Dog killing ducks, chickens and Turkeys

Brindy
Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in Predators & Loss

Our dog is killing our animals. We love our dog, but we also love our other animals. Everything is fine until he gets outside unattended like he did yesterday and killed 2 chickens and 3 turkeys. I cried so bad! So far he has killed at least 10 of our farm animals. Has anyone experienced this and found a solution?

Comments

  • RustBeltCowgirl
    RustBeltCowgirl Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think you answered part of your own question. "he gets outside unattended" I think that you need to put him on a "tie out" line or a clothes line pulley style tie. Stress to everybody in the house "do not let him out unattended".

    You didn't mention age of the dog. He might be young and jsut wants to chase. Which leads me into, have you as pack leader impressed upon him that chasing/killing the other farm animals is not appropriate pack behavior.

    Sometimes, this habit can't be broke and you might have to make a choice. Rehome the dog or accept farm animals being killed.

  • bcabrobin
    bcabrobin Posts: 251 ✭✭✭

    You didn't say what breed of dog it is, as some breeds that is what nature tells them to do, and you will NEVER get it to stop.

    You may have to put a fence between the two so he can't get them. But sadly some dogs will do anything they can once they get the taste of blood, to kill again.

    As pack leader, he needs to know your not happy, not "smacking" him, but like the leader would do, growl and nip "finger tip" smack and say NO. BAD dog! But it may not do any good, he maybe trying to take over as leader in your pack.

    We had a kitten(less than 3 mt old) getting into the coop and killing baby chicks, it kills 10, but it knows now that this mama was not a happy camper, and any time the smaller chickens come near it, it runs. I never touched it (it part of the feral cats that come here, you know we must have the best food in the area) but I did growl at it and it know to stay away from them. Not that, I believe it will always remember that but at least it stops to think about it now.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @Brindy Our solution has been to rehome the dog. Once they kill, they will only continue. It is difficult to break a dog of this and can be quite expensive in lives & money. Our dogs that have been aggressive toward that which they are supposed to guard don't get second chances. It is not worth it and they are certainly not doing their job. We have enjoyed most of the dogs we've had, but if they don't do their job, they are "fired." We need reliability.

    Right now we have a dog that won't kill the chickens if they get out. Our dog is always outside. He is always working. The birds are inside enclosed spaces due to foxes.

    I would be surprised if our dog didn't notice that the birds were out. There were 4 and they seemed settled and not flustered when we found them.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @Brindy I agree with @LaurieLovesLearning once a dog gets a taste and feel for killing, it's almost impossible to stop. You either have to restrain the dog or keep the birds locked up. Choices for your dog, rehome, a muzzle, a tie up chain or a good fence. If you can't all live in harmony, then something has to go and that's a gut wrenching choice, especially when you're so attached to your dog. Remember your neighbours also, they might not be so forgiving if your dog managed to get onto their property and wreck havoc! A really tough choice for you.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    Sad to say, this has been our experience too. Our dog never killed our chickens until my sister brought over her dog. While we ate lunch inside, her dog went into the chicken yard and killed dozens of our chicks. Our dog did start in on the killing spree at the end. Days after the other dog left, our dog decided he like chicken - a lot. We liked the dog so gave away the few chickens that were left. Seems to be true - once they start, they don't want to stop.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @frogvalley This is one of the many reasons to never let other dogs onto your property. Our visitors (with dogs) know this before they arrive. We have had one family member ignore this once. That was horrible as the dog was manipulated into our porch (I have allergies to boot when they are indoors). That will never happen again.

    We have had one inspector, one hydro & one neighbor bring dogs here uninvited (and none thought anything of it). At least they stayed in the vehicles, but it wasn't appreciated at all as it was stressful for our dog.

    We have a working dog and animals that are prey. Extras here are just never welcome.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's a hard choice. I don't think a dog that has killed livestock can be rehabilitated.

    Re-homing the dog or building a dog-tight kennel are about the only solutions.

    Both you and the dog deserve to live without the stress of knowing that it could happen again.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning Right? I would never think to take my dog to someone's house without asking. My sister didn't ask me and I was astounded that she brought her dog not to mention disappointed in the situation. Some people just don't think about anybody but themselves.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @frogvalley That was exactly our situation. She expected it to have the run of the house. Nope.

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    Ok, I have had two dogs that started to kill chickens. One was a chow a long time ago and the other is my Lab. I was able to get both of them to stop but it wasn't pleasant. I took the dead bird from them shook it at them said "BAD DOG!" and then tied the dead bird to their collar and put her in her run. The Chow was a long time ago so I don't remember the details but it was similar to the Lab. At first she was sort of proud of her new ornament. She would trot around very jaunty as the bird would swing back and forth. Second day not much change in her attitude, by the third day though she was starting to look haunted. Finally on the fifth day I couldn't stand it any more so we cut it off and hoped for the best. Well, she did it again so she got the same treatment. We did not talk to her at all beyond the first chastisement and then took it off on the fifth day. She never chased another chicken, she completely ignored them. This was several years ago she now lets them eat her food, never barks at them, really just a perfect little farm dog. I have no idea if this will work for most dogs or not, but it doesn't hurt the dog so it is worth a try.

  • SandyMcWhoo?
    SandyMcWhoo? Posts: 15 ✭✭✭

    I had a pitbull once... A very well behaved girl who understood "pack leadership" and never attacked my chickens although we were cautious to never let her out without supervision and mingling with us. We did restrain her when the chickens were out for forage enough to keep everyone safe. She would lay around us while on a long leash and the chickens would walk around nearby but she never jumped at them. I would never trust a dog who roams free without leadership! The chickens need proper protection from predation. So when dogs are out/chickens are protected. When chickens are out on forage/dogs are restrained.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @SandyMcWhoo? We had a dog that we could trust alone with our birds (and any child). She even caught a flyaway wild turkey (we owned it) for us one day without harming him. She knew what to do. There were no bite marks, just a few missing feathers and one big frightened bird. Haha

    She gave a muscovy drake a warning once by placing her wide open mouth down over its head one day so it would not steal the food out of her dish. It listened. 🤣 Impressive. That duck deserved it.

    She helped us herd some chickens into an enclosure with no issue.

    Now, she may have snacked on a few of the numerous ducklings here or there as she zipped past on her way to something else. We never had solid proof as they do tend to get lost sometimes and sometimes just not found. But she never anything past that.

    She was independent, extremely intelligent & trustworthy & we never lost a bird to predation to anything while she was young & active. Only once she slowed down did things begin to get taken by any predator. She was always present outdoors, even when we were inside or needed to go somewhere.

    I think it really depends on your dog. This one was a purebred Norwegian elkhound. We have never had better. We certainly got spoiled.

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    I guess I should have started with more details. About 2 years ago our family dog of 14 and a half years had to be put down after being hit by a car, this was really hard on the entire family, but especially on my husband. He served in special operations in the United States Air Force and has PTSD rather badly. I felt he needed a companion so we got a service dog. He is a Belgian malinois and is not quite a year old. He is very very good for my husband and very well behaved other than when he manages to get out of his pen outside when we're gone. That is what happened the other day. It makes me very sad to think that we might have to choose because I know that my husband needs our dog Jasper. Thank you for all of the input and advise. We have some new ideas to try and some serious things to contemplate.

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    @VickiP I am so glad that you were able to keep them. I now have a few great ideas and hopefully we too can keep everyone.

    @LaurieLovesLearning that is so good to know. We are hoping to move in the next year or so and will be leaving our daughter in charge here with the farm. We will need a new dog to leave with her here because my husband did will need to be with him. I will definitely keep that bed in mind for the future.

    Again, thank you everyone for your comments!

  • RustBeltCowgirl
    RustBeltCowgirl Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Then it is a puppy that doesn't know any better. Looks like your husband needs to do some serious training about what is allowable and what isn't. Responsibility falls to the "alpha" to put the boundaries in place.

  • LongTallDrink
    LongTallDrink Posts: 17 ✭✭✭

    I've been having a similar problem with my 2+ year-old German shepherd cross. She's been good since the beginning, to the point of being outside by herself for hours and "protecting" the odd roo that got out, helping me catch free-ranging roos that didn't want to be caught and others that needed rounding up but were too fast for me to catch on my own.

    All of a sudden she started running away with them when I'd tell her to stop, where before she would catch them and wait for me to get there before releasing. I found a couple of teenager chicks dead with broken necks that had got throught the poultrynet, but otherwise unharmed and made excuses for her until I caught her eating a MK that had escaped it's pen.

    Then I got mad. She knew it was wrong, it was written all over her face and body language and she'd never eaten a chicken before, just accidentally killed or injured due to over-enthusiasm. I tied the now headless MK to her collar and she slunk away under the van, but later the chicken disappeared so I guess I didn't tie it properly.

    She's been inside or on leash ever since, but it's hard on everyone and I just can't understand why all of a sudden she'd start this. Another thing is that she won't just randomly chase them, it's only if they startle and run, like when I'm trying to catch them... 🙄

    97.5% of the time she's great - follows me around every morning doing the chores, comes when I call or stays near when I ask her to. But every once in awhile she gets this look in her eye and does the exact opposite of what I want. I'm hoping she'll grow out of this "teenage" phase with the same consistent loving but firm hand she's had since she came to us.

    I wondered about a buzz collar as a temporary training tool; since she knows what she's doing is wrong but does it anyway, even with me, alphadog, right there - anybody have any experience with them?

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    @LongTallDrink , I too was wondering if the buzz collar was an effective tool sorry term. I'm scared to tie the chickens to her. I'm afraid she will eat it and then want to eat the rest of them. Right now she doesn't eat them.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin


    @Brindy, we have two dogs, six months apart in age. Both are mixed-breed rescues. We also have chickens who have a secure coop and run, but who get to "free range" in our large fenced backyard during the day. Our oldest dog was never that interested in the chickens (she's honestly always been kind of an "old soul"), but our youngest dog is much more playful and, as he got a little older and bigger, thought chasing and catching the chickens was SUCH FUN!

    Well, that wasn't gonna fly (no pun intended), so we bought a shock collar for him when he was six months old. (I will say that this was a last resort -- we are total bleeding hearts in general, and we tried a lot of different things (and lost three chickens) before we got to the point of being willing to shock him to get him to stop. As I mentioned, we have a secure run we can shut the chickens in to keep them safe while also allowing them space to roam a bit, but that wasn't our ideal long-term solution.)

    Anyway, it took maybe a week of using the collar (along with telling him "NO" very firmly) right when he started to chase the chickens for him to get the idea, and we've never had any trouble with him doing that again. He's 3-1/2 years old, the chickens still "free range" all day, he has total access to the back yard via the doggy door, and he pretty much ignores the chickens when he goes outside.

    All that to say, I don't know if this would work for you, but it could be worth a try! (FYI, here is the collar we bought: https://www.chewy.com/petspy-m686-premium-dog-training/dp/158301)

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    @Merin Porter, thank you for that comment. We are seriously contemplating this idea. I really hope it will work.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @Brindy, I hope it works for you too. 🤗

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    I hope so too. Right now we are going crazy trying not to leave him unattended. It's so sad because in my head he was going to be the perfect dog for the farm.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    @Brindy Let us know what you end up doing! I hope everything works out really well!

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    We have just been watching him and when we leave town he's been going to the kennel. I want to try some things, but can't do it right now.

  • Slippy
    Slippy Posts: 117 ✭✭✭

    I was going to say that I have a .25 cent solution to dogs killing your chickens but ammo is much more expensive now-a-days and hard to get! 😉 Just kidding! I love dogs more than most people and our Australian Cattle Dog is the perfect farm dog and loves "her" chickens and protects them like they were her puppies.

    its all about socializing the dog around the other animal in my humble opinion.

    But as someone mentioned, some dogs/breeds are inherently killers, most likely protecting their "humans" or simply a drive to feed. Most times you cannot re-train the dog. Or I should say, the time and energy it takes to re-train the dog might not be worth it or the fact that the chances of your dog "backsliding" because there are lots of chickens around, just may not be worth it.

  • Brindy
    Brindy Posts: 212 ✭✭✭

    @Slippy, thank you for your thoughts. Right now I don't have the time to worry about it and we are just taking him out to the bathroom and putting him in a pen outside. He's never really left alone with the chickens because of his behavior. Life has been so crazy, I just haven't had the capacity or time to deal with it.