Homesteading Forum banner
1 - 20 of 36 Posts

· Registered
Joined
·
25 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
We have a one year old Rottweiler who is amazing with our small kids and an overall wonderful dog, however she is learning how to interact with farm animals. We are building a farm in TN so she’s is just now getting exposure to livestock.

She went nuts when we brought pigs in but now she seems to have lost some interest in them. Same for cows.

Brought in 12 hens and a rooster last week and she’s going berserk. They stay in large coop because she has killed two. Any suggestions for getting her to adjust and guard them vs killing?
 

· Registered
Joined
·
540 Posts
We have a one year old Rottweiler who is amazing with our small kids and an overall wonderful dog, however she is learning how to interact with farm animals. We are building a farm in TN so she’s is just now getting exposure to livestock.

She went nuts when we brought pigs in but now she seems to have lost some interest in them. Same for cows.

Brought in 12 hens and a rooster last week and she’s going berserk. They stay in large coop because she has killed two. Any suggestions for getting her to adjust and guard them vs killing?
The only difference is she finally found something that she could kill.
 

· Premium Member
Joined
·
35,399 Posts
My mom beat her Lab with a dead (or so she thought at the time) chicken that it had attacked. I don't recommend that solution.

The best I could suggest would be to walk her by their pen, on a leash or harness, daily until she stops reacting. But chickens are stupid, flighty things and they make neat noises when a dog pounces on them. You may never be able to trust that dog to freely interact with your birds.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,922 Posts
I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable.

Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way😆
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,922 Posts
Sorry about the little pullet. If something is going to get a bird, it always gets the favorite.
These things happen! She was definitely a favorite, we had formed a bond at my work and I was able to purchase her. She liked to ride around on my shoulder and stuff. The blessing is that the kids and I didn't have much time to get overly attached to her before the dog got her.
 

· Super Moderator
Joined
·
11,837 Posts
My mom beat her Lab with a dead (or so she thought at the time) chicken that it had attacked. I don't recommend that solution.

The best I could suggest would be to walk her by their pen, on a leash or harness, daily until she stops reacting. But chickens are stupid, flighty things and they make neat noises when a dog pounces on them. You may never be able to trust that dog to freely interact with your birds.
a former employer did something similar with his Rottweiler beat it with the dead chicken then wired it to the collar and made it wear it while chained to a tree till it started to be RIPE
now I am not saying right or wrong , it was a few decades ago a couple decades before that he was a professional dog trainer.

I am not aware of that dog ever attacking another chicken so it did apparently work.

probably send you to prison for that in 2022 for a long time.
while letting your baby momma murdering cell mate out for good behavior after 90 days

the thing about Pits and Rottweiler is that no bad behavior can be accepted , everything they do after 6 months old they do with a charge of (metaphorical)TNT strapped to them. the bigger and stronger the larger that charge.
no matter the behavior , the best Pit or Rott has the destructive energy well beyond most household breeds. the strength do grave bodily harm or kill an adult human.

the phrase often heard is there are no bad dogs only bad owners , well I don't fully prescribe to that. however it is in many was true , a good owner would never trust that kind of destructive force beyond their control and especially would not take any chances with it around things and people they valued.

back to the Metaphoric TNT , TNT was the more stable and forgiving explosive, it doesn't mean you would ride around with a case of it in your truck any time you didn't need to be hauling it. it means you would store it in a magazine where the blast would be directed up , in a very stable environment and keep it away from heat , flame , eclectic and anything else that could set it off.

dealing with powerful dogs is the same thing , no bad behavior can be accepted , special storage and handling must be taken.
people get in trouble when they treat these dogs like floppsy the dust mop Shih Tzu that a 8 year old by could punt across the yard if it miss behaved and attacked.
frankly Floppsy is often ill behaved because so much bad behavior is tolerated but since they hardly pack a fire crackers energy they are much less risk.

this dog has shown you that it goes "berserk" so you have a charge of TNT that can go berserk , wise storage is probably the best option. a strong kennel for the dog and it gets to come out under supervision it is more work for you , but I at least wouldn't let it out of your sight and pen it up any time you can't be there to control it or stop it.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
540 Posts
It wasn't that long ago that pit bulls were not seen very much. The people who had them knew what they could do and were prepared for it. In the mid 1970s PETA decided that a pit bull could be treated just like other dogs and they would not act like pit bulls. Seems like everyone wanted one. Pit bull attacks on other animals became common. Pit bull attacks against people started popping up. Now pit bulls are as common as birds. They have been crossed with just about every other breed of dogs. This increased the number of attacks. There is still not a lot of pit bulls around but there is a lot of pit bull crossbreeds. These are actually more dangerous than real pit bulls.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
7,403 Posts
We had some lady in our area wanting people to donate give her free laying hens because her wolfdog killed all hers. Really people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.
 

· Be powerful. No other option exists.
Joined
·
45,738 Posts
This is a homesteading site, which implies that older/historic/traditional methods may be suggested.

The method of beating the offending dog with a dead chicken and tying the carcass to the dog's collar are very very traditional methods of stopping a dog from chasing the chickens.

The chicken is already dead, and the dog isn't physically wounded in the process.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
12,368 Posts
I had a wolfdog that killed one of my chickens. Just one - that's all it took. I reinforced my chicken house and run until it looked like Ft. Knox.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
25 Posts
Discussion Starter · #13 ·
I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable.

Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way
Top tier advice.
 

· Premium Member
Joined
·
35,399 Posts
I said I don't recommend beating a dog with a dead chicken. It was what Mom was taught way before there were animal cruelty laws. Labs are funny about birds, they think they need to fetch loose birds for you. It turned out her chicken wasn't dead, the dog was just retrieving it. But he never looked at another chicken again.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
25 Posts
Discussion Starter · #15 ·
We had some lady in our area wanting people to donate give her free laying hens because her wolfdog killed all hers. Really people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.
A lot of dogs do great with birds.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
5,867 Posts
You aren't going to hurt a dog physically by beating them with a dead chicken and making a lot of noise. It has worked with all three instances that I have experienced. Though the middle one had a unique solution and just went down the road and got their chickens. That dog ended up in some fancy city eating the rescuer's couch.

The farm boss here is as sweet as they come. We had a new dog that showed up and didn't leave that ate shoes. It only did that to my shoes once. It still did it to other residents' shoes until the farm boss had enough and did what I did.

Anyway, I don't advocate animal abuse in any form. But, a dead chicken really isn't a very effective blunt instrument to hurt anything. It is also a better fate for the dog staying in the country than being relegated to living in an apartment in a city and having couch cushions as a diet, imho.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
522 Posts
The dog owner needs to responsibly introduce the dog to livestock and teach it how to behave. Same as with introducing them to children or cats. Just turning them loose is irresponsible, and it's a lot easier to teach good behavior if you don't let them develop bad habits in the first place.

What I've done is keep chickens in the pens and take the dogs out on leashes, outside the pen, and make them behave. No aggressive/predatory/play behavior at all tolerated. Once they get the idea do the same without leashes, then let the chickens out with the dogs on leashes, then let the mix under close supervision for short periods. You just have to take the time and teach them.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
409 Posts
My problem is kind of a reverse. My neighbor's dog (pit mix, what else) lives his life on a chain in their yard. My dumb hens are free range and keep trying to get to his dog food. This has ended it all for at least three of them. Freedom is dangerous, especially if you aren't that smart.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pony and altair

· Registered
Joined
·
25 Posts
Discussion Starter · #19 ·
The dog owner needs to responsibly introduce the dog to livestock and teach it how to behave. Same as with introducing them to children or cats. Just turning them loose is irresponsible, and it's a lot easier to teach good behavior if you don't let them develop bad habits in the first place.

What I've done is keep chickens in the pens and take the dogs out on leashes, outside the pen, and make them behave. No aggressive/predatory/play behavior at all tolerated. Once they get the idea do the same without leashes, then let the chickens out with the dogs on leashes, then let the mix under close supervision for short periods. You just have to take the time and teach them.
Good advice, thank you
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,958 Posts
I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable.

Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way😆
I had a German Shepherd that would kill and eat the guineas. Didn't work to tie it on his neck as that was just meals on wheels for him. so soaked a killed bird in hot pepper water. After he tasted that he never killed another bird. He would chase them for sport but stop short of grabbing one.
 
1 - 20 of 36 Posts
Top