Puppy Likes To Chase Chickens. Help Please.

[RubyBlue]

Sorry but generally speaking it is not realistic to expect dogs or cats to live with birds, guinea pigs or rabbits and suppressing their prey drive completely. With most breeds of dog it is perfectly normal to kill birds - chickens are espceially easy as they can't fly.

My bird rules the roost she has always sent all the other dogs and cats packing. The dogs have also been fine with chooks and guinea pigs (though the occasional gp or chook has gone for a ride during a zoomie - thank god for the for the labs soft mouth).

Still I would never ever trust them unsupervised - at the end of the day anything can happen and the smaller animal has no chance (despite their delusions of grandeur).

I would make sure that puppy and chooks have no chance of getting within reach of each other unless and until puppy consistently shows no interest in them. If you want to step it up from there then you need to make sure your chooks are safe so puppy needs to be either tethered or muzzled. The behaviour is rewarding for puppy so the only chance you will have for stopping it is to take away the reward. So long as he can get to the chooks he controls his reward - not you. You need to find a reward that trumps the chooks and reward puppy for looking at you calmly and not the chooks. You may need to start at a distance where the chooks are already not a big deal (next to their pen is probably too much to expect to start with).

It can be done - hopefully many years down the track you will watch dog laying in the backyard and chooks going about their business around him and think back to a time when this was unimaginable. Good luck!

[BJean]

Sorry but generally speaking it is not realistic to expect dogs or cats to live with birds, guinea pigs or rabbits and suppressing their prey drive completely. With most breeds of dog it is perfectly normal to kill birds - chickens are espceially easy as they can't fly.

This is incorrect.

It certainly is a realistic and commonplace expectation for stock guardian dogs to live amongst other animals like cats and birds.

As a rescuer I am coming across this requirement more and more often - that a family is seeking to have a dog run freely amongst chickens/rabbits or guinea pigs without causing them harm.

Whilst there are a few individual dogs (I won't generalise across a breed) that might be OK, it's a high risk scenario for the small animal which is simply unfair!! They pay with their lives.

You are proposing to stop an animal from following its instincts - I sincerely hope you are not punishing the puppy for what you consider to be wrongdoing??

If you must persist with having chickens and dogs - it can be done - get yourself a very secure chicken pen and this will protect your chickens against foxes, cats and other predators. You have a responsibility to all the animals in your care and you need to work hard and take whatever measures are necessary to prevent any harm comign to any of them.

It is not an unrealistic expectation to have a dog that runs freely around chickens -

no more unrealistic than an expectation to have an affable family dog or upstanding guardian dog.

In all the scenarios the dog's instinct is being utilised.

Kazza you can send me an email or private message about your dog.

Edited November 25, 2011 by lilli

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Lilli - I'm sorry but I don't agree on this. Maybe guardian breeds are more reliable but I've come across dogs from every group that have killed all sorts of small animals.

A very dear little dog I wanted to rescue from the pound last year had been put there by his owners because he had killed a guinea pig. They surrendered him to the council and he died, he didn't deserve it and nor did the guinea pig.

I rescue all sorts of dogs including Italian Greyhounds. They are extremely gentle but many of them will certainly kill a chicken or other bird, if not guinea pigs.

Maltese, Chihuahuas, labradors, shar pei, terriers, Shih tzus, cattle dogs are just a few amongst the dogs I've known to kill birds and other small animals.

Only a month ago I had someone contact me because his dog of 4 yrs was about to attack his children he thought. Why - because the dog had killed several chickens (yes he was in the same area) and it was bound to lead to an attack on the kids.

[casowner]

Kar I am confused as in the CAO 101 thread you said you were getting a CAO cross and then edited out the post, it was at the same time there was a CAO cross tiopic in General that got deleted. Did you get another dog other than the CAO cross from your initial post? There are very few pure CAO's and if so what has your breeder recommended. Cross breed LGD's have unpredictable natures as the different breeds have completely different guarding techniques. I do not mean to sound difficult but it is important to know if the dog is a cross breed LGD, can you post a pic please

I successfully had my CAO in with guinea pigs to camels happily

[Inevitablue]

I disagree with people who say you can't have birds and dogs together. My scaly breasted lorikeet has lived with my previous dog, and now with my two young dogs, 11 and 4 months old. All dogs have been cattle dogs.

Huge prey drive, the 4 month old is a demon on a flirt pole and both are avid bird stalkers. Yet all 3 dogs live harmoniously with 'Billy' the lorikeet. They accept him as part of the pack, he will often groom them, pull food out of their bowls, licks the moisture off the dogs wet noses. Perhaps I just have a special bird.

I've come home to find him on the floor of his outdoor cage and the 11month old laying beside him as they play, licking each other and just being cheeky to each other. I always miss the best video opportunities!

[Rozzie]

I also disagree.

I have Terriers, a retriever, a shepherd, a shih tzu and a Chihuahua cross something, plus 5 cats and they all live hapily with the chooks. In fact, it is the little Pekin rooster who is the one who chases and attacks. The terriers will chase rabbits and no doubt kill them if they ever caught them.

On the back verandah this evening were a couple of chooks, a cat, a lamb, several dogs and the resident peewee.

[mita]

Lilli - I'm sorry but I don't agree on this. Maybe guardian breeds are more reliable but I've come across dogs from every group that have killed all sorts of small animals....

Maltese, Chihuahuas, labradors, shar pei, terriers, Shih tzus, cattle dogs are just a few amongst the dogs I've known to kill birds and other small animals.

Yes, even tho' most don't.

Even when there's a tendency not to kill other animals/birds within a certain (pure) breed, there will always be exceptions. It's how nature works.

[aussielover]

It is possible for chooks and dogs to live relatively happily together.

What is unrealistic is to give the dog free rein to run havoc amongst the chooks and expect all to be well (not saying this is what happened here) which is what plenty of people do.

Like any socialisation, it has to be done gradually under controlled circumstances (eg chickens in cages and dog on lead), at least initially.

I think that the fact the dog has already killed one/some? chickens means that it will be harder to train the dog to ignore the chickens, because it has already had a very rewarding experience killing them.

Not saying it is impossible though- I suggest the OP takes up Lilli's offer of discussing the exact situation.

[Gayle.]

My girls can and do wander amongst the chooks without a problem, they are much more interested in finding food the chooks might have overlooked (unlikely) than chasing them. The boys would like to chase them, although I think I could easily encourage Ripley not to. Isaak.......no........he has chased them when he was accidentally let into an area where the chooks were, but were not supposed to be, and it was all a bit too much fun for him. I would not like their chances of survival if that happened again but he can be in the paddock next to their pen and completely ignore them.Benson, on the other hand, would stalk them through the fence, he was mesmerised by them and pushed down a fence to get to them shortly after we brought them home. Fortunately there was another fence in his way and he couldn't push that one down.

So in a breed, there are wide variations. But if a dog shows any potential to chase chickens, I'd be very inclined to never leave it unsupervised in a position to do so.......even after training.