Pigeons Coop kept near Dog

[Willtacula]

Hey Guys,
I have done some research and asked a few people that I trust pretty well if I am going to have issues keeping my Pigeon Coop near my Dog, and I thought I was comfortable with the setup I have, but a guy from work told me its not OK. I hate conflicting advice:)

My Birds are kept fenced off in my side yard, so the Dog will not have physical access to them but, but it is a small side yard and the Dog will have the ability to be within 10 yards of the coop.

I have originally been told by a few people that they do the same thing, (although I think many of them are able to keep their dogs much further from their Birds than I will be able to) and decided everything would be fine the way I have it.

Today, a guy from work told me he bought two finished Dogs, and kept them near his birds. He claims that it totally ruined the dogs and they do not hunt well anymore because the smell of birds in the field is just like the smell of the backyard at home. Can being around bird scent all daylong ruin a dogs nose?
Just to be safe I wanted to see if anyone else on the forum has had the same problem as my co-worker? or do I just need to ignore this guy?

I know I am probably being paranoid, because I have seen many photos on this forum with dogs kept in the same yard as the pigeon coop, but I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks in advance.

Will

[aulrich]

Has not ruined my dog yet(and don’t think it ever will, but I did make set up errors that I have to account for. The biggest is that my dog can bug them as they try to trap if he was really lucky he might catch one off the landing board. And if I am loft flying young birds I have to kennel him since there is no guessing where they will land for a while and even if they are flying he will “chase” them around the yard or bark at them if they sit on the house. I had hopped as he was steadied this would go away but in the field he watches them fly away in the yard he will chase.

But your setup sounds better than mine so I think your golden

[Mikezx18]

We keep homers and quail in the yard and it hasn't ever affected our dogs. They also can get about 10 yards from the birds

[DonF]

My dog's go out with me all the time doing chores. They get right up to the door of the feral loft, 1" chicken wire, and all around the flight pen on the homer loft. Had a dogs years ago that was on a barrel and chain right behind the feral loft. Never ruined a dog by getting to close to the pigeons! Your dog's will adapt.

If someone has a landing board a dog might catch a pigeon on, I'd sure do something about that, It's not high enough.

[Sean]

My dog can get to about 20 feet from the backside of the coop. The front of the coop where the birds come and go is away from her electric "fence". Every once in a while a bird will land in the yard but they seem to know to stay outside the fence perimeter.

The chickens on the other hand are in the yard all the time but the dog has been around them since a pup and she pretty much leaves them alone. Every once in a while she'll give one of them a "drive-by" and ruffle their feathers.

I'm not an expert by any means but it doesn't seem to have affected her drive for birds or ability to scent them in the field. Tracking dogs, SAR dogs, avalanche dogs, and police dogs are around people scent all the time yet they seem to know which scent they are supposed to look for when it's important.

[marysburg]

|What Don F said +1. Mine come along to do chores daily. Hasn't affected their field work one iota.

[Willtacula]

Thanks again for the comments! They have really put me at ease... I will be picking up my pup a week from today! Glad I don't have anything to worry about!

Will