Pyrenees pup ruff with goats, could we train him to be ok around chick

[BookWorm243]

There is a women selling her 4 month old GP puppy. She is finding him a new home because he plays a little ruff with the pygmy goats. He hasn't hurt anyone but she doesn't want to chance it, I guess. Here is her posting http://asheville.craigslist.org/pet/2500150472.html

My question, could we get him and train him to be okay around the chickens? We would keep him as a inside dog but we need a dog we can trust around the chickens. What do you think?

 

[carolinagirl58]

At 4 months old, yeah...he is very likely to be rough with goats. He isn't old enough to be left unattended with any livestock at that age. Somee pyrs make great "chicken" dogs and some don't. So only time will tell. But I have to kind of wonder what the REAL reason she is getting rid of him is. No one expects a pup that young to be trustworthy with livestock. Seems sort of odd she bought him, has only had him a very short time and has already decided he isn't going to be a good LGD.

 

[amisner]

No dogs are good around chickens. I have two that acted like they wouldn't hurt our chickens for weeks then one night I came home to two dead chickens in my yard and two dogs covered in blood!! I even went to the vet to see what his thoughts were on the dogs and chickens living together in peace and harmony. He said that even the best, well trained, old and feeble, small or large dogs will kill your chickens because its in a dogs, all dogs nature to kill birds and such. So now I let the chickens run while the dogs are inside the house and the dogs out when the chickens are out of sight and I am outside with them.

 

[bossynbella]

Quote:
No offense but this is not true. Dogs can be "trained" to leave chickens alone. I believe there may be a few dogs who, especially once allowed/able to kill a chicken once, may be a lost cause. However for the most part it is not hard to teach a dog to leave the chickens alone. Especially not a Great Pyrenees, now a lab or other hunting dog may be a different story. That said we have a HUGE black lab who sleeps with the chickens. When he was younger he snapped at one once for trying to get his food, He got a good telling off for that, and has never done it again. He sleeps in the garage with the chickens at night, and will often be seen sharing his dusty space on hot days with a couple chickens and ducks who are dust bathing throwing dirt all over him. We also have a Shepherd/Husky/Chow/God knows what? Mutt who when we first got the chickens had the bad habit of carrying them around in her mouth (this was only if she thought we where not looking) we simply started tying her up if we where not out there to watch when the chickens where loose, and scolding her if she showed an interest in the chickens, if she ignored them we praised her. She now runs loose and is completely trustworthy around our chickens. Both the Lab and the Mutt are outside dogs, and are with the free range chickens and ducks and guineas constantly.
We also have a beagle, she killed a duck when she was younger, I don't believe in physical punishment for dogs but she got a good smacking for that. My mom (who raised dogs for years) said to show her the dead bird, tell her no and smack her, I did this three times. I think it hurt me more then her as she is my baby, my house dog. Now she completely ignores them. In fact right now we have four young (not fully feathered) ducklings that share her fenced yard with her because they other ducks keep picking on them. She ignores them completely and I watched her discipline her puppy this morning when she tried to chase the ducklings, she ran over to the puppy and bowled it over, the pup got up and went after the ducks again (not trying to hurt just trying to play, the ducks are the same size as the pup maybe bigger) and Annie did the same thing, till the pup left it alone.

So I believe it depends on the dog, and how much training they have to begin with, and how much you are willing to put into them.

Dogs can be completely trustworthy with chickens/ducks and other birds.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

My question, could we get him and train him to be okay around the chickens?

We would keep him as a inside dog

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen

Pyrs are NOT "inside dogs", and one that age will be a puppy for another year and a half.​

 

[BookWorm243]

carolinagirl58, Thats what I was thinking. She had him with the bigger goats and was fine with them, but now is to ruff with the small goats

Do you think it's worth a try?


amisner, I am sorry to hear that

We are very fortunate with the dog we have. He loves the chicks/chickens

We will sometimes leave him in the run with them and he does fine, and hasn't bothered him. He did have one problem with him last year. He killed a baby chick

We rescued her she was trampled during shipment to the feed store. He didn't eat her just killed her and sat her in the corner of the room

I think he could tell she was sick and weak and did what his instincts told him. He was with chicks before and after that and has never had an issue

I can't really be mad at him, after that he proved himself trust worthy again.

 

[chickbea]

Oh, dear. My guess would be that the owner assumed that since GPs are "guard dogs", she wouldn't have to do any training and the pup would just come by his skills naturally. It's certainly possible that she has been trying to train the pup, but my gut feeling is that you will be getting a puppy who is now three months behind in his training. (Or worse, a pup who has received three months of BAD training!

I also need to disagree that all dogs will kill chickens. In all the years I have kept chickens I have owned 5 different dogs, and all but one were fabulous with the birds. Cats, however, you can never trust. They will get those baby chicks if they are given the chance!

 

[BookWorm243]

I just found out that she hasn't done any training. She has just been letting him grow up with the goats.

 

[greeneggsandham]

Quote:
I have to disagree with you. I have three Beagles. My male tried once to go after a hen when she got to close to his run and the rooster gave a licking that he has yet to forget and that was 4 years ago. Now he just goes in his house and lets the hens eat his kibble. My female will sniff them, eat their poo, but really doesn't care about them. Their son who is 6 and a half months old loves the chickens. I have trained him to herd them in at night when the are free ranging. He knows to stay 2 ft behind them and if one strays he is right after her to get her back to the group. All my dogs have toys that they play with and I introduced them to chickens, chicks, and turkeys from the very beginning. Maybe that is why they don't care about them? Now my old guard dog I had that was half husky/half chow. She would have eaten every bird I had if given the chance. I could not trust her around them at all. Even when she was in her kennel.

 

[jcatblum]

My pyrenese / Anatolian is about 7 months old. A few months ago I wouldnt have left him Aline near my birds. Yesterday I went down to the barn & he was laying with 2 hens up against him, almost like they were snuggling. There are times that my chickens don't like the dog (they will squak when they see him) but other times they don't seem to notice he is there. I think it will depend on the chickens as much as it depends on the dog.