Chooks vs Dogs

Sooner or later most dogs will try and chase/attack chickens - unless its a laso apso vs a rhode island red. I was wondering if anyone had encountered any species of dogs that (mostly) do not chase chickens for our close proximity suburban patch.
Cheers all.

 

We have a border collie who seems to be able to distinguish between different birds with training. He does like to sniff chickens still, and eat their pooh, but he won't chase them. But he will go after galahs, cockatoos and sparrows etc. - which we have encouraged.

I suppose it is a training thing

 

Springtide when I saw the name of the thread I had a mental image of a "herd" of dogs in a dog dome, fertilizing garden beds, and wondered if we were going to get into a discussion about whether eating a dog who is past his prime would be a permie thing to do!

 

We've a Border Collie too who knows "our" animals and "strangers".

We also have four Dachshunds who hunt rabbits and wild boar. They kill new poultry unless we spend time with them the first day or so to tell them not to - watching and correcting if they show any sign of attack.

Training is the only way.

 

Those dogs that are trained

 

An animal trainer I met a few years ago was of the opinion that dogs, being pack animals (like us), need to be shown that other domestic animals are part of the "pack". If you get the dog(s) as pup(s), and, as hardworkinghippy said, control their early interactions, you should be OK.

hardworkinghippy - I have seen all sorts of breeds used for pig-hunting, but Dachsunds??? Must have some low & slow boars where you are! Seriously though, my aunty used to have a Dachsund, and it was the best ratting dog you ever saw. Fast & furious, but always smelt clean

 

my cocker spaniel couldnt care less about the ducks, but my two cavaliers, one in particular, have obsessions with hanging out with the ducks...

they arent aggressive, just constantly licking their beaks and sniffing under their wings, they occasional excited yap.. its the funniest thing to watch.

i spent many many painful months training them to be gentle around the ducks, and as mentioned in earlier posts, correcting them when misbehaving.
persistance is the only way really, but i always keep an eye on the dogs while they are in the yard with the ducks, as they are not one hundred percent predictable.

its much easier to bring up any breed of dog with other animals as a puppy!

 

Don, this is my partner training our first Dachshund when she was a pup to hunt boar with a skin :



This is her first boar - 86 kilos ! :



She hunted every season for 9 years and is now retired at 10 years old.

Our Border Collie is a rescue dog and was about a year old when we got him. He learned to leave the chickens alone but the first time we had chicks....

https://lafermedesourrou.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-chicken-had-17-chicks.html

 

This doesn't answer your question precisely but it may be useful in some respect. We've got a german pointer of some sort. Her nature is to chase birds and kill them no doubt. When i arrived with my cat, there was an incident between the cat and the dog on the first day and I think the cat might have been killed if we didn't get there in time. I have certainly found other large dead things around the garden from time to time.

In order to keep the cat alive, I phoned a dog trainer who told me that the way to get the dog onside was to demonstrate to it that the cat was valued. So the dog was shown me hugging and feeding the cat as often as possible. Over time i got more confident that the cat would be safe and now we have all been living together for several years and i have no qualms about the dog anymore. Even though they are not friends. Certainly the cat can defend itself very well and no doubt this has influenced the dogs behaviour to some extent.

Now I am hopeing to get some chickens and ducks. I will have to manage the dog as she is bound to go after the chickens when they are out of the hen house. Because our dogs sleeps all day on its bed and hardly moves, i have no trouble with the idea of keeping her tied up during the day when the hens are out and about. But I am also going to try to show her the chickens are valued method.

Once on a property of someone else where i was housesitting the dogs used to slowed down with a car tyre on a rope tied to their collars. This meant they couldn't run off and attack the neighbours sheep but still had their freedom to roam where they pleased.

 

We aclimatiesed our cocker spaniels to the chickens when we first got thme and one lost interest but the other didn't. Just to be safe, we keep them in different parts of the garden. Having said then, when they were free ranging once, one chicken (who was a bit sick and shunned, I have to admit) got over a very large gate and into the backyard where the dogs live. They injured her but didn't kill her, though we did have to put her down. Very sad but also very strange that that's where she chose to go. I wonder if she committed suicide??

 

Post edited just in case is was insensitive

 

When we got our dog, a fully grown springer spaniel, we had to train him not to attack them.
The chooks were freerange in the back yard,which had a longline clothesline running across the yard.
When we brought Sam home he was tethered to the clothes line.
I didnt realise that the hens were at the other end of the line and of course he ran towards them, most scattered but one flew straight into his mouth which he promptly spat out(in shock probably).
Once we grabbed hold of him we were in stitches cos the look on both their faces was priceless...I know chooks faces are pretty hard to read but...
The way we trained him was one person held onto him, the other held onto a chook and we put them up close and personal in their faces, petting one then the other, going thru all hens.
Then we fed him and made a big fuss,
then put him on a lead and walked him thru the hens.
End of problem for us.

He on the other hand didnt always have it easy and you could see an internal dispute going on when they would walk up to him and peck him on the butt or try to steal his food.
He only bit once that I saw when one hurt his nose but even that wasnt a toothprint type bite either and the chook seemed unharmed by it...based on the fact that all 6 laid eggs that day.
Its other wandering dogs that are a problem and we have had all but one( she hid in the hedge and he must have missed her) mutilated by a dog that literally climbed over the 5'5" fence..I caught him climbing back out.
Unfortuanately, we had penned them by this stage and their pen just happened to back onto that fence, so they had no escape.
Solution was to move the pen somewhere else and put it out round the neighbourhood that this had happened and could people please keep their dogs secure in their own yards.

From what I have seen over the years is that you can train your dog even old ones to accept the chooks but it is other wandering dogs you need to protect them from.
Also that occasionally my dog was hurt by a hen pecking him and did bite back(looking thoroughly ashamed of himself afterwards and came to me looking for forgiveness which I always did straight away).
Cats too can be a problem trying to stalk the hens, even our own. The hens usually attacked back but not with other peoples cats who would cause abit of panic when they got into the pen.

 

great lateral thinkin let us know how it goes

 

Marama dogs can and have been trained to guard chickens from foxes, they are even using them now to guard penguin colonies from foxes also.

 

I train my kelpie pups about chickens by taking them into the chook pen every day when they are very young. Every time the pup moves towards a chicken, it gets a tap with a stick. This is just an attention getting tap, not a punishment. It's important here not to say anything when tapping the pup. If you tell the pup "NO" it learns that you don't want it chasing chickens. This means it will happily chase them when you're not there. By just correcting with the stick, you build an association which is unrelated to you. The pup associates chasing chickens with correction, not with displeasing the handler.

As a general rule in training, I've found the distinction between obedience and pseudo-instinctive behaviour really useful.

 

We have a Belgian Shepherd that has grown up with her chooks and have had no problems.
They free range and we had ducks as well. She is very aware of which birds belong in the yard and which don't.
I suppose the older the dog the more training and time to get used to each other required.
Good Luck
Kurt

 

i have a hunterway that would not, and a kelpie that would.
i train the kelpie by beating the shit out of him with the chicken he has killed.

the last 'training session' was so vigorous that the frgn chook exploded covering us with it.

as i write this i can hear the chooks carrying on and i know the bastard is doing that kelpie shit again.

the next time he does it, i have a plan....i will get the dead chook, and when it is tucker time,,,i will call 'wallace' to his bowl and holding the dead chook, I'll make out that it is eating his food (ha ha).
I will talk lovingly and soothingly to the chook, all the time dipping its head into the bowl like its eating. Then i'll pick up the bowl and make out like the chook has eaten it all.....then i'll beat shit out of him with the chook.

it is psychology, and it is very subtle. (haaaaaaaha)
bok bok
kimbo

 

I know someone that tied the dead chook around the dogs neck so he couldnt get it off and left it there til it smelt really bad... but I never found out if it made a difference.

 

I know someone who smacked my kelpie cross b/collie across the snout with the chook once and it worked.

 

thankyou for a wonderful morning laugh kimbo... :y: