4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Kangarooby]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and new to chicken keeping - our girls have been here for a month now

 

We're having an awful problem with the dog though, normally he's a bit crazy but obedient but he can't seem to get the hang of the fact that the chickens aren't dinner. He's a terrier x-breed so I know it's genetic that he wants to chase and run but I've never seen him chase anything before - not even the many wild rabbits that come into the garden but as soon as he can escape out the door, he's off after the hens like something posessed. The adult girls are big enough to outrun him but he's almost caught the chicks a few times, which is worrying.

 

I've been letting him out while they're in the run to get used to sniffing them, taking him out on the lead when they're free-ranging and ignoring them as I walk him past, giving a sharp tug on the lead if he looks like he's about to charge and rewarding him when he doesn't.

 

What else can I do? he's used to being out in the garden a lot of the day but we're having to lock him in and dive for him when someone opens the front door which is far from ideal...

[Peaches]

Big sympathies - the dog to the left here is a chicken-slayer. My other spaniel lets them walk underneath her, ignores them if they get close, generally leaves them alone and isn't interested. But Mabel, I just have to keep her away. I have worked out a way to let them into the garden to free range when I'm at work, and then put them into their (quite big) run when I let Mabel out.

 

I am trying to train her out of chicken-killing mode, but she's hard-wired to hunt. In fact, she did attack one of my girls and really enjoyed the chase (needless to say me and chicken did not enjoy the chase one little bit). It's very difficult. Like you I'm putting her on the lead. When Priscilla was ill she was in the house on my husband's knee and Mabel was on the sofa trying to sniff - but with OH there she seemed to work out she didn't dare attack Priscilla. But in the garden on her own - I wouldn't trust her.

 

I'm persevering and if I have any luck, I shall let you know. In the meantime, I "manage" the situation.

 

Fiona

[Kenilchick]

I've been very lucky as my dog, a golden retriever, apart from being very interested when we first got the chickens, now pays very little attention to them. I am quite happy for them to free range together.

My mum's dog is a completely different matter. She's a cairn terrier and a real pain. She freaks everytime she sees the chickens both in and out of the house. If she could get at them I'm sure they would be dinner. As my mum comes to stay fairly frequently we "manage" the situation by keeping the chickens in their own area with Omlet netting. I have further pegged the netting down with tent pegs between the posts to stop any determined "crawling dogs" getting under. She still charges at them each time she goes in the garden and this spooks them but I feel better knowing they are safe from a close encounter. Hopefully with time she will give up. Not sure though.

[hilda-and-evadne]

We're having an awful problem with the dog though, normally he's a bit crazy but obedient but he can't seem to get the hang of the fact that the chickens aren't dinner. He's a terrier x-breed so I know it's genetic that he wants to chase and run but I've never seen him chase anything before

 

I agree that terriers are hard-wired to chase things. In my experience, they only stop chasing any particular animal or bird when it is no fun to do so, and perhaps your rabbits are no fun to chase because they get away too fast. My terrier doesn't bother with pigeons any more because they just fly away. I tell him off if he barks at the hens or throws himself at the run in order to make them jump but I would never let him loose in the same space as the hens.

[Raina]

Hello,

 

I'm owned by 4 dogs, 1 Border Collie & 3 Terriers

 

 

Our border collie & and Border terrier "Ooops, word censored!"es are fine round the chooks (the BT licks the girls,but gets a peck in return )

 

But our males are the problem!

 

Scully (Border Terrier X JRT) has bitten rats,killed a pet fish and also bit one of our tortoises....and he was terrible round the girls,but what we found that stopped him trying to get to them was, we turned the hose on and kept spraying him with it,it worked after a few days!

 

But Bedley (Bedlington Terrier) still wont leave them alone , we tried hoses,chasing him round the garden with a Umbrella,ignoring him and just letting the girls peck him, none of them worked so we have given up on him after trying for just over 1 months)

 

 

Oh and Welcome to the Forum

[mags]

i have been taking my terrier Jess in on a lead and just standing about correcting her when she thinks chase chickens

 

She loves our cats so she sould hopeful learn that I don't want her to chase the girls

 

 

Mags

[Budgies]

Sorry to hear you're having this problem.

 

Terriers are of course as you say, very much bred for their hunting abilities!

 

However, I think you might find with time you crack it.

 

Our border collie/springer spaniel cross was very interested in the chickens. We took him out on the lead and let the girls free range every single day.

 

If he paid any attention to them I corrected.

 

If he ignored them, I praised and bribed him.

 

We actually reached a point that when I approached the dog (with OH holding his lead) with a chook in my arms, he'd look away. I encouraged this avoidance behaviour and finally I had all three free-ranging together under my watchful eye.

 

Dogs do push the boundaries, so personally I would never have trusted our boy alone with the chooks, but I was very happy when they all settled down enough to be out together, making my life easier and nicer too!

 

Now I'll have to start all over again when we get new hens

[Kangarooby]

Wow, so many replies! Thanks everyone, will persist with him on the lead for now and maybe work out if we can get a bigger run built for the girls, maybe when the chicks are bigger too and able to outrun him like the others, he'll start to lose interest in chasing them Wish one of them would give him a good hard peck - he wouldn't go back for more!!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My dog was just nosey and interested in my girls to begin with. One of them aimed a peck at his nose once and he's been very wary of them ever since . He is a big wuss though (he's scared of next door's cat ).

[Kangarooby]

Aww poor pup!

[Griffin]

If your dog is anything like my Springer then the novelty will wear off. I have three dogs, a Springer, a black hairy mongrel and a Jack Russell. The JR keeps his distance, he's regularly attacked by the chickens The mongrel ignores them and she has since the day they arrived but my Springer is a different kettle of fish. She was VERY excited by them initially, they flapped and moved quickly and made sqwarking noises which thrilled her to bits, she thought mummy had been so kind buying her real live toys She wasn't allowed out unsupervised, we quickly bought some of the Omlet netting so there was always something between her and them. Gradually the excitement wore off and she was able to be fairly close to them, still supervised of course. Then we added more chickens to the flock and we were back to square one with her again Again, she saw these as new and exciting toys. She got used to them and then we hatched some chicks so we've gone through it all yet again

 

I wouldn't trust her 100% and I don't think there'll ever be a time when I could leave her alone in the garden with them but she's certainly much better behaved than she was. They don't have to be behind the netting, she does get close to them but she's always got one eye on me and she knows she's not 'allowed' to touch them.

[Space Chick]

You've had lots of good advice but thought I'd throw my share in aswell.

 

I have a 14 year old Terrier Cross, the first few days it was a nightmare, he barked and barked and barked.

 

So I tried a 2 prong attack (following advice from here), when he barked he got a soaking (started with a water pistol, ended up being the hose pipe!!! ), when he completely ignored them he got a chocolate drop.

 

We are now just over four weeks in, and for the past 3 weeks he hasn't cared one bit. Although he is nagging for choccie drops all the time (well he has been good and ignored them )

 

We do still only let him on the lead (but on extender mode) when the girls are free ranging, as we are not quite ready to let him off the lead yet, we tried about a week ago and he teared down the garden after a rather bewildered Donna, who still now bokks at him through the run

 

So stick with it, and it will work.

[mags]

Jess does not get quiet so excited now

 

she used to circle round the eglu & run and when I got the netting up she did same

she seems to have settled down a bit

 

I wish one of the girls would give her a peck or too as i think that would help

my cats are less of a problem

 

Mags

[alih]

We have a border terrier called Dennis who used to be desperate to get at the chickens. I despaired and used to try adn keep him inside when they were ranging.

 

After a while of him sniffing about when they were in the run I tried letting hin out and the girls ran at him when he tried to get them so he became terrified (terrier-fied???) and now they all pootle about quite happily together.

 

the only time he is interested is if I pick them up.

 

carry on doing what you are doing and I am sure things will calm down

[debbier]

My dog's a border terrier, too. I haven't got my chickens yet, but wouldn't trust her anywhere near them if she could get her teeth around their necks!

 

Debbie

[drewy]

I would welcome some advice please - We got our 4 hens 3 weeks ago & our garden is out in the fields but has a footpath next to it. Up until now, the only problem we had with the dog walkers is clearing up their disgusting & toxic dog mess - (oh & two dog bites whilst I've been out running... but that was my fault for running so fast according to the owner!) - what a selfish lot some of them are to be sure!

We thought we would free range our hens as there is no traffic to worry about & it's brill seeing them inquisitively wandering around the garden.

Yesterday afternoon, my wife arrived home to find speckledy feathers absolutely everywhere, so we thought one of them had been killed, presumably by a dog, as foxes tend to be nocturnal.

Luckily, 2 hours later, the hen emerged from under a bush, quivering with shock, tail completely missing (after we'd told our young daughter that we'd already buried her to save her the upset! Explain that one).

Anyway to get to the point. Ask me how much I now dislike selfish dog owners who not only refuse to dispose of their dog mess & yes I know it's only the dog's instinct blah blah blah... but now let them go into my garden to attack my pet hens.

Responsible owners & I'm sure there are some, keep them on a lead if they think they might possibly inconvenience people in any way & they have any doubts about their ability to properly train their dog to obey commands & be under control at all times. (" Oh he'll only jump up at you. He won't bite" Oh really & incidentally I don't want muddy paws all over me thanks very much)

Anyway to get to the real point.. do any of you know of any REALLY effective dog deterrents (apart from a 6ft fence) to keep the dogs out of our garden - I don't want to do the dogs any harm but are any of those sonic type devices any use? I've read varying reports as to their efficacy. Or any other (practical) suggestions?

 

Drewy

[sparkysmum]

Just a quick hello & welcome kangarooby I think my early experience of chick/dog dynamics was about as bad as you can get Sparky was utterly fixated and wouldn't leave them alone for a minute. In fact he caught one of our ladies and broke her foot which took months, several vet trips and a small fortune to heal. I was not a happy chick mum. For a long time I really wondered if there could ever be harmony in the garden and was so sad that Sparky could no longer have unlimited access to his garden. However I stuck with the training (water in a squirty bottle) and lots of rewards if he left them alone for even a minute Result It's taken a year almost but Sparky can now walk past the hens if they're out free ranging without batting an eyelid Notwithstanding this the hens are now confined to their "hen garden" for much of the day, so peace has broken out again Do stick with it, you'll get there in the end. Allisonx

[debbier]

We thought we would free range our hens as there is no traffic to worry about & it's brill seeing them inquisitively wandering around the garden.

Yesterday afternoon, my wife arrived home to find speckledy feathers absolutely everywhere, so we thought one of them had been killed, presumably by a dog, as foxes tend to be nocturnal.

 

Hi Drewy,

 

Foxes are definitely not just nocturnal: I've seen them often in the daytime in my garden, though not since we've had the dog. From what I've read about fox attacks on here there seem to be many in the daytime. I'm not saying it was definitely a fox, but would imagine you'd need to consider precautions aainst foxes if you are free ranging in the day time when you aren't around. I'd imagine the methods of protecting from dogs would be similar.

 

Debbie

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Anyway to get to the real point.. do any of you know of any REALLY effective dog deterrents (apart from a 6ft fence) to keep the dogs out of our garden - I don't want to do the dogs any harm but are any of those sonic type devices any use? I've read varying reports as to their efficacy. Or any other (practical) suggestions?

 

Welcome to the forum, Drewy. Sorry to hear about your problems with inconsiderate dog owners . If you do a search on the forum for "Foxwatch" you should get loads of information. They are aimed at foxes (obviously!) but I think there is one that might deter dogs too?

 

I take it chickenwire isn't an option? It sounds like a large area so presumably not .

[Kangarooby]

Thanks again everyone, will maybe try the soaking/bribery approach next. Off to look to see what this netting is, we don't have an eglu so wonder if it would work with our run, off to find out.

[meezers]

I have a LabX who lets the chooks walk all over her ( literally ) and a terrierX ( springer X jack russell) who will chase anything that moves when in the field, but she's fine with the chooks. I started off as you have, letting her sniff around while they were in the run, then taking her into the garden on the lead when they freeranged, then I tied her up on a short lead in the garden while the chooks free ranged around her. It took a few days , but she eventually calmed down - think she realised they'd only come close if she stopped yapping ! The chooks must have realised she was no threat while tied up as they would often come close enough for her to sniff , and would give her a peck for her trouble ! I gradually increased the length of the chain she was on and now ( a year later ) I trust her loose in the garden with them -. Hope your perserverance pays off.

[Kangarooby]

Thanks meezers - I'll give that a try too..

[teee]

Hi all.... great advice from all, thank you, has any one got a boxer ours is 7 years old and we rescued him at about 2 yrs old .... at the time we had another dog but sadley she passed away and they were only together for about 2 years.... she was the boss, he was good with her, his attude to other dogs got worse and worse after she died where now it is difficult to take him out where there are any other dogs about!! we have only had our girls since 20th may, so very new, the first 3/4 days were very bad, he kept bashing the run and making the girls flap, which made him worse we are using the water technique and it seems to be working, tho when left alone out side he forgets very quick....... the past couple of days have been much better so perhaps he wont eat them tho i can not ever imagine them all being out in the garden together!!!! or perhaps its early days!!! fingers crossed

Edited May 29, 2009 by Guest

[Kangarooby]

Ours jumps at the run too - which makes the girls flap, which gets him hyped, which makes them flap all the more and so on....

[Budgies]

the past couple of days have been much better so perhaps he wont eat them tho i can not ever imagine them all being out in the garden together!!!! or perhaps its early days!!! fingers crossed.

 

 

Hi Tina, sorry to hear that you lost your dog. Persevere - you may always have to supervise your dog with the hens, but it does sound as though he's starting to respond to the training. It took us months, but if you're consistent and can be out with them all regularly it does come together!!