very soft personality and really wants to please her people so that may be why they got such a determined reaction after one major scolding.
We have some friends who rescue border collies if you wanted an adult rescue dog. I don't know what the specific dogs opinion of chickens would be, but if you introduce them to the dog and explain they are part of the pack, then the dog should allow them to be in the yard without eating them.
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Kurt Wilson
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We have two dogs, nine cats, ten goats and four sheep. They all get along and interact with each other. It is possible for everyone or every being to play nice with each other. Starting with puppies and introducing them to the chickens would be the easiest way to raise dogs to respect other creatures. The dogs will want to please you, hence if the dogs know your chickens are important to you, the chickens will become important to your dogs and they will help protect the birds. That is my experience with raising various animals together. Good luck.
"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."
Old Chinese Proverb
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