Official BYC Poll: What Kind Of Relationship Do Your Dogs & Chickens Have?

[Squawkers]

I’m assuming y’all know how my dog is with my chickens from my profile picture I 100% trust him with the chickens, but I would never leave him unsupervised with the chicks just because he is pretty rough and clumsy. He doesn’t guard the chickens, but he does chase what I tell him to, and that has saved my chickens lives twice now. There is this one cat who is a complete menace. He attacks my cats and has killed a bantam of mine. I caught him stalking my 5 week old chicks once, but I was quite a distance from them and knew I wouldn’t get there in time. I sent Chase after the cat and it was a long time before I saw that cat again No matter what chase is chasing he always stops and comes back when I call him, so I don’t have to worry about him getting to far.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Lucky you!

 

[Evadig]

I can't remember if I ever responded to this thread, but...

My Eva is one of those rare dogs (I guess) that never had to be trained. She never saw a chicken until she was three and then when we got the first bitty chicks she sniffed and yapped and danced. Never once tried to take a bite out of them even though they nibbled her tail.
She welcomes all newcomers with the same joyous excitement and checks up on everyone frequently; we say Eva has got her own pets. She helps me get the chickens from under the bushes and separates squabbling hens.
The only adverse incident we ever had was when Jen was broody and Eva didn't know, she came sauntering happily by to look at the babies...Jen flew at her and Eva pinned her down but let up when I yelled at them.

Now from the chickens' point of view...they like to antagonize her. Particularly the higher ranking hens. They stand in her path, give her the evil eye. Eva just wags her little tail and whines (it's not a whine, it's her way of saying hi), and they give up to go scratch in the plants.

I love my Eva.

We also have Annie, she's a lab puppy (nearly a year now). We had to work with her a bit. She likes to chase if something's running. She is perfectly fine around the hens otherwise, but she is not allowed to help in the recovery efforts (moving the hens out of the bushes). And I would never trust her around chicks. Too much resemblance to a tennis ball!

 

[Squawkers]

I can't remember if I ever responded to this thread, but...

My Eva is one of those rare dogs (I guess) that never had to be trained. She never saw a chicken until she was three and then when we got the first bitty chicks she sniffed and yapped and danced. Never once tried to take a bite out of them even though they nibbled her tail.
She welcomes all newcomers with the same joyous excitement and checks up on everyone frequently; we say Eva has got her own pets. She helps me get the chickens from under the bushes and separates squabbling hens.
The only adverse incident we ever had was when Jen was broody and Eva didn't know, she came sauntering happily by to look at the babies...Jen flew at her and Eva pinned her down but let up when I yelled at them.

Now from the chickens' point of view...they like to antagonize her. Particularly the higher ranking hens. They stand in her path, give her the evil eye. Eva just wags her little tail and whines (it's not a whine, it's her way of saying hi), and they give up to go scratch in the plants.

I love my Eva.

We also have Annie, she's a lab puppy (nearly a year now). We had to work with her a bit. She likes to chase if something's running. She is perfectly fine around the hens otherwise, but she is not allowed to help in the recovery efforts (moving the hens out of the bushes). And I would never trust her around chicks. Too much resemblance to a tennis ball!

she sounds like such a sweetie!