Merry Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 We have 2 Springer Spaniels one of which is a natural born killer. He has caught a cat, a weasel and a grouse, none of which have lived to tell the tale! Pepper and Ginger arrived with their Eglu three weeks ago. We have been very careful about keeping dogs and chickens separate whilst the girls are free ranging. Tonight my husband was a bit too trusting with his dog and whilst tucking the girls up for the night Ginger lost a few feathers. Luckily no major harm done this time and Ginger seemed ok last time I checked her. We are planning to fence off an area for the girls and it looks like the free ranging may have to stop unless we can sort out the dog problem. Does anyone have any ideas to solve this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Unfortunately my dog (or rather, fortunately) is very placid and a bit on the slow side, she did catch one once and brought it in to the front room but only because she wanted to love it, not eat it! Not an expert but Spaniels are mostly gun dogs aren't they so their instinct is going to be to bring it to you dead! I'm sure there are people on here who will be able to help you as it's not an unusual question - I know it's come up before. Good luck, hope someone more use comes along Mrs B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamebird Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hi Merry The natural instinct of a retriever is to hunt and bring back food for the pack. However, it's up to the pack leader (you) to teach the dog that he only brings back what you have asked for. I have a Labrador Retriever and he knows that he does not touch the chickens, even to the point that the chickens can peck his bone whilst still in his mouth. When I first got the chickens I allowed him to calmly look at them in their run and whenever he got too excited I reprimanded him (not physically but with a voice command) and when he responded I immediately rewarded him with a treat. Slowly I progressed to the point where he ignores them. The girls are now behind electric fencing to protect them from foxes but if one of the girls decides that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence then I use Oliver to help me round them back into the enclosure. If your spaniels listen to you and obey commands like sit, stay etc. then you should able to teach them that the chickens are out of bounds. It takes time and patience. I know there are lots of Omleteers who have dogs who live happily with chickens and I'm sure they will give you some tips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Sas- thanks for your reply. Sounds like Bramley (the dog) will have to go back to school for the next few weeks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Marple Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 Hello We have two 11 month old lab crosses and had a sad incident in our first week of chicken-keeping. We think the dogs ate one of the chickens - an awful admission I know. I posted on here and people were very supportive. Since then we have been very careful, but have tried hard to train the dogs and we appear to be succeeding. The boys know that they are not to chase the girls. The girls ,equally have learnt that if they walk rather than run the boys pay them less attention!! It seems to be working. We reward the dogs when they get it right ie when I say NO and they look at me and don't chase!! The girls are so cheeky now, they come into the kitchen through a space where the catflap once was ( dogs again!) and the dogs look at them but the chickens just ignore them. I don't go out and leave them unsupervised although I don't stand outside when both are out together. My biggest problem is stopping the dogs eating the chickenpoo which I don't think is good for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clur Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 We have a Patterdale Terrier (have had her a week now!), and when the girls are in the run she pays little to no attention. If the girls are free-ranging, then the dog just isn't allowed out in the garden. I tend to now let the girls free-range after Tilly has had her walk and is tired (well, as tired as Terriers get anyway). Not a cure for chicken/dog relations but a solution that seems to be working for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chook n Boo Mum Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I had similar problems with my 3 labs; Jess, our previously loved 5 yr old was totally neurotic about them, she wouldn't leave them at all, watched incessantly, barked a bit but not too much & running round the cage as though rounding them up. It was the quivering everytime the chooks moved that got to me - oh and finding Snowdrop standing on her side of the cage with her tail in Jess's mouth on the other side that really convinced me something had to be done ! (Snowdrop didn't seem to notice, so I assume Jess wasn't holding on, merely "mouthing" as Labs do! ) All 3 girls (labs) have had pecks on the nose, through the cage, which made them wary of the chooks to start with. Eventually, a builder who has gun dogs told me that a firm "no" EVERYTIME she made towards the chooks would work - it may take time, but it would. And it has! We can now (after about 3 months of having the chooks) let them all freerange together. Occasionally one of the girls will bounce too near the chooks for their liking & will spook them, but apart from that peace has broken out in our garden. The chooks can even come in the back door when the girls are laying just inside & they are largely ignored. We did have an egg stealing incident a few weeks ago, which sent me "out of my tree" with fury - they got a thorough "this is not acceptable" kind of tirade, which of course they took on board - and DH has barricaded the door to the run so the chooks can get in & the girls can't! We took the freerange intros very slowly - one dog at a time, then 2 (the 2 more trusted babies) and then worked up to Jess on her own & with the others,. This took about 2 weeks, but since then we've had no problems ( please I haven't spoken too soon ) Good luck, with training it can be overcome, you haven't had them all very long - don't give up. If ours have got the message a well trained gun dog should...! Sha x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthmam1 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Hello there I have a dog (collie x with many things) and for the first 2 days I kept her on a lead whilst my girls were free running. After I let her off she would follow them around and would jump towards them. A very firm No followed. You do have to be the pack leader. I also saw the same thing on an episode of The Dog Whisper on the tele. He held a chicken whilst near a gundog (who was licking his lips) and everytime the dog came towards him there was a very firm No. After a while he let the dog smell the chicken. It did seem to work (at least on the tele ). I am sure you will get it sorted sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I think Riley must be a bit of a wuss . He was very excitable when the girls arrived, barking and leaping around, but a quick peck on the nose and he's now terrified if they come anywhere near him . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jools+6 Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 our lab went nuts when the girls arrived , so we trained him on the lead . just walking him down to the run and if he started bouncing or going mad we pulled him away and gave him a talking to . if he behaved he got to stay and have a treat . it took a week for his stomach to learn . he's fine now and wanders around when the girls are out , which is handy if a cat pops by . only thing is eating the poo . you'd think it was ice cream the way he scoffs it he drools watching it from the house and he stinks , if you know what i mean , later in the day not pleasant at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 after a visiting Lab killed one of ours (while our Lab looked embarassed on the sidelines) and then a fox got another, we got an electric fence. our Lab had also got into the egg-stealing thing, (and could get in and out through a 6 inch gap in the door barricade!!) and I found it very difficult to police him the whole time - I work from home, so he has the run of the house and garden all day. sadly to say, 3 shocks off the fence seem to have finally got the message home: he doesnt go anywhere near them now!! (it was horrible when he got shocked, and I felt so sorry for him, but the training just wasnt working). and we also had the eating chicken poo thing... so for us the best solution was fencing the girls in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VicW Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Oh, I'm trying to train my two labs around the chickens too. They are puppies though and still in training. So far we've got to the stage where they don't go toooo mad when they get to the run. To start with they were running round and digging and desperately trying to get to them. Now they sit and watch intently and the chickens are getting braver and don't all run into the house straight away. Hoping to get them to start ignoring them soon and just going on the theory that they'll get bored soon! Am kind of doubting whether we'll be able to let them both free-range at some point, but I hope to be proved wrong! Also taking them to gun dog training in Dec, so hoping that will help too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooklady Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 Reading all the posts I think I've been very lucky. It is possible, you will get there, make sure the dogs know whos boss. Mine got a few pecks and he soon became less interested in them in fact if they got too close he would freak out and get out of the way as quickly as he could but they all live in harmony now and I trust him completely around them, in fact he protects them nothing would come in the garden with him there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 the other thing about ours is that he came to us as a 10 mth old rescue, completely off the wall - like dynamite on 4 legs! - so most of our training has been directed at recall, behaving around people, walking on the lead etc. it was really hard when we were trying to reinforce all that to keep doing it around the chooks too, maybe I'm soft but I felt he needed the time when we weren't training if you know what I mean? bless him, he's a lovely boy now, but I still think eggs & chicken poo would be too much of a temptation even if he did leave the girls alone. and then there's mr. fox too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry Posted October 16, 2008 Author Share Posted October 16, 2008 Thanks for all your stories and support. It sounds like there is light at the end of the tunnel(well maybe!) and it is up to us to sort Bramley out and be firm with him. It would be nice if they could all free range together. I'll let you know how we get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanyajb Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Hi , when i got my ex batts 2 yrs ago one of my dogs rosie continuously tried to chase and grab them in a kind of frenzied wide eyed way!! so we fenced off a bit of the garden to keep her out and them in, only letting them free range when rosie was shut in the house. I thought i would never be able to let them out together!! 1 year later when i was cleaning them out i looked around to find rosie standing in the chicken run completely ignoring them!! i couldn't believe it!!! A few weeks later when i was treating them with red mite powder they started flapping their wings and making loads of noise ,like they do! well the noise must of stirred up her hunting instincts and she once again tryed to go for them,but they chased her and pecked her and ever since then she keeps well out of their way!! But the fun has started again when i recently got a new cairn terrier puppy, she chases them and tries to grab their tails but takes it no further than that (yet!!) so i have started training with her on a long lead using the leave command and rewarding her when she does. seen a small improvement but think we are in for the long haul. to be on the safe side we have gone back to the chickens out dog in/dog out chickens in set up which is a bit of a pain but i am just hoping she will just get used to them when she grows up!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merry Posted October 20, 2008 Author Share Posted October 20, 2008 Thanks, I have noticed that Bramley now ignores them when he is shut in and the chickens come up to the house and peck on the patio windows. We are reinforcing the "leave it" command and he has stopped digging holes and trying to burrow in to the eglu. Our oldest spaniel is 14years old and I have to say, won't be around for too much longer.(He has had a wonderful life and still spang in to action yesterday and galloped after the chickens for a couple of seconds. There is life in the old dog!) Sounds like we will have fun when we eventuallly get another puppy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
