# Great Pyrenees started killing chickens



## RTinFL

So, in Feb I got a great 13 mo old dog, Simeon. He was raised with chickens and goats. He WAS doing pretty good with our birds. We suspected he had killed one bird but over all he was doing great. Then a friend asked us to take in a Polish rooster. We reluctantly did and the next day we found the rooster in the dog's stash spot all chewed up and partially eaten. A week later we added 26 new 5 month old birds to the flock and in the first 3 days he has killed 4 of them. 

I am wondering if because we feed him a raw food diet (chicken necks/eggs/tripe/ duck necks) that he has gotten a taste for them. Any advice what we can do? 

We love him, but at this rate he is killing more than the predators.


----------



## Eagle1

Could it be just that the new chickens looked different and had not yet been accepted? I have a border mix that watched our first set of Buffs without issues then we added some Old English. The dog broke into the coop and killed ALL of the Old English but did not harm a single Buff. The "new" chickens were black the "old" brown. I guessed she just removed the strangers...... Since then we take a bit of extra time with new birds and dogs to make sure they know who belongs. No further confusion issues so far. 

We also have the GP and BorderX trained to chase Canada geese but leave our geese and ducks alone. Well there is the occasional put the ducks in the water moment but even when they catch up to the ducks there is no biting and GP is protective of our flock of ducks.


----------



## Cheryl aka JM

Chickens are an awful lot of fun to catch and play with till they stop moving. You have to make it no fun. The dog is still young~ he is more enthusiastic about play at his age~ do a lot of yelling and scolding with the dead bird. Try to catch him catching a bird and make a HUGE deal about how very unhappy you are.


----------



## BarbadosSheep

he is too young to be trustworthy with poultry. LGD breeds do not mature until they are at least two and every chicken he kills now will only reinforce the habit. Remove the chickens and try him with them when he is older.


----------



## DaniR1968

Since he was fine with the chickens before and is only killing the new ones, he doesn't think of them as his to guard. When I add anything new, even chickens, I have my dog come over to meet them so she knows they belong. 

So far that has worked. Of course maybe I am just lucky. 

That doesn't help you with your current problem, though, does it? If your dog is sensitive, grab up the body (or what's left) and make a fuss and tell him he's a bad dog. With some that is enough. Trying to catch him in the act so he can be reprimanded is also good. 

Good luck.


----------



## motdaugrnds

I've had two dogs attack and hurt chickens; however, I was fortunate enough to have caught them both in the act. That means a lot when it comes to disciplining the dog. I scolded one and it worked; but for my lab, it happened again, so I took a water hose to him hitting him once while David held the hurt goose up next to him...that goose pecked him. The lab has never touched another of our fowl, though he will catch morning doves.

An Amish family I visited once had a dead chicken laying in the yard. I started to pick it up to help them remove it to the trash and he told me not to, that leaving it was a way he trained his dogs not to harm fowl. (Each time they got near the dead fowl, he let them know how bad he felt about it.)

Since your dog is an LGD and more than likely does not have much of a prey drive, I suspect as others in here do, i.e. that he was taking out the intruders.


----------



## Rock

I think you need to take time to introduce them. My birds could run play eat out of the dogs bowls ect. Then a Rooster thought he was going to flog me from behind _(I didn't even know he was there)_, white flash from about 12-15 feet, dead bird. Good girl, cant even scold her for killing him when her job is to defend me or die trying. We were having a bbq the next day, so I mixed about 7lb of rooster in the grass fed beef for the burgers:thumb:. 
A strange critter to the dog is a strange critter, whether bird or coyote whatever he does not know them.
Good luck


----------



## motdaugrnds

That certainly occurs. I remember when Apache (mix Anatolian/Chow/Lab/Wolf) was still alive and walking with me in the pasture. Out flies a guinea guarding her keets and flying right at my head with all claws out. Apache caught her in mid air!!


----------



## RTinFL

Thanks for all of the advice. Seems like the thing that makes the most sense being he did not kill them before the new ones came in he is not seeing them as his to protect. He just killed another one this morning. I have it tied to his neck right now. When I added these to the flock it was at night. I didn't introduce him... I think this is my fault. Today i am going to load all the new birds into my cage and leave and then come back in and introduce them to him one at a time. Let him sniff them.... Thanks again for all of the advice.

One other thing. He is intact. I read somewhere that fixing him may solve the problem too.


----------



## BarbadosSheep

fixing him will not change a thing in regards to the chickens.


----------



## RTinFL

BarbadosSheep said:


> fixing him will not change a thing in regards to the chickens.


Can you explain your reasoning with that? You don't think this can be an adolescence (hormonal) thing?

Thanks


----------



## Nicole Irene

Cheryl aka JM said:


> Chickens are an awful lot of fun to catch and play with till they stop moving. You have to make it no fun. The dog is still young~ he is more enthusiastic about play at his age~ do a lot of yelling and scolding with the dead bird. Try to catch him catching a bird and make a HUGE deal about how very unhappy you are.


We did this....made a *huge* deal..."flogged" our dog with the chicken he killed (sounds bad...but it was essentially whacking his nose with a bunch of feathers). He never touched another chicken.


----------



## BarbadosSheep

RTinFL said:


> Can you explain your reasoning with that? You don't think this can be an adolescence (hormonal) thing?
> 
> Thanks


no, it's a puppy thing and neutering him won't make him not be a puppy anymore.


----------



## RTinFL

Very strange. I tried about everything... then I prayed.... hasn't touched another bird. That was over 10 days ago... God is good.


----------



## Rock

RTinFL said:


> Very strange. I tried about everything... then I prayed.... hasn't touched another bird. That was over 10 days ago... God is good.


Yes God is good!


----------



## Cheryl aka JM

Yes God is Good
Do be careful of Murphy though~ he's not so nice. Usually the moment I tell someone "That pup has stopped killing chickens" thats when that pup is behind me killing a chicken.


----------



## RTinFL

Cheryl aka JM said:


> Yes God is Good
> Do be careful of Murphy though~ he's not so nice. Usually the moment I tell someone "That pup has stopped killing chickens" thats when that pup is behind me killing a chicken.


Funny you say that.... I was driving home two days ago and saw a small white chicken running through the woods. My son and I chased it down and brought it home.... thinking we were "saving" it. Introduced it to Simeon... the other chickens seemed to accept it.... went in the house.... 2 hours later... dead chicken... he does NOT LIKE NEW CHICKENS!!!:grit:


----------



## PrettyPaisley

Duke, our neutered GP also chasing chickens. We have to keep the chickens in tractors because of the predators but we had a couple of hens who free ranged and he terrorizes them. He will be 2 in January 14-I hope he outgrows this.


----------



## RTinFL

PrettyPaisley said:


> Duke, our neutered GP also chasing chickens. We have to keep the chickens in tractors because of the predators but we had a couple of hens who free ranged and he terrorizes them. He will be 2 in January 14-I hope he outgrows this.


For some reason my boy only does it with some of the new chickens... I was told to take more time in introducing the birds to him. Maybe keep them penned in for a few weeks where he can see and smell them but not get to them.


----------



## NorthernMrs

He is too young and immature to be trusted alone with the chickens. Male Pyrs mature much more slowly than other dogs and can remain some what "puppy brained" until they are 4. They also have to be properly trained so they know that the chickens are their "work" not their toys. As someone else posted, young chickens run around and act...well like chickens. You have to introduce each new bird to the Pyr on a one on one basis. Teach the dog that the birds are yours and not his. Both of my Pyrs learned "Not yours" at a very young age. A simple "Not yours" and they know what ever the thing is is not a toy. Supervise your boy when he is with the birds. He can be trained not to kill the chickens but it will take patience and pesistance on your part, especially as he has already stared.  I know many who feed a raw diet and have no issues with killing chickens. That is really a training issue.


----------



## terri46355

I found my 6 mo. old Lab with a dead chicken. I grabbed the dog by the neck and beat him with the dead chicken yelling angry words at him and "No!" many times. He has not killed or harmed another chicken since then (he's 4 yrs. old now). He even lets them eat his food, because he knows that the chickens are not toys and the master says so.


----------



## RJMAcres

terri46355 said:


> I found my 6 mo. old Lab with a dead chicken. I grabbed the dog by the neck and beat him with the dead chicken yelling angry words at him and "No!" many times. He has not killed or harmed another chicken since then (he's 4 yrs. old now). He even lets them eat his food, because he knows that the chickens are not toys and the master says so.


Must be the hillbilly method.

That's the exact same method I used on our catahula who was a chicken killing fool for
awhile. I couldn't grab her by the neck but I chased her around the yard yelling and
screaming like a crazy person. And every chance I got I slapped her with the dead
chicken. She no longer kills chickens.

It's not unusual to see chickens standing on top of any of our great pyrs.


----------



## Cheryl aka JM

I used to tell people that a good chicken dog was made by "regularly beating the dog with a dead chicken for the first two years".... But you would be amazed how many people take you so at your word they begin choosing which chicken they should kill and beat the dog with it....
Or they start shuddering at the idea of beating the dog with anything and stop listening all together

Now I try to explain that it's likely a pup will kill a chicken and you have to shame and scold the dog with the chicken the DOG killed every time it kills a chicken till the dog is an adult which is usually around approx 2 years old~ earlier for some later for others.


----------



## Hawkfamily

We have two GPs..one is now 5 and the other just a year. When our older one was about the age of yours, we came home to a dead chicken she was carrying. On occasion, she would have fun chasing them around but this was the first kill. We tied the chicken around her beautiful fluffy white neck. It killed me..lol... 
And we left it there a long long long time...til it was rotting pretty much. It was horrible. I couldn't look at the poor thing. She's never killed a chicken again since...not even close.


----------



## CAjerseychick

Yeah, feeding raw is not a factor--- our 3 get plenty of raw chicken and duck parts-- and went thru our own chicken killing stage...
its training. Mainly if you can catch em in the act and interrupt it or at least mark it as Bad behavior for the dog, that is best. That and an old tire to slow down the dog -- so 1) the chickens have a chance to get away, and 2) you can get there in time to catch him in the act...


----------



## hiddensprings

Its tough for young dogs to understand that chickens are not play things or food. Discipline is KEY! It will take some fast action on your part. As soon as you see your dog acting inappropriately with the chickens, grab him by the scruff of the next and roll him on his back and put a choke hold on him. (thing about dogs playing. The Alpha will do this to a subservant dog to get his attention) Hold him until he submits. You'll have to do it as soon as he starts for the chickens, but he'll get the message. And no, it doesn't hurt the dog. My chickens hunt and peek all around my sleeping anatolians now....


----------



## am1too

RTinFL said:


> Thanks for all of the advice. Seems like the thing that makes the most sense being he did not kill them before the new ones came in he is not seeing them as his to protect. He just killed another one this morning. I have it tied to his neck right now. When I added these to the flock it was at night. I didn't introduce him... I think this is my fault. Today i am going to load all the new birds into my cage and leave and then come back in and introduce them to him one at a time. Let him sniff them.... Thanks again for all of the advice.
> 
> One other thing. He is intact. I read somewhere that fixing him may solve the problem too.


I wouldn't get em fixed. Yes it does change their behavior. I don't think you'd like the change over all. Sure ruined my German Shepard.


----------



## am1too

hiddensprings said:


> Its tough for young dogs to understand that chickens are not play things or food. Discipline is KEY! It will take some fast action on your part. As soon as you see your dog acting inappropriately with the chickens, grab him by the scruff of the next and roll him on his back and put a choke hold on him. (thing about dogs playing. The Alpha will do this to a subservant dog to get his attention) Hold him until he submits. You'll have to do it as soon as he starts for the chickens, but he'll get the message. And no, it doesn't hurt the dog. My chickens hunt and peek all around my sleeping anatolians now....


I was told to grab a hand full of neck on the side like a mother dog would do and the behavior stops immediately. I tried it and it worked wonders. Just tighten your grip till the dog relaxes. Their skin is pretty loose and that is all you have to get.


----------



## 95bravo

I have never broke a Pyrenees, but I have broken a three year old boxer. I waited untill I caught her red handed carrying a rooster. I pinned her to the ground by her neck and scolded her and gave her a good throttling. Never had another problem.


----------



## CAjerseychick

Well our pyr/ anatolian pup occasionally chases a chicken for a few feet but, thankfully no injuries.... its goats he wont stop chasing....


----------



## terri46355

My method worked again for a 1 year-old English Mastiff we were given about a month ago. I came home from work and saw him eating a chicken. After changing my clothes and putting on gloves, I put him on a leash. I grabbed the chicken by the legs and beat him with it while yelling, "bad dog!" until he laid down on his side in submission. I let him up and threw it at his feet. He tried to escape, but was still on the leash so I threw it by him a few more times and let him go. No longer does he want to chase or kill chickens. I am definitely not a dog whisperer. It sounds harsh, but it worked on two different dogs.


----------



## crazyfarm

Wish I had tips but our pyr has killed a total of 20 birds thus far. I have been told that tying a dead chicken around their neck to rot will put them off chicken killing forever. We aren't able to do this as we have multiple dogs. We figure they'd just eat each others neck chicken and that'd be that. Nothing has had an impact on our pyr as far as chicken killing. He has been caught in the act and been punished but he still does it.

We have an akbash and he's much better. We have caught him catching the poultry but he's never killed any of them. Mostly he ignores them.


----------



## CAjerseychick

Try the mini tire onto collar next time you catch him even chasing a chicken (sometimes my 3 are all wearing tires)-- like a lawn mower tire not a fullsized one-- they hate it and its a consequence (hang it like a foot off their collar on a metal chain) that impedes their ability to continue to chase and lets the chicken get away....


----------



## crazyfarm

CAjerseychick said:


> Try the mini tire onto collar next time you catch him even chasing a chicken (sometimes my 3 are all wearing tires)-- like a lawn mower tire not a fullsized one-- they hate it and its a consequence (hang it like a foot off their collar on a metal chain) that impedes their ability to continue to chase and lets the chicken get away....


Unfortunately for us it's a husband problem. Our pyr is a known fence jumper. He's decided the neighbors cows are his to guard and the neighbor doesn't appreciate it. So we have to keep him in the run and the only way to do that is chain him. He jumps our 6 foot fence like it's not there. The only dead chickens we've dealt with were all when my hubby decided to just let the dog out without his chain. Fence gets jumped and if the cows are contained he comes back to have some fun with he poultry. We had the pyr long before we had poultry.


----------



## Gaduchman

RTinFL said:


> So, in Feb I got a great 13 mo old dog, Simeon. He was raised with chickens and goats. He WAS doing pretty good with our birds. We suspected he had killed one bird but over all he was doing great. Then a friend asked us to take in a Polish rooster. We reluctantly did and the next day we found the rooster in the dog's stash spot all chewed up and partially eaten. A week later we added 26 new 5 month old birds to the flock and in the first 3 days he has killed 4 of them.
> 
> I am wondering if because we feed him a raw food diet (chicken necks/eggs/tripe/ duck necks) that he has gotten a taste for them. Any advice what we can do?
> 
> We love him, but at this rate he is killing more than the predators.


Sorry no compassion for a chicken or sheep killer! Did you ever ask the dog donator why they were ridding themselves of a 13mo old Pyr? When I got my 3 mo old Pyr from the breeder - I was told point blank not to feed him anything but packaged food. I didn't need to ask why - I knew the answer.

When he killed a seal point kitten, I moved him to the sheep field. When he killed a lamb - I shot him.


----------



## RTinFL

Gaduchman said:


> Sorry no compassion for a chicken or sheep killer! Did you ever ask the dog donator why they were ridding themselves of a 13mo old Pyr? When I got my 3 mo old Pyr from the breeder - I was told point blank not to feed him anything but packaged food. I didn't need to ask why - I knew the answer.
> 
> When he killed a seal point kitten, I moved him to the sheep field. When he killed a lamb - I shot him.


Well being they have existed for thousands of years.... the breeder is an idiot for giving that advice. The dog was raised with chickens and goats had not shown any aggression towards chickens. It was immaturity and too much responsibility for a puppy (13 mo GP is still a pup). Just my opinion, but quite the  move killing a dog without the attempts to train.


----------



## JasoninMN

Gaduchman said:


> Sorry no compassion for a chicken or sheep killer! Did you ever ask the dog donator why they were ridding themselves of a 13mo old Pyr? When I got my 3 mo old Pyr from the breeder - I was told point blank not to feed him anything but packaged food. I didn't need to ask why - I knew the answer.
> 
> When he killed a seal point kitten, I moved him to the sheep field. When he killed a lamb - I shot him.


So the puppy died as a result of your ignorance. Nice. You think feeding a dog a raw diet will make them kill livestock? What exactly do you think these dogs ate in the regions they were developed? Grass? There is no correlation between eating raw and killing chickens. The dog was being a puppy which you failed to train and set up for failure. Easier to put the blame on the puppy though instead of yourself I suppose.


----------



## Gaduchman

You are all entitled to your opinions. Me I've been doing it this way for more than 50 yrs. The dog died in part because he ate a three hundred dollar kitten, then several lambs. Great pyrs didn't exist in this country until sometime in the 1800's - before that I don't care what they ate in Spain. I put all my dogs and cats (exc the mousers) on hard feed. If I wanted them to eat chicken I'd just put them in the henhouse and then I wouldn't have any eggs to eat.:umno:


----------



## JasoninMN

Well luckily it doesn't taken most people 50 years to learn how to train a dog.


----------



## Gaduchman

JasoninMN said:


> Well luckily it doesn't taken most people 50 years to learn how to train a dog.


Not in the business of training dogs - I raise cattle, sheep, bison and grow soybeans. I leave the dog training to the experts.


----------



## Hollowdweller

I've never had a problem with pyrs killing chickens.

My dog I have now, best one I've owned, when he was about your dogs age I would see him pick up a chicken or duck, carry it around, and then put it down. He liked to carry them around but never hurt one.

I do think you have to watch closely like was said. When they are under 2 they are too playful. I had an old doe my dog loved, she was 14 and they would lay together, but occasionally he was too rough with her because she was really shakey and he'd jump up on her and lick her so I'd tell him no and lock her up for a day.

Real important to watch the dog a lot and if you can't put them where they can't get bad habits.


----------



## Gaduchman

My collies, heelers, and the barn cats ALL get regular checkups, just like my cattle. I don't know you and you don't know me - so let's just leave it there.


----------



## CAjerseychick

Yeah lets all cool off. this is a great Forum and lets keep it that way. 
I think we are all sad about the puppy though....


----------



## wr

I realize this is a provocative topic but personal attacks, insulting comments or rude behaviour will not be tolerated.


----------



## Crystal L Palmer

I have a 6 month old pyrs we are having trouble with him wanting to play with our yard hens and ends up killing them. He just ended up trying to catch a baby chick and almost killed it. What's the best way to.get him to stop. He is in a big back yard with our 3 yr old blue healer. He will do fine for a while but then end up messing with the birds again. What a the best way to stop this. I don't want my husband to get rid of him


----------



## Bearfootfarm

Crystal L Palmer said:


> What's the best way to.get him to stop.


A shock collar is the easiest way to break that habit.


----------



## GK7

Bearfootfarm said:


> A shock collar is the easiest way to break that habit.


Not…


----------



## Bearfootfarm

GK7 said:


> Not…


You'd be mistaken.


----------



## GK7

Then let's see you wear one for a day and give me the controls.
Bet you won't eat chicken for awhile.


----------



## Bearfootfarm

GK7 said:


> Then let's see you wear one for a day and give me the controls.
> Bet you won't eat chicken for awhile.


If you don't understand how to operate a device properly, I can see why you think they can't be effective.
I do, in fact, test the settings on myself before putting the collar on the dog.

The last dog I trained was only shocked twice before he decided he really didn't want to touch birds.

I've also used them to break dogs from chasing sheep.


----------



## Ziptie

Our male great pryr who still has all of his equipment. Two things worked for him one was grabbing him by the neck and staring him down when I found him with a chicken in his mouth. Then for times I could not reach him when he was chasing the chickens it was the shock collar. For him though the shock part did not bother him it was the vibration part that scared him the most. He gets to eat any dead chickens. 

Just and FYI...Though we made the mistake of having a guy drop off some roosters that he did not want. I ran into town real quick and of course he some to drop off the roosters when I was gone. Now this guy has been here a couple times so he was not a complete stranger. When I pulled up I found the guy trying to put the roosters in a cage we had but trying to keep the kennel between him and our great pryr as the dog was trying to attack the guy. I have never seen the dog act this way and I feared for the guys safety. I was a lesson learned for us. I don't blame the dog. He was doing his job. I thought he would be able to tell that those were not his chickens.


----------



## LoneStarBoers

I have 3 GP who have decimated my chicken flock. We got the pups at 3 months old a herd dogs for our goats. They fell right in with the goats & have become members of the herd. They also seemed to be doing fine with the chickens up until a couple weeks ago. The pups are nearly 6 months old & in just 3 weeks have reduced our chicken flock from 35 birds to 10. They seem to be catching the chickens to play with them & once dead they don't eat them right away. We have caught them in various stages with the birds & have scolded all 3 dogs, yelled at them, chased them down & flogged them with dead chickens, grabbed them by the scruff, rubbed their noses in the dead chicken while whooping their butts...all to no avail. We've even tried putting a dead chicken in the yard & firing a shotgun in the air when they approach the chicken but even that didn't work. Most alarming is they killed & beheaded a newborn hours old baby goat. I'm at a loss here! They seem to be set off by the chickens making a lot of noise when they go to the nesting boxes to lay eggs & I think the baby goat & all his noise was much the same, but we can't have the GPs killing off the stock their meant to protect. Suggestions would be welcome!


----------



## Alice In TX/MO

The thread you posted on is very old. Did you read it?


----------

