Bird dog vs. chickens

[Blcktaildreamer]

Maybe my dogs suck but two English setters and a lab could care less about a chicken. I would question the ability of the owner that can't teach a dog that chickens are a no go. But like I said maybe my dogs are not as birdy as I think


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[weathergirl]

I always find this conversation so interesting, maybe because our dogs (golden retrievers...hunting lines, not show dogs) and our chickens are two of my favorite things in the world.  I think I would describe our current golden, Amber, and last golden, Loki, as having very strong prey drive.  Actually very strong...people comment on it whenever I've been with training groups, etc.  Amber is INTENSE and focused and driven and birdy.  She will find it.  Period. 

For our dogs (any that we've had...not just the goldens...) they've been exposed to chickens from pretty much day one.  Do they want to chase them?  Of course!  Do they try?  Of course.  But a pretty harsh and sharp "no!" a couple of times just gives them the information needed.  THESE birds aren't to be messed with.  Oh, sure, she drools over chick poop (I'm pretty sure baby chick poop is her favorite food) but will she chase one or even look at one?  No.  Not a worry in the world.    She goes with me to the chicken coop daily and I tell her "sit" and she sits and waits for me to do my stuff.  She looks at ME...not the chickens (well, she tries to sneak that chicken poop...).  Well, and the chickens are all over the yard, but all Amber cares about is "where are we going?" not a thought wasted on a silly chicken.

Because I've never owned a dog that we've had issues with (even the stupid Cavalier King Charles Spaniel trained easily), I just have a hard time understanding the difficulty.  I wouldn't even say we are amazing trainers.  I just really start to wonder when I read these threads if our dogs are even more amazing than I even realized.

Speaking of which...waiting for Amber to come into heat any moment.  We will be breeding soon...wonderful working lines, all health clearances done, etc.  This is a repeat breeding.  I guess if you want a hunting dog that you can easily train to stay away from chickens, you need one of Amber's puppies.    I haven't updated the website for a while, but here it is:  www.islandgoldretrievers.com.  We will prioritize working homes. 

[87Ford]

To each their own..   I'm not taking an ounce of birdiness out of my dogs wether it's chickens or wild ringers of the east side.  Whether I could or not isn't the issue.. 

[Bullkllr]

I think it makes a big difference if they were raised around them.

My lab would kill chickens...until there were no more chickens. Not even worth trying to break him of it.

[weathergirl]

I'm just going to show some ignorance here.  When many people talk about their dogs killing chickens, I'm curious how that translates to the field.  My actual duck or pheasant hunting experience is limited compared to many of you, but if you have a dog that is out to kill birds, how do they retrieve them without "chewing them up" or mangling them or anything like that?  If a dog both kills chickens but also brings back a bird without destroying it, it almost seems like they already know the difference?

I mean I get what some of you are saying...don't push it for fear the dog loses birdiness...but I'm just curious if the same dogs that kill chickens are also a little less than gentle with ducks or pheasants, etc.   

[Bullkllr]

I think it makes a big difference if they were raised around them.

My lab would kill chickens...until there were no more chickens. Not even worth trying to break him of it.

Quoting myself

My current lab has never brought me a dead duck or pheasant that was a confirmed live cripple. So regarding chickens, perhaps "kill" is a little strong. It would probably be more like chase, catch, retrieve, then repeat until you're out of chickens.

From limited data available, I'm guessing this game would not be good for the chicken team.

[Chukarhead]

I would never break my flushing Labs from their interest in chasing chickens, or any birds for that matter.  I too would suspect the birdiness of any flushing dog that "ignored" the chickens..  Better to find a way to keep your chickens inaccessible to your dog.

My very, very birdy lab pup (she was a little over a year old) chased down and retrieved a free-range, beautiful gold-laced Wyandotte hen from the grounds of the property where we had our wedding...on our wedding day.  I yelled and cursed, and she eventually dropped the unharmed bird.  A couple of weeks later, she did the same with a barred rock hen at home, in spite of me calling her off.  I chased her down, threw her over the 6' fence, chased her down again, and made her believe that she would never see the light of another day, much less another chicken.  It's the only time I really lost my temper with her.  She's 8 now, and since then has never taken more than a second look at any of our domestic chickens, turkeys, or ducks, but is a stone-cold pursuer of wild ducks, quail, pheasant, etc.  She absolutely knows the difference.  When an unfortunate quail or grouse wanders onto the property, she's on the case immediately.

I was initially scared to death that I might have driven some birdiness out of her, but she didn't even hesitate on the next hunting outing.  When they're on the job, they're on the job.

[weathergirl]

  When they're on the job, they're on the job.

 

[87Ford]

I would never break my flushing Labs from their interest in chasing chickens, or any birds for that matter.  I too would suspect the birdiness of any flushing dog that "ignored" the chickens..  Better to find a way to keep your chickens inaccessible to your dog.

My very, very birdy lab pup (she was a little over a year old) chased down and retrieved a free-range, beautiful gold-laced Wyandotte hen from the grounds of the property where we had our wedding...on our wedding day.  I yelled and cursed, and she eventually dropped the unharmed bird.  A couple of weeks later, she did the same with a barred rock hen at home, in spite of me calling her off.  I chased her down, threw her over the 6' fence, chased her down again, and made her believe that she would never see the light of another day, much less another chicken.  It's the only time I really lost my temper with her.  She's 8 now, and since then has never taken more than a second look at any of our domestic chickens, turkeys, or ducks, but is a stone-cold pursuer of wild ducks, quail, pheasant, etc.  She absolutely knows the difference.  When an unfortunate quail or grouse wanders onto the property, she's on the case immediately.

I was initially scared to death that I might have driven some birdiness out of her, but she didn't even hesitate on the next hunting outing.  When they're on the job, they're on the job.

That's a cool story, but again, I'm never gonna "train", "break", or "scold" my bird dogs from chasing or having an interest in birds, I mean chickens.  Like I said, to each their own.  Fact is, I don't even have any chickens, so it's a moot point.  I'm saying that for me, if I had chickens, I'd keep them out of harms way, so to speak.  You know, keep the chickens safe from the dogs.  Pretty simple really.

Had one of my Labs over at the local feed store one time and as soon as I turned my back, that dog was in the coup roughin' up the chickens.  It ended when he brought me a chicken that was still kicking and plenty alive.  No harm, no foul, pun intended.  The owner was an avid bird hunter himself and understood.  Shame on me for letting my dog sneak away from me, but I certainly wasn't gonna scold the dog!  Good grief!

[duchunter]

I would never break my flushing Labs from their interest in chasing chickens, or any birds for that matter.  I too would suspect the birdiness of any flushing dog that "ignored" the chickens..  Better to find a way to keep your chickens inaccessible to your dog.

My very, very birdy lab pup (she was a little over a year old) chased down and retrieved a free-range, beautiful gold-laced Wyandotte hen from the grounds of the property where we had our wedding...on our wedding day.  I yelled and cursed, and she eventually dropped the unharmed bird.  A couple of weeks later, she did the same with a barred rock hen at home, in spite of me calling her off.  I chased her down, threw her over the 6' fence, chased her down again, and made her believe that she would never see the light of another day, much less another chicken.  It's the only time I really lost my temper with her.  She's 8 now, and since then has never taken more than a second look at any of our domestic chickens, turkeys, or ducks, but is a stone-cold pursuer of wild ducks, quail, pheasant, etc.  She absolutely knows the difference.  When an unfortunate quail or grouse wanders onto the property, she's on the case immediately.

I was initially scared to death that I might have driven some birdiness out of her, but she didn't even hesitate on the next hunting outing.  When they're on the job, they're on the job.

That's a cool story, but again, I'm never gonna "train", "break", or "scold" my bird dogs from chasing or having an interest in birds, I mean chickens.  Like I said, to each their own.  Fact is, I don't even have any chickens, so it's a moot point.  I'm saying that for me, if I had chickens, I'd keep them out of harms way, so to speak.  You know, keep the chickens safe from the dogs.  Pretty simple really.

Had one of my Labs over at the local feed store one time and as soon as I turned my back, that dog was in the coup roughin' up the chickens.  It ended when he brought me a chicken that was still kicking and plenty alive.  No harm, no foul, pun intended.  The owner was an avid bird hunter himself and understood.  Shame on me for letting my dog sneak away from me, but I certainly wasn't gonna scold the dog!  Good grief!

I had a friend whose dog got out of his kennel one time and he got into the neighbors chicken coup and killed several chickens, I think he had to buy some chicks to replace the ones that did not make it.......... but I can tell you first hand that dog never got out again and became one heck of a pheasant dog!!!!!
 

[pens fan]

Thanks everyone. I'm just acceptingbyhe fact that my wife's chickens are fair game if out. We now have a dog kennel around the coup. Hopefully this will keep them at bay.

[whitey]

My labs have never paid any attention to chickens or the ducks my daughter had at her place. He would lock on point if they were laid up under a tree, but never hurt or messsed with them.
Put a shotgun in my hands then it might have been a different story..

[Colin]

Seems like results will vary regardless of what you do. If you teach them to leave the chickens alone a certain way then it may likely effect their birdyness. Teach them a different way and it likely wont.

I mean some people FF their dogs on birds... doesn't make them hate birds if done right. If anything they get more birdy.

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[seth30]

Amber is a great dog   That week she was at my house she got along great with my dogs and my son.  My male lab chased down some chickens once and killed them.  Luckily my female stayed on the porch.  I didn't really scold him as he has been taught to do this with grouse.  I however do not take him near chickens again as I don't think it will turn out well.  Him and his sister will be 9 this November

[AWS]

I think that train-ability and prey-drive have a lot to do with it.  Labs and goldens make excellent service dogs because they can be taught very easily to ignore distractions.  Their train-ability over rides their prey-drive.  On a blind retrieve you can train a Lab to bypass a dead pile on the down wind side to where you you want him to look for the fall.  A spanial or VHD it is a lot harder to train to bypass a dead bird he know is there because his mission is to find a dead bird.  The labs mission is to go where he is commanded to and then look for the bird.

When you look at trials and hunt tests, retriever trials are based on train-ability and spanial/pointing dogs trials are more natural ability based.