Training Help/Advice for dog who killed poultry?

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

Almost 7yr old female, neutered Husky/Lab mix.
She killed one of our roosters this week. Was a sport kill, IMO. No blood, didn't eat it. Just chased it because it ran & broke it's neck I think. I didn't see it; just the after affects of 3 different piles of feathers around the yard then finally found the body in our large garden.
(She broke her run & only 2 roos were free ranging.)

I do not want to get rid of her as she is our family dog along with her brothers.
She's a sweetie, but she is stubborn. All these years, and only like this year will she partially sit. lol Granted that is also not with dedicated training.
But I do not want to keep a dog I can not trust if it breaks free or one of the chickens escape either.

Any sites? Links? Videos with best advice for her breed? I think she can be trained out of it; it's at least worth a shot.

Please don't comment if you're just going to bash/harass/insult/cuss at me.

Thanks!
-A.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Almost 7yr old female, neutered Husky/Lab mix.
She killed one of our roosters this week. Was a sport kill, IMO. No blood, didn't eat it. Just chased it because it ran & broke it's neck I think. I didn't see it; just the after affects of 3 different piles of feathers around the yard then finally found the body in our large garden.
(She broke her run & only 2 roos were free ranging.)

I do not want to get rid of her as she is our family dog along with her brothers.
She's a sweetie, but she is stubborn. All these years, and only like this year will she partially sit. lol Granted that is also not with dedicated training.
But I do not want to keep a dog I can not trust if it breaks free or one of the chickens escape either.

Any sites? Links? Videos with best advice for her breed? I think she can be trained out of it; it's at least worth a shot.

Please don't comment if you're just going to bash/harass/insult/cuss at me.

Thanks!
-A.

I wish you luck, friend. I keep seeing stories on BYC about Huskies killing chickens. I don't let my dogs near the chickens. That's how I deal with it. But I'm following this thread.

 

[nuthatched]

At 7 years, I don't know how much you can do, considering huskies are bull stubborn.
I guess keep your birds secured the best you can and hope for the best.

Please don't comment if you're just going to bash/harass/insult/cuss at me.

This isn't Facebook, there's no need to add this. Ever. :]

 

[MotherofOrpies]

You can teach an old dog new tricks, there is an episode about a dog killing a chicken on dog whisperer with Cesar Milan, I think you can watch it on youtube… maybe it is even the episode about the writer, it was a golden lab, I think, huskies are notorious for killing chickens my neighbors husky dug under our fence and killed 1 chicken and injured the other one , and in a village 12 km from here, there is a rowdy husky pack who had killed all of the chickens from their neighbor for the 3rd time as I can read, she isn trained very well, that is a problem, before you can train the big stuff, she nedds to learn the smaller stuff
found the video, I think

 

[TinyPeaPea]

Age matters very little when it comes to conditioning dogs. Dedication and consistency is what is key. With certain dogs. the prey instinct is too strong to fully break, but you condition even those dogs to heel, drop the chase, or release the bird.

I am not a licensed expert, but I've raised and trained 2 Dobermanns, a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, an Austrian/Siberian Husky mix, and my sister's current Siberian Husky.

Yes, smarter and more dominant dogs tend to be stubborn, but IME nothing is more stubborn than a human with a mission. You need to make it your mission to condition your dog for the safety of your flock.

Or you could neglect it all and just keep them separate. The latter is the path of least resistance and effort.

I mean no insult to you, but a dog that doesn't listen is a dog with an owner who isn't consistent or firm with it.

And no, I do not mean punish it. Conditioning is about consistency and reinforcement. You must show and communicate to your dog what you want it to do, and if it refuses, coerce it without negative reinforcement.

If you allow it to do as it pleases, such as ignore a "come here" command or even a simple "sit" or "stay" command, it will choose when to listen to you, often choosing not to when convenient.

My current dog is a cat, and he blows most dogs' obedience levels out of the water.

Just my 2cents. No offense intended.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

At 7 years, I don't know how much you can do, considering huskies are bull stubborn.
I guess keep your birds secured the best you can and hope for the best.

This isn't Facebook, there's no need to add this. Ever. :]

I want to try.

They’re secured but I don’t have cash to spend to make it super secure. And even then sometimes they still can escape. Lol

Good because some of the BYC group on Fb is downright horrible. I left that group.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

Age matters very little when it comes to conditioning dogs. Dedication and consistency is what is key. With certain dogs. the prey instinct is too strong to fully break, but you condition even those dogs to heel, drop the chase, or release the bird.

I am not a licensed expert, but I've raised and trained 2 Dobermanns, a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix, an Austrian/Siberian Husky mix, and my sister's current Siberian Husky.

Yes, smarter and more dominant dogs tend to be stubborn, but IME nothing is more stubborn than a human with a mission. You need to make it your mission to condition your dog for the safety of your flock.

Or you could neglect it all and just keep them separate. The latter is the path of least resistance and effort.

I mean no insult to you, but a dog that doesn't listen is a dog with an owner who isn't consistent or firm with it.

And no, I do not mean punish it. Conditioning is about consistency and reinforcement. You must show and communicate to your dog what you want it to do, and if it refuses, coerce it without negative reinforcement.

If you allow it to do as it pleases, such as ignore a "come here" command or even a simple "sit" or "stay" command, it will choose when to listen to you, often choosing not to when convenient.

My current dog is a cat, and he blows most dogs' obedience levels out of the water. Just my 2cents. No offense intended.

I’ll preface it to say I’ve never trained a dog beyond, potty training outside & sit, stay. Mainly pit bulls. (That’s what our other two are.) And it really was just telling them & not true training.

Like sit, we’d push their rear down & there ya go.
She’s been different. She lays down, will roll over to her belly shows. But sit was an issue. Lol
We used to have her & her bro in the house but she got to where she didn’t want it. She wants to be outside. Which is fine.
But I’ve tried periodically to get her to sit. Yet as life goes I’m extremely busy. Gardens, children, homeschool, yard work, chickens, lol the list goes on.
It has been easier to just let her be so to speak because that’s just how she’s existed.

But I have a goal to at least get her to respect that I am alpha, and she has to listen to me on basic commands.
Might be a process but it’s worth a shot.

(Pssh if you have a cat obeying teach me your ways! I have numerous ones & they are typical cats! Do what they want when they want. Lol)

 

[NatJ]

Almost 7yr old..All these years, and only like this year will she partially sit. lol Granted that is also not with dedicated training.
But I do not want to keep a dog I can not trust if it breaks free or one of the chickens escape either.

If you cannot manage dedicated training, I do not think it will ever work.

But if you are willing to put in the time to train the dog, she should at least improve. I don't know if you can get her fully reliable or not-- that would depend on the dog and the training.

For training, you probably do not need chicken-specific information right now. Instead, start with basic things like come, sit or down, stay, and a command like "off" or "leave it" or "drop it" or something of the sort (meaning: don't put your mouth on it, and/or take your mouth off it.) If she can master those, even when there are exciting distractions, they are great tools for teaching her to control herself around chickens. For example, you could put her on a sit-stay or down-stay, and let a chicken out to run and flutter and she still has to stay (yes, of course you would have a leash on her while practicing that!)

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

If you cannot manage dedicated training, I do not think it will ever work.

But if you are willing to put in the time to train the dog, she should at least improve. I don't know if you can get her fully reliable or not-- that would depend on the dog and the training.

For training, you probably do not need chicken-specific information right now. Instead, start with basic things like come, sit or down, stay, and a command like "off" or "leave it" or "drop it" or something of the sort (meaning: don't put your mouth on it, and/or take your mouth off it.) If she can master those, even when there are exciting distractions, they are great tools for teaching her to control herself around chickens. For example, you could put her on a sit-stay or down-stay, and let a chicken out to run and flutter and she still has to stay (yes, of course you would have a leash on her while practicing that!)

Yep just starting her with the basics & a long leash is the goal. Maybe a simple rope harness also.

Might have a muzzle down the road when trying to desensitize her to the chickens; not sure on that. That’s later.

 

[Tookie]

I trained my dog with the chickens using a muzzle and E collar, starting off on a leash.