This article indicates the patience and time we have to provide to train and/or retrain dogs to be chicken friendly.
An older rescue dog (called Rosa) I have took a long time to change from chicken hunter to chicken protector, about 6 months. I tied her at a distance when feeding/caring for the hens every single day, and gradually tied her closer and closer until she got the message. She now loves hearing me sing out "chooken" time as she knows we're going for a walk to the coop and she roams freely among the chicks, hens and roosters.
Unfortunately the relative that adopted her sister (I found both girls starving and ill on the highway) did not spend time normalizing her. She is bored and has to be restrained. IMHO this only exacerbates the problem. It's sad because I was a source of amusement by this person. For about 6 months I would enjoy a cup of coffee in the coop with my dog in the morning and even a glass of wine on a warm evening while chatting on my phone to make the socialization training training part of her "normal" behavior and my routine for my animals. It worked so well and we've enjoyed years of harmony (I no longer have to have a morning cuppa in the coop, yeah!!!!)
Earlier this year I fostered a dog with 8 puppies barely 2 days old. She was proclaimed a chicken killer and people were trying to kill her. Her den was in my chicken coop with a wire door partition. No longer starving she was fine. Then hens jumped the door to steal her food and the puppies grew up with these hens. The puppies needed to play as they grew but were fine with the hens. At 12 weeks old they were adopted out and their mama is still here.
Edit to add: Today if I need someone to help me catch a hen or rooster I have to put Rosa indoors because she will defend her chickens from everyone but me! It's kinda comical but my Dad didn't think so when she nipped at his heels. Once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer is not true in my case. However people should be cautious because their dog breeds and socialization differs from home to home. Also the number of dogs they have changes the dynamics.
An older rescue dog (called Rosa) I have took a long time to change from chicken hunter to chicken protector, about 6 months. I tied her at a distance when feeding/caring for the hens every single day, and gradually tied her closer and closer until she got the message. She now loves hearing me sing out "chooken" time as she knows we're going for a walk to the coop and she roams freely among the chicks, hens and roosters.
Unfortunately the relative that adopted her sister (I found both girls starving and ill on the highway) did not spend time normalizing her. She is bored and has to be restrained. IMHO this only exacerbates the problem. It's sad because I was a source of amusement by this person. For about 6 months I would enjoy a cup of coffee in the coop with my dog in the morning and even a glass of wine on a warm evening while chatting on my phone to make the socialization training training part of her "normal" behavior and my routine for my animals. It worked so well and we've enjoyed years of harmony (I no longer have to have a morning cuppa in the coop, yeah!!!!)
Earlier this year I fostered a dog with 8 puppies barely 2 days old. She was proclaimed a chicken killer and people were trying to kill her. Her den was in my chicken coop with a wire door partition. No longer starving she was fine. Then hens jumped the door to steal her food and the puppies grew up with these hens. The puppies needed to play as they grew but were fine with the hens. At 12 weeks old they were adopted out and their mama is still here.
Edit to add: Today if I need someone to help me catch a hen or rooster I have to put Rosa indoors because she will defend her chickens from everyone but me! It's kinda comical but my Dad didn't think so when she nipped at his heels. Once a chicken killer, always a chicken killer is not true in my case. However people should be cautious because their dog breeds and socialization differs from home to home. Also the number of dogs they have changes the dynamics.
