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Obsessed With Chooks


sandgrubber
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I decided to try some backyard chooks. Bought a nifty little chicken coop that will keep them protected, confined, and out of the garden. Bought four six week female chicks.

Bonza, one of my Labs is absolutely obsessed with them (the other two are merely interested). Bonza has to be dragged away from the coop, and keeps her head right against the ladder the chicks use to get from their little house to the ground. I don't think she's guarding: more like she would like to eat them. Her posture is the same as when she's hunting a rabbit or gopher and waiting for it to come out of a hole. At one point I turned my back for an hour or so and the dogs roughed up the chicken coop a bit, forcing use of clamps and glue to get it reassembled.

Anybody have any suggestions? Yelling does nothing. When I found them battering the coop I lost it: threw her to the ground and held her down for 20 seconds or so. Since then they haven't gone for the coop, but the eternal chicken watch continues.

(I've tried to attach a picture, but my Mac cable seems to be kaput).

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If it's that bad I think you'll struggle. I always start off with lead work around the coop, lots of praise/treats for ignoring the coop, then over time progress to off lead, also work on ensuring he has a good 'leave' command. I agree with rozzie though that at least in the short term you are going to need to fence off the coop

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Hopefully you have better luck than I did when I first introduced chooks. I had a gentle Bullmastiff who was also obsessed with staring at them. She was on lead or inside when the chooks had free range time but I came home one day to find she'd forced her way in the pen and killed every single one. I was absolutely devastated :( It's very difficult to work with your dog once they've taken that final step to kill so hopefully you can work with your girl. Once they're more adult sized they may be less like a squeaky toy but that's going to be 12+ weeks away. Good luck.

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I really didn't want to put up the electric fence, but I guess that's the route it's going. The dogs are VERY respectful of the electric fence. Setting it up so she can't see the chooks is a hard ask.

Edited by sandgrubber
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Might have been an idea to have tested your dogs with chickens first.

I do this when rehoming a dog - many homes like to have chickens these days - even free range ones. Not too many dogs are OK with it though so best to have a trial first before committing.

I feel sorry for the chickens, that's not a nice experience to have something that wants to eat you, banging on your enclosure.

Shore up the chicken coop and keep the dogs well away in a safely enclosed area nowhere near the chickens and don't allow access - deliberately or accidentally.

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Working gundog here and chooks. No way does she get to have access to them...fox proof coop and huge yard with 6-7 ft fences. Dogs are mostly inside with me and have a neighbouring yard when outside (chook yard is between coop and dog yard). When in season she uses the chook yard but I supervise to ensure the chooks don't get terrorised. On the odd occasion when she or the Dally have slipped into the chook yard I am thankful for their amazing recalls and/or stop whistles. Oh, and Em has no interest in eating them...she just wants to fetch 'em up and bring them to me. It's what she does.

Edited by The Spotted Devil
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Just the threat of electric fence seems to be doing the trick even without energizing the wire. Without the fence, I had to drag Bonza away. With the fence, she has lost interest . . . at the moment she's lying on the sofa next to me while I type when she could easily go outside

Before

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After

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Edited by sandgrubber
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As a dog rescuer, I hear about issues in this situation very regularly so this is a topic that actually raises my blood pressure somewhat.

What the general population don't realise is that many dogs get beaten, euthanased or dropped to the pound for euthanasia BECAUSE they have killed a chicken.

I've rescued dogs just in the nick of time - beautiful dogs that were expected to live in a garden with free range chickens but killed them and were about to die themselves.

I've spoken to dropkick owners including the man who'd rescued a "lovely dog that I love" 5 years before and suddenly decided it was time to get some free range chickens. Hmmm, surprisingly the dog suddenly killed a couple and he had punished it severely before putting the dog back in the same scenario - guess what? Followed it's instinct again. It was time for the dog to move on he said.

I said what I had to say, in a nice way - that he had very unrealistic expectations that his dog should live with chickens and that it's the chickens that should go. The dog went. Some people don't understand the meaning of love, it's all about what suits at the time.

Edited by dogmad
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I have to agree. I personally wouldn't keep one adult chook in there (unless it was overnight only), let alone six. :(

You could probably get away with it while they're small but at some point they'll just be too big and cramped and with stress you might see behavioural problems like feather plucking or egg eating.

To keep things cheap and temporary, garden sheds make great hen houses as you can generally fit perches high up one end and nest boxes and food out of the weather up the other end. Theres room for them to hang in bad weather too. Star pickets and chicken wire running around the outside create an outdoor area, although not pest / fox proof.

Chooks are very mobile animals so the bigger their outdoor pen the happier they'll be. It's in their nature to scratch, eat greenery, ruffle their feathers in dirt, flap up onto things, and explore their surroundings with their chooky buddies. :)

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Its certainly possible to teach your dog that chickens may look like delicious prey, but they are in fact not for eating or even looking at with interest. I have a GSD who wanted to seriously eat the cat, and they're now perfect together and even snuggle on the dog bed. So safe that when she escaped her crate on 3 separate occasions (a mystery that has yet to be solved btw!), and was free in the house with the cat for up to 2 hours by herself, I came home to them sleeping together on the couch or greeting me at the door together. So safe that she greeted a strange resident cat at a vet she had never been to before with polite disinterest, compared to losing her mind and going ballistic barking crazy madness like she used to. So it can certainly be done, it just depends on if you are willing to put in the time and effort it will take.

I can't take full credit for Rogue, I worked with Steve from K9 Pro to help her and it was his program that did it. So my first recommendation is to send him an email :)

Basic desensitisation is a great idea, looking away from chickens equals treats, if you get excited when they move then you should play this super fun game of tug or food chasing with me instead. Practicing lots of chilled out calm behaviour with chickens around. Put dog in crate, let chickens wander around and feed dog treats for just being there.

Edited by lovemesideways
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Even with the fence I think that would still be terrifying for the chickens and when they get bigger their cage will have to get bigger and where will they go then? Plus I doubt your dog will be able to relax.

Bonza's reaction to the electric fence was to ignore the chooks completely and go back to chasing squirrels, or lying at my side.

When the chooks are bigger the yard and coop will be expanded . . .

Why do people on this forum so often assume that the OP is an idiot who doesn't care for animals.

Of course, if I can't work out a solution that's comfortable for both the dogs and the chooks, the chooks will be rehomed . . . or eaten . .. they are a dual purpose breed.

Personally, I don't apply the concept of forever home to chooks. I'm sure mine will live happier lives than factory chooks.

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Its certainly possible to teach your dog that chickens may look like delicious prey, but they are in fact not for eating or even looking at with interest. I have a GSD who wanted to seriously eat the cat, and they're now perfect together and even snuggle on the dog bed. So safe that when she escaped her crate on 3 separate occasions (a mystery that has yet to be solved btw!), and was free in the house with the cat for up to 2 hours by herself, I came home to them sleeping together on the couch or greeting me at the door together. So safe that she greeted a strange resident cat at a vet she had never been to before with polite disinterest, compared to losing her mind and going ballistic barking crazy madness like she used to. So it can certainly be done, it just depends on if you are willing to put in the time and effort it will take.

I can't take full credit for Rogue, I worked with Steve from K9 Pro to help her and it was his program that did it. So my first recommendation is to send him an email :)

Basic desensitisation is a great idea, looking away from chickens equals treats, if you get excited when they move then you should play this super fun game of tug or food chasing with me instead. Practicing lots of chilled out calm behaviour with chickens around. Put dog in crate, let chickens wander around and feed dog treats for just being there.

Great advice.. I have Pekins and at first Zig was so interested but now he will lay near the coop, while the chickens do chicken stuff and eat a bone, paying them no attention at all.

He is a dog and he will never be in the yard while they are out and about - I love him but simply don't trust him that much where the girls are concerned (maybe one day)..

Good luck

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