Socializing Chickens and Dogs

[DarrellP]

Hope this is the right spot.. searched for similar stuff but didn't really see what I was looking for.....
I've got some acreage and seriously considering adding some chickens... not a lot but enough to beef up the farm like ambiance. Would like to do free range, knowing there are predator risks but I don't like penning animals up any more than necessary. Now to my question... My son has a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (1 yr old now), he lives on his own in an apartment, but we end up dog-sitting quite often... little bugger has non-stop energy. Any chance of us being able to socialize a toller to be able to co-exist with the chickens? He seems fine around cats, very playful (more so than the cats would like) but he has never shown a bit of aggression toward them - just curiosity and playfulness.

 

[townchicks]

Tollers are bird dogs, so he will probably be very interested in the chickens. They are very trainable, however, so it shouldn't be hard to teach him to leave them alone. Start with basic obedience and keep him on leash or the chickens behind a fence until you are sure he can control himself around them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The problem with s playful dog is it wants to play with the chickens, the chickens don't survive, the dog chews on the chicken and next thing you know you have a chicken killing dog. You may need to keep the chickens confined when the dog is around, or the dog confined when the chickens are out.