Puppy intent on catching chickens - help!

[Foxy girl]

Our 6 month old cocker spaniel/wheaten terrier is very good on the whole, especially at recall, however she will not leave our chickens alone. We have moved them into the field but on the odd occasion she follows me in she chases them, catches one and pins it to the ground. Shouting at her doesn't seem to work & It's only a matter of time before she kills one.

Any tips ti stop her before she 'gets the taste'?

Thanks
X

 

[Dobiegirl]

Put her on a long line and when she goes to run after them call her and if she ignores you check her and growl at her and say no but really mean it. Keep this up until she ignores them and praise her for ignoring, this might take some time and she may never be trustworthy so you may always have to have her on a long line around your hens.

 

[Foxy girl]

Thank u Dobiegirl that's a very good idea, will try that tomorrow. Am so nervous of her taking off after all the lambs round us too - not sure I'll ever completely trust her! We've always had flatcoats before so the terrier is a Whole new ball game for us!

 

[Dobiegirl]

My long line is my life line sometimes.

 

[Teaselmeg]

PLEASE make sure the long line is attached to a harness, not her collar. Also, make sure you have some treats on you to reward her for ignoring the chickens. Maybe teach her to sit at the edge of chicken area and wait for you, so that becomes her default behaviour rather than following you in there.

 

[JillA]

Teach a "leave it" cue, very easy to do and it generalises well. Have a treat in your closed fist, and no matter what she does, don't open your fist to give it to her until she looks away. Once she has learned that to get the treat she needs to look away, add the command "leave it" - as soon as she has got that you can use it in all sorts of circumstances.
Still use a long line when the chickens are around - it is the movement that attracts her until she learns to ignore it. That's the terrier in her, but it can be over ridden with training in the fullness of time. MY JRT and Brittany spaniel totally ignore my hens, having been told "leave it" each time they looked a them - but the spaniel gobbles up their layers pellets if he gets chance!

 

[Alec Swan]

.......

Any tips ti stop her before she 'gets the taste'?

.......

It sounds to me as though she already has the taste, and the longer that she continues, so the more entrenched the idea. Both Cockers and most Terriers acquire a mindset at a comparatively early age. I dread to think what a cross would be like!!

As to how to stop it; I would normally square a dog up for such behaviour, but at six months the puppy is too young. I never lay the hand of anger on a puppy. In your shoes, I would keep the puppy away from the chickens until it's old enough and has progressed enough whereby it's at the stage where it will listen to you, and comply with your wishes, no matter what.

If you try now to stop the puppy, whilst it's amongst your hens, and if you have a gentle approach with your puppy, then all that you will teach the puppy is how to ignore you. Your puppy has to learn, and you need to teach it, that you will be obeyed. Your puppy's crime isn't in trying to kill a chicken, but that it's ignoring you, and total compliance is best achieved, initially, away from temptation! With such a focused mindset, I suspect that treat like rewards will take the next 9 years to take effect!

Alec.

 

[lexiedhb]

Cant say i agree with raising my hand in anger to a dog of ANY age unless of course you are happy with a dog only doing what you ask out of fear.

A gentle approach does NOT teach a pup to ignore you - there are many many many people even folk on here who have very highly trained dogs. Dogs who will do ANYTHING their owners ask- who have never been hit/"squared up to" in their lives.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Agree a leave it command is important but the long line is even more important at this stage to prevent a physical way to stop her getting at the chickens - don't set her up to fail by assuming she knows exactly what you want her to do. Use a physical means to help her learn. Pressure and release and all that

Most dogs need to know the distinction between right and wrong so there must be some sort of negative consequence (even if that is just restriction of movement caused by a long line) and the imparting of 'you MUST NOT' or 'you MUST' so that it can understand the reason for the positive reward (pressure and release!).

I don't think it's that a gentle approach that teaches a dog to ignore you, but an ambiguous or undefined approach certainly will.

 

[Spudlet]

Agree with CC - teach a leave it as explained here, but make sure that you have the long line too, so that if she does drop the ball, you can correct her immediately. That way, as well as correcting the unwanted behaviour, you have given her an alternative, desired behaviour. It's much, much easier to teach a dog (a person too actually) to DO something, than to not do something.

JillA - I would add one little addendum to your explanation of how to teach leave it. Have two treats, one in your closed hand, and another hidden behind your back. When the dog leaves the proferred treat, take that treat away, and give her the other one from your other hand.

This is because leave it must mean 'never, ever to have' - there must be no confusion on this from the dog, as otherwise they may believe that 'leave it' only means' leave it for now' - and end up taking something they really MUST leave, like for example, a tablet you dropped on the floor - or indeed a chicken.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[EAST KENT]

It sounds to me as though she already has the taste, and the longer that she continues, so the more entrenched the idea. Both Cockers and most Terriers acquire a mindset at a comparatively early age. I dread to think what a cross would be like!!

As to how to stop it; I would normally square a dog up for such behaviour, but at six months the puppy is too young. I never lay the hand of anger on a puppy. In your shoes, I would keep the puppy away from the chickens until it's old enough and has progressed enough whereby it's at the stage where it will listen to you, and comply with your wishes, no matter what.

If you try now to stop the puppy, whilst it's amongst your hens, and if you have a gentle approach with your puppy, then all that you will teach the puppy is how to ignore you. Your puppy has to learn, and you need to teach it, that you will be obeyed. Your puppy's crime isn't in trying to kill a chicken, but that it's ignoring you, and total compliance is best achieved, initially, away from temptation! With such a focused mindset, I suspect that treat like rewards will take the next 9 years to take effect!

Alec.

Now then Alec..you surely know that feeding treats is the answer !Agree,wait till older and listening and then set it up for correction.Old fashioned but still works today.

 

[meandmyself]

My sister's Pom/JRT cross used to chase and grab my rabbits. He has a good leave it command but his little brain shorted out once he saw the rabbits. What worked for us was putting him on a long line and doing other 'work' where he could see the rabbits. I will admit that he hit the end of the line a couple of times (on a harness) but it didn't hurt him and if anything, I think that's what taught him not to chase them!

The work we did was going over his sit/down/paw and other tricks.

 

[Foxy girl]

Thank you all for your advice - I will try and long line technique and work on the other training so she is hopefully more obedient!
Thanks very much

 

[DabDab]

Hi there - lumbered with the classic terrier problem
My terriers both used to chase when they were younger and we had a few embarrassing moments with friends' chickens... However, these days there great and I used 'leave it' and a long line - they'll even leave rabbits when commanded. There is an article on terrier chasing on this website that covers the leave it command and a long line.

Good luck - he'll come good

 

[pennyturner]

And if all else fails...

Our Setter x Pointer had the strongest prey drive I've ever seen on a dog, and was only 'taught' to leave chickens alone by giving her a good walloping with a riding crop, accompanied by a "you leave that chicken!". Anything less just didn't get her attention.

This sounds harsh, but dog is now settled and happy, and can now be trusted to roam around our farm yard with loose chickens, piglets, and even newly hatched chicks!

Oddly, the result was very specific, so whilst she'll leave alone domestic fowl (bird b'long people), she still considers pigeon, pheasant and even wild duck to be fair game.

 

[zippo]

Oddly, the result was very specific, so whilst she'll leave alone domestic fowl (bird b'long people), she still considers pigeon, pheasant and even wild duck to be fair game.

Lucy,Parson JRT,has the strongest prey drive,I have come across[two brown snakes,mice,lizards etc]but completely ignores the chickens and peacocks but let one feral pigeon,sparrow or cockatoo dare to land and she's off in hot pursuit.

 

[meandmyself]

My sister's dog almost brought down a seagull that was as big as him. He was loose on the beach and took off after it. Luckily, all he got was a couple of feathers.