Hi we have two wc Jack and Woody who are 14 months old, they are amazing, however we have acquired a couple of chickens.  The boys love to chase the chickens they are cockers after all!  does anyone have any advice as to stop this or is it something we have to live with?  any advice would be great!

sarah

I assume the chicken are not in a dog proof pen........if so the only advice I can give would be to get rid of the chicken, the cockers will have 'em sooner or later.

I would either start with containing the chickens or the dogs until you have taught the dogs not to chase.

You need to start with the dogs on a lead and they need to sit at your side while the chickens are moving around.  If the dogs sits nice and quietly, they can have a treat.  If the move, they should be told to "leave it" and told to sit back down.  The treat should be a of a high value, something they don't get very often.  Also, one dog at a time, not both together.

Once you have mastered the sit quietly, you need to get the dogs to watch and pay attention to you and ignore the chickens.  Once you have the dogs paying attention to you, you can start to move around with the dog on the lead and start all over again with the "leave it"  If they lunge at the chickens, "leave it" sit and pay attention to me.

Howver, they must never be allowed to chase them, either inside or outside the pen.  Eventually (and this can take a long time) they can be left off lead while you are with them.  If they do catch one, you need to make sure your dog understand the "leave it" command or another one which means "let it go"

Good luck

It does work - my youngster was a pathological chicken- killer in her youth (that is, about 3 months old, before I realised what she could do) and now she lies amongst them and gives every indication that she doesn't really care where they are. I can take her off lead amongst friend's chickens and she's fine - so Ali's method and others like it *do* work, they just need patience. And never let your guard down.  Good luck - m

You don't have to get rid of the chickens, although I would advise penning them in at least until you are sure the dogs understand that they can't have them.  My 5 girls live quite happily alongside half a dozen chickens and a couple of ducks.  The only dogs allowed in with me, one at a time and off lead, are my WCS and a sprocker puppy of 10 months old (I wouldn't trust my collie x as far as I could throw her - she'll go after anything.)   In fact the ducks are quite vocal and territorial and have been known to chase the WCS around the pen - LOL, now she knows she can't bully them!  I use electric fencing, as we have a problem with foxes, and the dogs soon learn that the birds "bite" if they rush towards them.  Harsh, but effective.  Good luck!!

Thanks for the advice. I have started working with each dog in the garden with the chickens and woody is doing well jack not so. it's only been a week but hopefully with some time and patience we'll get there!  I'm not sure if Jack will ever get the look of 'those chickens look like a tasty snack' of his handsome little face!

Keep the chickens.  With chickens you have the ideal opportunity to teach steadiness.  They will need confining to start with but teach the dogs slowly and they will get used to them, Edward Martin uses chickens for this very purpose and I recommend his cocker masterclass dvd.

I have both, the hens are free range and the cockers have been taught not to chase them, however Sooty learned the hard way that my hens are not for chasing, not her fault I may add as I put her in a situation that was too tempting without prior thought. She is steady on sit, leave and the stop whistle so now I feed the hens with her sitting watching off lead, go back to her and get her to walk away at heel. She is however still tempted to hunt them but as her obedience is 99% perfect she doesnt. They are a very good training aid but they will come a cropper f rom a dog that is not steady.. Good luck though its achievable

Some excellent advice there, we have 4 dogs, 20 chickens and a cat! and they all live happily together with respect for each other! It is an excellent training opportunity too, keep persevering and you will certainly reap the benefits, have fun!! (by the way I find 'leave it' the two most useful words ever learnt!)

Just lost all our chickens to the fox - in broad daylight...

/sigh

never happened when I had a lurcher that could take foxes - must be something about the presence of a genuine threat that kept them away...

m

sorry to hear about your chickens. it's a battle to keep the fox at bay. we have our cat poptart, I've seen her square up to the fox on more than one occasion in the middle of the day, she's fierce and the fox scurries away with it's big bushy tail between his legs. our boys are useless at any kind of protection!

Oh no Manda, sorry to hear about the sad demise of your chickens.  I sympathise, I had a break from chickens for a few years as we got repeated visits from the fox round our way.  when we finally re-stocked, I was resigned to the fact that they would have to be penned for their own safety.  I didn't realise how much I missed fresh, home-grown eggs!

We have inherited a cat which is feral, what a formidable hunter.  She knocked six bells out of two of our dogs the other day, they now have a healthy regard for her and other small things that move quickly, which has helped with the chickens and ducks.

She brings in one or two rabbits a day for the kittens and every bit disappears!!  I wouldn't want to cross her if I were a fox!

Cool name for a cat by the way, Poptart!!!

We never had any problems with foxes, just badgers, which killed 20 hens, the replaced all hens, and killed again, grr badgers are horrible.

The cockers on the other hand, completly ignor them

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice. I have just had a lovely afternoon in the garden with my boys and the chickens all out together without any fuss, it has taken some patience and many many hours of training but so worth it, thanks everyone

cam

Well done you, always nice when a plan comes together! and also far more relaxing!!!