Chicken Problem

[AG74]

A friend recently got a "give away" 3 y.o. GSP from a friend who had to move and could no longer keep it. After a couple weeks it appears that the dog wasn't given much attention as it doesn't know its name and has little to no manners or obedience. The dog recently got loose and killed one of the owner's chickens. The question is: is there any way to break a dog from killing chickens without breaking him on game birds? Any suggestions/recommendations/advice?

thanks!

[Cajun Casey]

Build a better chicken coop. You won't break him.

[brad27]

Build a better chicken coop. You won't break him.

not even with a lighting ride? or will it only cure him while people are around?

[topher40]

What would the difference be between a chicken or a quail? Keep the dog away from chickens, and build a better coop plus kennel! Dogs are natural predators to birds. Might as well trying to get the dog to stop pooping if your trying to break it from birds.

[Sue]

My dogs are safe around chickens due to an electric poultry fence. One zap on the nose while looking at a chicken and that's all it took. At this point, our dogs and chickens can be loose together w/out the fence.

And this experience did not at all damage their interest in wild birds.
Dogs do not generalize.
A chicken is a chicken, not a grouse or pheasant.

[birddog1968]

My dogs wont mess with chickens....well cept for the pup, she retrieved one too me , thank goodness she didn't kill it. She just not figured it out yet

They can be taught to leave chickens be and not kill the dogs desire to hunt. If they are in the same small yard tho that can be a problem, here the chickens are ranging a little and out of sight most times, and my dogs don't run loose all day.

[JessiNGunther]

This is something I worry about because I have a lot of chicken and a few Ducks and turkeys. Both My 11 year old lab and 6 month old GSP go and do chores with me every morning. The Lab has shown the GSP a few thing I wish he had not but so far no one has got into the coop. Every time they poke their nose to the fence I say NO and 90% of the time they run off to do something else . I have always heard once a chicken killer always a chicken killer but I don't know if there is any truth to that at all.

[Cajun Casey]

Get a big African gander.

[JessiNGunther]

Get a big African gander.

Good Idea
We have one of our turkeys in a pen by herself she was getting beat up on . Gunther stands in front of her pen with his nose to the chicken wire turkey walks up and pecks him hard on the nose. Gun Shakes his head and sticks his nose to the wire again BAM he gets hit in the nose again. Poor dog stood there getting pecked in the nose until I moved him.

[Cajun Casey]

Get a big African gander.

Good Idea
We have one of our turkeys in a pen by herself she was getting beat up on . Gunther stands in front of her pen with his nose to the chicken wire turkey walks up and pecks him hard on the nose. Gun Shakes his head and sticks his nose to the wire again BAM he gets hit in the nose again. Poor dog stood there getting pecked in the nose until I moved him.

It's that OCD thing! He's not a Teton dog, is he, by chance?

[JessiNGunther]

It's that OCD thing! He's not a Teton dog, is he, by chance?

Nope. I had some one back home look over Guns Ped and all he could say good about it was there was a Clown in his back ground. Poor Gunther LOL

[Cajun Casey]

It's that OCD thing! He's not a Teton dog, is he, by chance?

Nope. I had some one back home look over Guns Ped and all he could say good about it was there was a Clown in his back ground. Poor Gunther LOL

Even worse. You have my sympathy.

I have three linebred Rawhide's Clown dogs. They are all weird, maybe a little moreso than some of my others which have no Clown blood. They also have the highest pain tolerance I have ever encountered in a dog.

[JessiNGunther]

It's that OCD thing! He's not a Teton dog, is he, by chance?

Nope. I had some one back home look over Guns Ped and all he could say good about it was there was a Clown in his back ground. Poor Gunther LOL

Even worse. You have my sympathy.

I have three linebred Rawhide's Clown dogs. They are all weird, maybe a little moreso than some of my others which have no Clown blood. They also have the highest pain tolerance I have ever encountered in a dog.

This would be Gunthers' great Grandpa and his name was Levy's city slicken clown

[Cajun Casey]

This would be Gunthers' great Grandpa and his name was Levy's city slicken clown

That would be Mike. His sire was Clown's War Chief, a son of Rawhide's Clown. Mike's owner posts here as kensfishing.

We had an incident with a wild turkey earlier this year. They treed her. Not a good experience for me or the turkey, although we both survived.

[JessiNGunther]

A friend recently got a "give away" 3 y.o. GSP from a friend who had to move and could no longer keep it. After a couple weeks it appears that the dog wasn't given much attention as it doesn't know its name and has little to no manners or obedience. The dog recently got loose and killed one of the owner's chickens. The question is: is there any way to break a dog from killing chickens without breaking him on game birds? Any suggestions/recommendations/advice?

thanks!

I think Cajun Casey hijacked your post so very sorry !!! Cajun PM me LOL

[birddog1968]

"Once a chicken killer always a chicken killer"

Not in my experience. a Friends dog had a field day, killed 12 of my chickens, friend proceeded to flog dog with a dead chicken, dog never looked at a chicken again in its life.

[JessiNGunther]

I have heard from my papaw and other hunters back home that they would tie the dead chicken to the dog EWWWW but i guess it worked LOL

[Cajun Casey]

Anecdotally speaking, yard birds are different situation and the dog should be trained off the secured area for the poultry, not off the birds. I know plenty of sporting dogs that live in proximity to either poultry or pen gamebirds and learn not to breach the pen.

[Birdman250]

Need to let the dog know that chickens and ducks are also "no kill unless he/she is told." I use chickens and ducks for steadying my dogs and never had any problems of them killing the chickens and ducks while they are out roaming the yard. In fact, the chickens and ducks are very good for steadying dogs.

[KFhunter]

I hear a red ryder BB gun works

[AG74]

Thanks for the input everyone. update on the story - i went out to the farm last nite to see how the family and dog were doing and offered some of the few training tips i have recently learned to the family. Since the dog had been basically ignored for 3 years and they gave it to the 13 year old son, I gave him a book on clicker/reward training and was going to demonstrate some of the things that worked well with my dog. Well.... the GSP is a beautiful dog, BUT, has a very strange interaction with humans: begs for attention, but when someone pays her attention, she acts very aloof and distracted by any and everything else around. she would not take a treat out of my hand and was startled, maybe even "scared" a little by the clicker.... I'm wondering if this dog suffered a traumatic event by a human in her past? She is not afraid of humans, but makes no real "contact" with anyone. Anyway, I had the boy just call her by name on her leash and bring her in and then give her a treat, to establish some trust with him. Does any of this story make any sense and any suggestions/ideas on a way ahead?

[JessiNGunther]

Thanks for the input everyone. update on the story - i went out to the farm last nite to see how the family and dog were doing and offered some of the few training tips i have recently learned to the family. Since the dog had been basically ignored for 3 years and they gave it to the 13 year old son, I gave him a book on clicker/reward training and was going to demonstrate some of the things that worked well with my dog. Well.... the GSP is a beautiful dog, BUT, has a very strange interaction with humans: begs for attention, but when someone pays her attention, she acts very aloof and distracted by any and everything else around. she would not take a treat out of my hand and was startled, maybe even "scared" a little by the clicker.... I'm wondering if this dog suffered a traumatic event by a human in her past? She is not afraid of humans, but makes no real "contact" with anyone. Anyway, I had the boy just call her by name on her leash and bring her in and then give her a treat, to establish some trust with him. Does any of this story make any sense and any suggestions/ideas on a way ahead?

I think and i'm no expert or anything but it sounds like the dog was left alone a lot and maybe some abuse . I Feel very bad for this dog but with some time and lots of love I think it may come around.

[wberry85]

Why do some think it not possible to break a dog from chickens? They are not quail or pheasant or chukar, and dogs know they are not.

I sat my dog down right in front of my chickens and if he tried to get at them he got lit up and corrected not to do so. Breaking a dog from chickens is the same as trash breaking anything, unless your dog cant tell the difference between a chicken and a quail, in which case you have bigger problems.

My dog will now just lay around with the chickens and not notice they are there, but if sees a tweety bird land in the yard, he is on all fours in an instant. I dont believe trash breaking your dog has any impact on the hunt in the dog as long as you break them in a easy to understand manner.

[Birdman250]

Why do some think it not possible to break a dog from chickens? They are not quail or pheasant or chukar, and dogs know they are not.

I sat my dog down right in front of my chickens and if he tried to get at them he got lit up and corrected not to do so. Breaking a dog from chickens is the same as trash breaking anything, unless your dog cant tell the difference between a chicken and a quail, in which case you have bigger problems.

My dog will now just lay around with the chickens and not notice they are there, but if sees a tweety bird land in the yard, he is on all fours in an instant. I dont believe trash breaking your dog has any impact on the hunt in the dog as long as you break them in a easy to understand manner.

Totally agrees........My dogs only points them and not even chase when it comes to chicken..They know the difference..They only point when chickens and ducks are inside the coop/pen..Sometimes, I'd let the chickens out and let the dogs point them near the coop/pen to steady them..Never had any of the dogs killing or even chase the chickens/ducks.