Dog killing chickens

[centrarchid]

I use German Pointers, one a female wire haired, as poultry guardians. Killing a chicken means just that. I have learned hitting the dog is not as effective a verbal commands and continued interactions with flock during training process. Direct supervision still advised for a while.

Does she get crazy trying to get at them? How is dog housed relative to chickens keep? Can you work her on a leash with chickens nearby?

 

[centrarchid]

The dog, when killing chickens, is trashing. You do not want your dog going after anything but birds of interest. You will find the dog is better at discerning birds by species than the average human.

 

[ejtrout31]

The dog is in a kennel until evening and my OEGB are free ranged she normally isn’t on a leash she doesn’t go after any of my big birds that are free ranged though I don’t know how she got it but when I got ahold it’s neck was broke and it looked like she grabbed it by the tail feathers.

 

[centrarchid]

She got bored and did a chomp and shake. Tail feathers pulled indicates at least a short chase involved. She has control I assume, good.

Now I am going to push what people consider acceptable. Let her have the bird, even to eat it if she wants. You want her to loose interest in it, at least to point where they excite her.

 

[ejtrout31]

Next do I chases her and yell to drop it because that’s what I did

 

[centrarchid]

I would growl at her as approaching, but do not chase her or get excited yourself. That bridge passed, but follow approach if a repeat. Do not reward her as she examines or manipulates the carcass. You getting excited in dog language / way of thinking around a new stimulus is egging her on, or at best giving her mixed signals.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Kicking, screaming, spraying, and other negative reinforcement doesn't do any good. All that does is teach the dog not to go after the chickens when you're looking. And you do not kick your dog, under any circumstances, the dog is not trying to do something bad. Hitting and kicking an animal is abusive, you are trying to cause the animal fear and pain to make it obey you. Chasing and yelling may make the dog think you're playing, or make the dog see the chickens as more desirable.

What you need to do for now is not let the dogs near the chickens, at all. You need to teach them that the chickens aren't worth paying any attention. Starting with one dog at a time, bring them, on a leash, to where they notice the chickens, then pull their attention away. There are many threads on here about how to do this, but basically you want the dogs to decide that you're more interesting than the chickens.

 

[ejtrout31]

I have never kicked the dog I tried to chase it because I couldn’t tell if the hen was alive or not

 

[centrarchid]

@ejtrout31 note you will see wildly different opinions. I have been working around chickens for many years using dogs that in the beginning, more often than not kill a few birds. Most dogs not fully into role until 2 years of age. Take your time and try to relax. Check the two threads linked below. My dog and chicken efforts started almost 40 years prior to the German Pointer thread so do have real experience. The hard part is relating that to someone messing with dogs like this the first time.


First effort using German Pointers primarily as poultry guardians.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/planned-poultry-guarding-dog.426408/

Current effort with English Shepherds
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/english-shepherd-as-poultry-guardian.1008645/

 

[ejtrout31]

Thank you so much for your help