How would you correct a puppy that chases chickens?

schmije

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My 3 month old black lab pup thinks it's fun to chase my chickens in the yard. For now it's all play, but I want to get a handle on it before he gets bigger and hurts them. He's getting very good with the 'leave it' command, and he'll usually stop chasing when we tell him to. All it takes is for us to look away for a second, and he's chasing another one.

I'm looking for effective ways to correct his behavior. We tell him to leave it, and we make him come back to us when he does it. I even play alpha by holding him down to the ground when he nips at their tails or wings.

I like to think we're pretty good with dog training, but this is a new issue for us. Our other two labs were well trained adults when we started raising chickens, so this was never a problem.
 

HoneyDreameMomma

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Lots of consistency and a bundle of patience. ;)

The submission rolls you're doing should be helpful. Here are a few other things we've done with our pups that may or may not be helpful for you:

- If they go after a bird, pick it up in your arms, hold it close to you and away from the pup and firmly tell them, "No! MY chicken, MY chicken!" Seems kind of silly, but this has worked pretty well for us. When they view you as the alpha, if you take very clear ownership of the bird, they will often back off.

-Look for patterns as to when and why they chase the birds. Our 8-month old Anatolian can now be out in the yard with our free ranging birds and he will not do a thing to hurt them (wasn't the case a few months ago, so I promise there's hope! :)). However, if the birds come into the goat yard at dusk or after dark when the goats are settling down for the night, he will absolutely go after them. If your dog isn't a LGD, my example may not be as helpful, but looking for other patterns might help. We've just learned to check at the evening feeding to make sure chickens are headed to the coop, and are not in the goat yard.

- Be sure to give your pup lots of praise when they are around a chicken and behaving well.

- Watch your own behavior around the birds. I've noticed that sometimes when I'm trying to catch a particular chicken, or move some of the flock to a different location, the pups are more likely to chase the birds. It's pretty clear they think they are 'helping' me, because they usually try to chase them in the right direction, but when they get too rough and out-of-control, I have to tell them "no."

Usually pups chase birds just because chasing something that noisy and active is exciting. You may get lucky, but be prepared to lose a few birds during the training process, or at least deal with a few injured birds. Blue Coat or a similar product is a must during puppy training time. I swear it's saved at least two or three of our chickens that were roughed up and had a bunch of feathers yanked out.

In many cases, if you put in the time to train your dog with chickens, it will work. However, be aware there are some dogs that are going to continue being chicken chasers, despite all your best efforts. Hang in there and time will tell. Wishing you luck! :fl:fl:fl Keep us posted on your efforts.
 

Baymule

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I caught our black Lab/Great Dane playing with a chicken. Fortunately, before he killed it, but the chicken was deep in shock, had a tear in his skin and lost a lot of feathers. Parker (our dog) knew he was in trouble when I hit the door. He ran and hid under the deck. I took care of the chicken, scolding Parker the whole time. All afternoon I beat on the deck with a rolled up newspaper, yelling at Parker, about every 20 minutes. When my DH got home, he called Parker to him and grabbed his collar. I retrieved the wounded chicken and put him under Parkers nose, scolding hard. I beat that dog with the newspaper while scolding and yelling at him.

He darn near dragged DH off the deck. I went into overkill mode with the newspaper and finally DH let him go. He hid behind the chicken coop, I went one way and DH went the other way. We cornered him up, I shook the paper at him and scolded him. He trembled, drooled and looked petrified with fear. We backed off and went inside for awhile. We went back outside to "not be mad at Parker anymore" and loved on him. I showed him a feather and he looked guilty and turned his head away.

Parker never, ever looked at a chicken again. He was probably about 6-8 months old when this happened.

I am not telling you to beat your dog with newspaper, but this is what worked for me. Parker is 3 years old now and has probably had 3-4 newspaper spankings in his life.

I also have a Great Pyrenees that was given to me because she killed chickens. I never struck her in any way. A scolding kills her heart and the newspaper is not necessary. It took two years, lots of love and patience, but she turned out to be the best chicken LGD ever.

http://www.backyardherds.com/thread...heep-goats-or-chase-bears-hawk-post-26.23771/
 

Bryan99705

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Stating the obvious...you have your work cut out because they ARE A BIRD DOG! We were able to calm a mutt with bird dog in it by introducing it to chicks. He laid in the yard with chicks walking in him and by mid summer he was their second mom. Good luck with your training
 

treeclimber233

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I had the same problem with my Border Collie mix. She had to "get" anything that moved. After watching Cesar Milon showing an owner how to "claim ownership" I tried it with my dog and it worked. What you need to do is stand between the object (chicken) and dog and block any forward movement by the dog. It takes a while and a lot of agility on your part. I did this over a year ago and she still sits on the deck and watches the chickens pecking in the yard.
 

ragdollcatlady

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Just today, our returned goose was trying to get into the area we have sectioned off for the dogs to just be dogs. They don't know him and were about to get naughty about him sticking his head through the fence. I gave a warning and told the more obedient dog to sit. He sat right away and that gave me the chance to correct the other dog verbally, let him know that that is MY GOOSE, leave it, and most importantly SIT! The best commands and not difficult to teach. Leave it, sit, and that's mine! Once he sat, he just watched the goose with his thinking face on. Both dogs just sat watching the goose and when given the release command payed no more attention to the goose, but ran into the house through the doggie door hoping for treats. These dogs are what I consider minimally trained. They know basics and the kids are teaching them agility, obedience and showmanship in 4H, but they aren't superstars. They are mostly just house pets that could use a few better manners, but they aren't too bad. In fact, I was really proud of them today!

I don't have answers for real chasing issues, but if you can teach a flawless (or almost flawless), instant sit/down or leave it, you may be able to control most situations with one of those commands.
 

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