Killing chickens

[Tori]

Hello. I need help. My seweet short-haired pointer, Cosmo, is herding my young chickens all day. Twice he has caught one and hurt it badly. My husband beat Cosmo when he caught him with a chicken in his mouth and threatens to do it again. I tried to tell him that beating the dog won't stop him from hurting the chickens.

I tried making Cosmo sit quietly with the chickens and rewarded him by saying "good."

I assume that positive rewards work better than beatings. Please help with advice how to train Cosmo before my husband hurts him more!

[Angie]

Hi Tori,
Pointers are hunting dogs. This means that his prey drive - which is what makes him chase your chickens, and probably any other small, fast moving creatures - is something that's hardwired into his nature. You CANNOT train him not to do this, it's just impossible (although good on you for trying).
Your husband needs to realize that this is not a beatable offence (and that, in fact, beating dogs to punish them for anything is completely counterproductive) and that ALL hunting dogs will act in this way, regardless of the efforts of their owners.
You need to make it impossible for Cosmo to access the chickens - don't tether him up, because this encourages aggressive, frustrated behavior in dogs (and it's hardly fair on him, anyway); ideally, the chickens would be put into a chicken yard.

[Camille]

I completely agree with Angie. I owned a Boxer and our neighbor had chickens and cats. It is neccessary to keep them separate. As well mannered as Jabo was, we had to keep him in a pen with prison wire at top because of his jumping abililties after he broke a harness and could not be stopped by an invisible fence.. He scratched himself into a pool house to get to kittens. This was through a normal wooden house door. Their drive can be outrageous. Best of luck.

[Jamie]

Sorry to drag up old posts, but I googled across this while referencing.
I have to strongly disagree with the replies here. And would like to quickly give some suggestions and perspectives.

Time is the greatest proponent here. How much time is an owner willing to put into the dog's training? A hunting dog, dog who has already 'tasted' chicken or an older dog will require a great deal more time to train. But it is far from 'impossible' if you have the right tools and time to invest.

You are definitely on the right track Tori, and hope you have stuck with it. The fact that the dog didn't kill is a good sign that you might have an easier job of it. It is a dog, and if it wanted that chicken dead it would have taken a split second. Along with disassociating his prey drive to chicken with positive reinforcement, it would also be a good idea to come up with activities that 'work' his natural hunting instinct. Researching hunting dogs and their training activities will give you lots of ideas to come up with play games.

Making the dog comfortable(calm) around the chickens, while also working off his natural instincts with play hunting games, will help you control the dog 99% of the time. The difficult part is to train him to 'leave it' when you are not around. When you are not there, some dogs will put themselves incharge until you return.

One method I've seen work but have refused to do myself is the use of a shock collar. By hiding yourself when the dog is out, and 'correcting' the dog when he nears too close to the chickens, you allow the 'directing' to come from the chicken, not you. In my opinion, I am very skeptical of using negative reinforcement, especially as I am not a professional, but do know that if you choose to use it, then be very sure that the dog does not perceive this negative reinforcement to be coming from you. I've personally never had a dog who was so much of a problem that we had to resort to this. We prefer patience through time, versus, the instant gratification of force or fences.

Good luck to you. Happy chickens happy dogs.

[Lyka_01]

One of my dog also bite one of our African Lovebird...He was chasing the bird a couple of weeks ago and then he got a chance...He bite it...We have a large bird cage in out roof top and our dogs also sleep there...the birds and the dogs have been together for a long time...this is the first biting incident...

[glaiza]

I have the same issue with my dog. My neighbor used to keep chickens in their backyard, but sometimes they would fly into ours and when they do. They really don't have a chance against my dogs - its very embarrassing to the neighbors - expensive too.