- Joined
- Jun 22, 2021
- Messages
- 97
Not sure if this should go under the chicken discussion or the pets discussion, but anyway ... My 6 mo Great Pyrenees is doing much better with my chickens now ... I have six 11 week-olds (male & female) I've now let mingle during the day with the established rooster & hen (all that was left after raccoons).
I took the advice of one person and led the dog around on a short leash, giving her a little yank if she started toward the birds. All it took was 30 minutes or so of that and she was starting to know that she should leave them alone, and after that one day, I've never needed to do it again.
I also took another person's advice and started doing her training (sit, stay, down, etc) in the chicken run, keeping her focused on me & the training, ignoring the birds, and that seems to have been very effective.
In fact, I now take her in the run without a leash, and she behaves. She loves going to see the chickens now. I let her look at them, even approach them, but any kind of chasing gets a stern "NO" and she is immediately frog-marched out of the run.
Next exercise will be to leave her in the run with the birds for 30-45 mins while I work, mill around nearby, etc.
Then leave her in the run for 45 minutes, while I go inside and watch her on the cameras.
If I can do that 3-4 days in a row with confidence ... it might be time to let them try free ranging
I took the advice of one person and led the dog around on a short leash, giving her a little yank if she started toward the birds. All it took was 30 minutes or so of that and she was starting to know that she should leave them alone, and after that one day, I've never needed to do it again.
I also took another person's advice and started doing her training (sit, stay, down, etc) in the chicken run, keeping her focused on me & the training, ignoring the birds, and that seems to have been very effective.
In fact, I now take her in the run without a leash, and she behaves. She loves going to see the chickens now. I let her look at them, even approach them, but any kind of chasing gets a stern "NO" and she is immediately frog-marched out of the run.
Next exercise will be to leave her in the run with the birds for 30-45 mins while I work, mill around nearby, etc.
Then leave her in the run for 45 minutes, while I go inside and watch her on the cameras.
If I can do that 3-4 days in a row with confidence ... it might be time to let them try free ranging