# LGD ATE a chicken today!



## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

My 9month old Great Pyrenees was found this evening munching on a laying hen. :facepalm: Is it time for a dangle stick? Just in the past 2 weeks he has seemed to be in a different mood. I remember this with my older Pyr, he went though a snotty teenager phase, but that did not include EATING a chicken. Our birds are free range during the day and this cannot be tolerated. We can't watch him 24/7 either. Anyone had good results from a dangle stick? Otherwise, he's been a great LGD so far. He knows leave it,sit,stay,come,and to stay in the fence.


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## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

My dad would tell you to beat him with the dead chicken it is apparently how his grandmother would break a dog from eating chickens. Fair warning i have no idea if this works or not


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## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

Lady89 said:


> My dad would tell you to beat him with the dead chicken it is apparently how his grandmother would break a dog from eating chickens. Fair warning i have no idea if this works or not


I have heard of this also. I've also heard of tying the dead chicken to the dogs collar and letting it rot. I don't think I could deal with the smell, these dogs are borderline pets and we handle them a lot. Husband said he thought about doing that at first but then decided it would make too much of a mess.


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## Lady89 (Feb 22, 2014)

i would not go with the rotting thing i can think of more then a few dogs that would like that and eat the chicken as parts of it fall off


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## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

Lady89 said:


> i would not go with the rotting thing i can think of more then a few dogs that would like that and eat the chicken as parts of it fall off


Yeah, I thought of that too. I think I may just try the dangle stick. I've just never used one before.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

LGDs eat chickens. That is just something you have to train them not to do. They are still dogs. They protect mammals that they live with thaugh. Generally speaking, you don't keep them with the chickens or make the chickens their flock. That is why they will eat them. They protect their own flock. If you make them a house dog that plays with your kids, then they protect the kids. If you make them a sheep dog that lives and lays with the lambs then they protect the lambs. LGDs protect their won flock whatever that happens to be. It depends on whether they live with the goats, sheep, kids, or whatever. They protect their flock.


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## Janis R (Jun 27, 2013)

What is a dangle stick?
We had an 8 month old GP that ate some turkeys, chickens and Guinea hens , had to get rid of her.


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## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Janis R said:


> What is a dangle stick?
> We had an 8 month old GP that ate some turkeys, chickens and Guinea hens , had to get rid of her.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

I had a pup about the same age do this. I tied the chicken around her neck, tight so she could not slip it off. It finally rotted off in 11 days, she NEVER bothered again, nine years old now a FANTASTIC farm dog!


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## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

mekasmom said:


> LGDs eat chickens. That is just something you have to train them not to do. They are still dogs. They protect mammals that they live with thaugh. Generally speaking, you don't keep them with the chickens or make the chickens their flock. That is why they will eat them. They protect their own flock. If you make them a house dog that plays with your kids, then they protect the kids. If you make them a sheep dog that lives and lays with the lambs then they protect the lambs. LGDs protect their won flock whatever that happens to be. It depends on whether they live with the goats, sheep, kids, or whatever. They protect their flock.



Ours live with our chickens and pigs. They don't come into our yard or house. The chickens are their flock. I know they need to be trained, which I am still working on. Just wanted to know if anyone had good results from a dangle stick.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

I didn't have good luck with a dangle stick and chickens. If the chickens are used to the dog, they'll just walk right up to the dog and then the dog can grab them and eat them. I ended up spending a couple of intense days with mine watching. I let him grab a bird and then ran up and took if from him while scolding him intensely. This is MY bird, don't you dare!! sort reaction. It took a couple of times, but he got the idea finally. 

A bit after that, I woke up one night during a thunderstorm to a weird squawking. I looked out the window and there was the dog and my loner bird. The dog would poke the bird, make it squawk and then look up at the window. It was sooo funny! I went down and took care of the bird and made the dog happy. He's also been know to let the turkeys corner him.


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## BlackFeather (Jun 17, 2014)

I think the dead chicken around the neck is the same idea as a dangle stick except, the dog gets to associate the chicken itself as the cause of the thing around it's neck. I also don't think it has to rot, it is the inconvienence of having something dragging from the neck. I did the same thing with a bag of garbage since the dog always kept getting into the garbage, I hung it about his neck. Seemed to work. Showing your angry and expressing the fact by holding the chicken and scolding, worked for our last dog.


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

Lady89 said:


> My dad would tell you to beat him with the dead chicken it is apparently how his grandmother would break a dog from eating chickens. Fair warning i have no idea if this works or not


It didn't work with mine and I beat him with every chicken he killed, which was upwards of 10 one night (he used to jump the fence, we've electrified it since then). I actually hurt my wrist and had to wear a brace I'd beat him with so many chickens. He still kills chicken.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

I have no idea if it makes a difference or if I just got lucky, but *I* smacked my dog while *I *was holding the bird. Like I was protecting the bird from the dog. I never beat him _with_ the bird. Then I would sit down and cuddle the bird (not a happy bird by this time) and when he'd come over to check it out, I'd growl at him and give him the eye. Kinda like a mom dog keeping the other dogs away from her pups. When he'd back off, I'd praise him. I praised him whenever he did what I wanted him to do. If he ignored a bird walking in front of him, praise, etc. 

After we got that established, I started going out and screeching at hawks and such that were in the area. He eventually got to understand that the poultry were OURS and the birds of prey were the ENEMY. Although in his mind, every single bird out there that is not ours are the enemy. It's hysterical to watch him protecting the place from the blue birds.

I do think with chicken killing that it has to be caught and dealt with early. Once it's a habit, it's there for good in most cases.

Just my 2 cents worth. Probably worth what you paid for it.


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## crazyfarm (Oct 29, 2013)

thermopkt said:


> I have no idea if it makes a difference or if I just got lucky, but *I* smacked my dog while *I *was holding the bird. Like I was protecting the bird from the dog. I never beat him _with_ the bird. Then I would sit down and cuddle the bird (not a happy bird by this time) and when he'd come over to check it out, I'd growl at him and give him the eye. Kinda like a mom dog keeping the other dogs away from her pups. When he'd back off, I'd praise him. I praised him whenever he did what I wanted him to do. If he ignored a bird walking in front of him, praise, etc.
> 
> After we got that established, I started going out and screeching at hawks and such that were in the area. He eventually got to understand that the poultry were OURS and the birds of prey were the ENEMY. Although in his mind, every single bird out there that is not ours are the enemy. It's hysterical to watch him protecting the place from the blue birds.
> 
> ...


Well bugger it all. I hope I didn't do it wrong. Course it was probably habit by then. We'd actually thought our pyr was jumping the fence and protecting the chickens from coyote. Then we figured out it was him doing the killing.................


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

They aren't supposed to protect chickens or rabbits, they'd eat them if they came across any while out with the sheep/cows/goats where they originated from.
It's you're job to teach them not to bother these dinner animals. Not all will learn. Not all old timer tricks work.
Most obvious, he's a puppy and will stay a puppy that is unreliable until 2-3 years old. If you can't handle the dog eating a few birds as he learns, buy a trained adult instead.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

crazyfarm said:


> Well bugger it all. I hope I didn't do it wrong. Course it was probably habit by then. We'd actually thought our pyr was jumping the fence and protecting the chickens from coyote. Then we figured out it was him doing the killing.................



It's worth trying I suppose. One never knows what technique will reach each individual dog. :shrug:


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

Sounds like its time to reign in the teenager.
Also sounds like you have basic obedience... But its being challenged to a degree.
You need to reaffirm who is in charge and sets the rules.

The way I do this is to put the dog on the ground then hold it there.
This is canine behavior, if you ever observed two dominate dogs, out side their territory one will try to pin the other, its the peaceful way of establishing dominance. 
Of coarse sometimes the other does not like it and that is when the fight happens.
Though I have not been bitten, I have been snapped at, that is when tone and assertion come in. perhaps even a smack on the nose.

Once the dog no longer struggle to get up they have submitted.
Repeat if needed. Some dogs need more reminders then others.

A stare is a powerful tool as well, and a little show of teeth, again all goes back to canine behavior.Easier to exploit that then teach them English.

Next put him on a long lead, leave it slack ( I know you don't normally train a LGD on a lead but follow along) when he goes one way you go the other, key is the slack. eventually they realize eyes and attention on you. this is the important part.
you want them to pay attention to you, so you can move to step three.

Now you need to develop some activity to drum no home. Food works well.
something like food on the ground, and NO, and I usually also use a second command to leave it.
Once your satisfied with the behavior in your presence then you work on them following command once you are not in sight, a spotter works well for this.
you walk out of sight and the spotter lets you know when the dog is going to break command. which point scolding takes place and a punishment, something like cage time. repeat till you have the proper behavior.

Next step is to project this onto the chickens, in the same fashion.
It may sound long and drawn out but really depends on the Dog.

I have taken problem dogs and in a few short days had the proper behavior using these methods.

My Female shep I had when married actually got the gist in a few short hours, her male companions took a day or two.

Now a little off topic but that old girl would not let me near the Wife, fine any other time. I noticed she was OK with me disciplining her or the children but forbid I should get close to the Wife. 
After that Observation, I tried a experiment.
As I approached the Wife, I started saying "Bad Momma" , she did not care for it but rather then being on the defense and aggressive she just wined.
After that no more issues.

I should add that the methods above are not mine but developed by a Disney Trainer, I don't support all his methods and even forget his name but I can attest these work. YMV


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

One of mine has killed a couple of turkeys that didn't have their wings trimmed. They flew into the orchard and she got them. I tied one to her collar and she just thought it was a mobile feed bag. 
I coated the last dead one in cayenne. The results are mixed. The last turkey she got a hold of was just some what plucked on its back but alive and in shock.
A bigger problem with her is that she's extremely food protective. We're working on that but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for her.

I don't think her brother would kill anything.


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## Tweezy (Nov 27, 2014)

E-collar and reward based training works exceptionally well... Just kinda pricy for an e-collar.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Hmmmm .... maybe I just lucked out with Valentina (Bulgarian Karakachan) when I got her as a pup. I got her home and she took a long look at a roaming rooster. David clapped his hands and I said "uh uh". She decided rolling in the grass there in front of the rooster was more fun. I have caught her sneaking into the orchard, which is adjacent to the open door of the chicken house; and she did start chasing the chickens. However, I yelled her name with an "uh uh" in a growling voice; and she trotted over to me with her tail wagging. I also caught her cornering a rooster once; and again gave her a growl. That was the first few months of her life. Since then not once has she harmed a fowl (geese, chickens, guineas)....oh except the one time she found a guinea keet alone yelling for its mother. One chomp and she swallowed that keet whole. However, for the last year and half the assorted fowl free-range all around her and she has even chased what looked like a fox away from them.

Prior to this I had a full blood German Shepherd who thought it was her job to break up all fights, even the fowls' mating rituals (goats too); yet, not once did she harm a fowl.

Now my Labradore, Cujo, is a different story in that he did kill a chicken and wounded several geese...until I decided I'ld had enough. The next time I caught him mauling a goose, I grabbed his collar while David grabbed the goose; and I took a piece of water hose and hit him on the rump while David held the goose up to his face...that goose pecked him on the nose. After that he never bothered any of the fowl again.

I believe it is all in the training!


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## wiscto (Nov 24, 2014)

What exactly does the dangle stick do? All I can think of is that it disrupts their chasing by smacking their forelegs? For some reason that sounds like a bad idea to me.


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## Faerunner (Jan 1, 2009)

What a timely topic. I have a 1yo retriever mix who killed a chicken when he was brand-new to the household ~6mo ago; since then he hasn't been allowed near them, period. It was the most effective solution I could devise as he's not meant to be a guard dog for the chickens anyway, but is supposed to be a pet/guard for the house. We're on a small as-yet-unfenced urban lot and I just don't let the chickens out to wander when the dogs are out, since they need human supervision anyway.

At the time our retriever-mix killed the chicken he was newly adopted from a family who apparently starved/beat him, and very reactive. Any punishment (from grabbing at collar/scruff to yelling) resulted in a lot of barking, growling and posturing on his part which at one point got my husband actually bitten. I moved to a reinforcement model which includes praise and treats to get the basic commands down and now that he has settled into the household and is less reactive we are moving slowly back into "No" and punishment for misbehavior... but I will never ever trust him around the chickens, since he seems to see small animals as playthings.


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## CAjerseychick (Aug 11, 2013)

linnell said:


> Yeah, I thought of that too. I think I may just try the dangle stick. I've just never used one before.


we used a rubber tire(like off a lawnmower wheel) as a deterrent- its just negative reinforcement like the dead chicken to the collar thing (which I am not in to)- it worked with our giant schnauzer, she caught on pretty quick, although it took her 6 chickens to learn this....the dog needs to link killing chickens with the punishment- and this is punishment, lets be clear about this... we are literally crawling with chickens, and they free range-- so its vital that the dogs get along with them, as the dogs patrol and keep predators out of their territory, so the chickens are pretty safe otherwise (we have 3 Roos also patrolling so there are usu chicks hatching out- last set was in October!)...
PS forgot to say we also did this with our LGD pup as well when he killed a chicken at age 6 months, and this - as well as upping his feed (I had switched dog food brands and didnt realize the new one was so much lower in calories, and think he was hungry).....worked, he doesnt kill birds anymore...


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## linnell (Aug 14, 2014)

He's doing much better. The hub and I have just been spending a lot more time watching and working on the "leave it" command which worked very well with my other GP. I've got him now if I pick up a chicken and put it in his face he will turn his head and walk away. Yesterday I watched him laying in the middle of the barnyard and a pullet was pecking at something stuck in his tail fur, he just looked at it and laid his head back down with a sigh. I swear he rolled his eyes at me. I really think they go through a teenager stage, my other GP bit a goat at this same age.


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## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

linnell said:


> My 9month old Great Pyrenees was found this evening munching on a laying hen. :facepalm: Is it time for a dangle stick? Just in the past 2 weeks he has seemed to be in a different mood. I remember this with my older Pyr, he went though a snotty teenager phase, but that did not include EATING a chicken. Our birds are free range during the day and this cannot be tolerated. We can't watch him 24/7 either. Anyone had good results from a dangle stick? Otherwise, he's been a great LGD so far. He knows leave it,sit,stay,come,and to stay in the fence.


Our GP Annie did that when she was about that age. I picked up the chicken by the feet and spanked her with it while scolding her severly. No more issues after that.


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