What do your dogs see chickens as?

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I’ve heard so many things about how dogs are with chickens! But all of them seem to be around trained LGDs or chicken killers. So how are your dogs with chickens? My dog sees them as her siblings. She lays down with my indoor chicks and watches them and waits for them to come over to her then she’ll try to play with them like she would a dog (she likes to be chased) but they always run away. Outside she seems to follow my flock around and my flock doesn’t care they just let her become one with the flock. She’s a village mutt and does have breeds that have commonly killed chickens but it seems her mammal hunting breed overpowers the bird hunting instincts thankfully.

We have two other dogs that are allowed around my chickens unsupervised, one is a LGD breed but not trained the other is a boar hunting breed. The LGD breed HAS eaten one of my chickens but that was nearly a year ago and he attacked her first, she’s fine around them now. Our fourth dog is a bird hunting breed and has to be watched around them but thankfully she is 9 years old.

Little brown; my dog, sees them as siblings
Tan dog; LGD breed, resource guards their bodies and has saved them from owls and foxes.
White dog; Dogo Argentina/boar hunting breed, doesn’t care for them.
Black dog; 9 year old bird hunting breed.

Don’t mind the mess of a room, I have ADHD and struggle with cleaning. I’m doing my one every few months clean for the sake of my chicks. They’re allowed on the carpet because it’s a very old carpet and can easily be cleaned or tossed out.

 

[Evadig]

My cocker spaniel is wonderful with everyone - chicks (when we have them) and adults. She would never think of chasing any poultry unless it attacked her, then she’ll run them off. The most amazing thing is she never saw a chicken until she was two years old, so it’s not like she was raised with them. She loves her friends!

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

My cocker spaniel is wonderful with everyone - chicks (when we have them) and adults. She would never think of chasing any poultry unless it attacked her, then she’ll run them off. The most amazing thing is she never saw a chicken until she was two years old, so it’s not like she was raised with them. She loves her friends!

They must love the help digging dust bathes! My little lady doesn’t dig unless there’s already a hole

 

[Justicedog]

My golden retriever/lab/spaniel? Mix was great with my chickens. She had gone after wild birds and caught them. She ignored the chickens. My current dog - a staffordshire terrier (pit bull)/german shepherd/American Eskimo dog/chow mix is scared of the chickens.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

My golden retriever/lab/spaniel? Mix was great with my chickens. She had gone after wild birds and caught them. She ignored the chickens. My current dog - a staffordshire terrier (pit bull)/german shepherd/American Eskimo dog/chow mix is scared of the chickens.

Chickens can be scary! My old lady got the respect of our three hunting breed dog real fast… now she does the “ah” lip curl and backs up whenever she gets close to her

 

[fowltemptress]

My dogs are little hunters. Alex's first act as a puppy was to kill my favorite bantam hen. Then we moved and got more chickens, and in the confusion of setting things up after the move he managed to kill three more chickens in one moment of time. I worked with him for a couple days following that and trained him out of that habit. He's a highly motivated people pleaser, so training him out of bad habits isn't hard. He's still on high alert for birds of prey, so he's allowed to roam freely and unsupervised amongst my poultry and protects them from aerial predators. He enjoys having the ducks chew on him. So he used to view the poultry as prey, but now he probably just files them under, "Belongs to human. Do not hunt."

Alex hanging out with the geese

Ripp is my ground patrol, and has saved my birds from a bobcat. Ripp was never particularly interested in birds, but there are certain behaviors of theirs that brings out the prey drive in him. He cannot stand when any of my birds mate, and he will try to get ahold of them when they do. They generally don't mate near him, and as long as they aren't mating he completely ignores them and even shares his food and water bowls with them. He is, however, the only reason I've bothered fencing in my pasture for my geese. I have one, and only one, goose who has decided that Ripp, and only Ripp, is a canine devil that deserves death by goose attack. Ripp used to completely ignore the geese until this one gander decided to go on a doggy death crusade. Ripp understandably decided to start defending himself, which has led to some pretty traumatic altercations. Because this goose is my favorite goose and my favorite bird on the property by a large margin (barring my cockatiel, of course), we went through the pain and expense of putting up a fence in the rockiest, most unyielding ground in creation. With the equipment available to us, sinking posts was a nightmare of epic proportions, but dang it, when you lay down in a field and your gander invariably joins you with his soft honks, cheek nibbles, and cuddly floof, it is your responsibility to protect that cuddly, floofy goofball with all you've got, regardless of how boneheaded he can be. So I suppose that's a long-winded way of saying Ripp mostly views birds as kinda boring things that must have their virginity protected lest they face penalty of death, unless they're geese named Tex - those are never to be trusted regardless of circumstances.

Ripp enjoying a Winter stroll.

 

[theoldchick]

My dogs think chickens are toys to be ripped apart. So they aren't allowed around them. However, they are wonderful cattle dogs who run along the backs of the cattle to make them mind.

 

[tlcmurphy]

My one dog sees chickens as an obstacle to go around when chasing squirrels
My other dog sees them as soft-serve machines

 

[fluffycrow]

Chickens=dinner here. Hoping to get an LGD one day, though

 

[CajunRoo]

I’ve heard so many things about how dogs are with chickens! But all of them seem to be around trained LGDs or chicken killers. So how are your dogs with chickens? My dog sees them as her siblings. She lays down with my indoor chicks and watches them and waits for them to come over to her then she’ll try to play with them like she would a dog (she likes to be chased) but they always run away. Outside she seems to follow my flock around and my flock doesn’t care they just let her become one with the flock. She’s a village mutt and does have breeds that have commonly killed chickens but it seems her mammal hunting breed overpowers the bird hunting instincts thankfully.

We have two other dogs that are allowed around my chickens unsupervised, one is a LGD breed but not trained the other is a boar hunting breed. The LGD breed HAS eaten one of my chickens but that was nearly a year ago and he attacked her first, she’s fine around them now. Our fourth dog is a bird hunting breed and has to be watched around them but thankfully she is 9 years old.

Little brown; my dog, sees them as siblings
Tan dog; LGD breed, resource guards their bodies and has saved them from owls and foxes.
White dog; Dogo Argentina/boar hunting breed, doesn’t care for them.
Black dog; 9 year old bird hunting breed.

Don’t mind the mess of a room, I have ADHD and struggle with cleaning. I’m doing my one every few months clean for the sake of my chicks. They’re allowed on the carpet because it’s a very old carpet and can easily be cleaned or tossed out.

Food.. everything is food to my dog. I picked her up off the side of the road in the sticks of farmland north Louisiana about 10yrs ago and she was not starving, but def not well fed, full of fleas/ticks, and dirty. She had to hunt for her food and prolly fought for it too. Anything that is not human (including other dogs) is considered a food source for her. Over the years I have tried to curb this natural survival instinct, but to no avail.
I have to segregate the dogs from the chickens and the tractor provides adequate protection, but if there is a chance for her to get after 'em, count on a chicken dinner.

One thing for certain "that dog'll hunt!"