# 5 month old great pyrenees problems with chickens



## minica228

I have a five month old great pyrenees puppy. He seems to do really good with the chickens when I'm around but here lately he has been breaking into the coop at night and picking of the smaller chickens I have tied the body parts that I did find around his neck just wondering any other suggestions that you guys might have.


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## CAjerseychick

minica228 said:


> I have a five month old great pyrenees puppy. He seems to do really good with the chickens when I'm around but here lately he has been breaking into the coop at night and picking of the smaller chickens I have tied the body parts that I did find around his neck just wondering any other suggestions that you guys might have.


You need to catch him in the act and say NO. Not a believer of the dead chicken around the neck theory.

Also our pup only killed when we switched to a cheap dog food and that had waaaay less protein and fat and he was hungry.

Breaking into a coop to eat sounds like a hungry dog.Give him a big raw meaty bone ( the end of a beef femur works great) once a week to chew on... Also are you taking him to puppy class, does he have enough room to play during the day, and keep stimulated?

Dogs are alittle more work than just livestock.....


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## hercsmama

CAjerseychick makes a valid point, it may be his diet is not as complete as it should be..
Also, it sounds like some coop reinforcement may be in order.
With mine, there was no way they could break in the coop, if the puppy can get in, so can any other predator.
Mine have never gone to a puppy class, no need, just lot's and lot's of supervision, secure fencing, and making sure they know who is really in charge around here, (the cat).
I'm also not a proponent of the dead chicken bits thing, heck, I feed raw, my two would just eat the bits from each others necks if I ever tried that! LOL.


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## minica228

He is fed pro plan large breed puppy 3x day and usually has about 1/2 cup left over at night. We have had storms the past few nights so I thought maybe that was the problem. He spooked the chicks and the jumped so maybe it was a game. I am at a loss. The coop is pretty secure. He has broken boards and ripped wire! Maybe I should of gotten a female! He is very stubborn and I have established that I am dominate and he minds me but no one else.


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## CAjerseychick

Hmmm yeah pro plan is alright. Try the raw meaty bone pups love to chew and it will keep that busy mouth occupied... ours isnt dominant so much as well, independent, he gets his mind set on it and it takes alot to deter him. DOesnt like storms though either pups do get really scared its their survival instinct!


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## Cyngbaeld

Rehome him to a pet home or shoot him and get a dog that will not eat your birds.


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## minica228

I'm just making sure I try everything before I home him.


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## hercsmama

The joys of raising a Pyr is they can be stubborn as all heck!
I'd try securing him at night. Do you have a Kennel?
We went ahead and picked up one of those 10x10, chain link dog runs awhile back.
It's great when we need to separate them for any reason. Also works well for my bottle lamb,as a "safe" place for her. 
BTW, it also is excellent for our 2 yo grandson to hang out in! LOL!
He used to play in it all the time when learning what the Hot wire was.
Speaking of, holy moly!
run a hot wire around the outside of the coop!!
A couple jolts off that and that pup won't go near that coop!
Can't believe I didn't say to do that right off. We have hot wire around everything we do not want the dogs near. Our two totally respect any fencing now, won't go within at least a foot or two of it. Doesn't even need a hot wire now, they assume every fence bites like that.:goodjob:


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## JasoninMN

Are you a hundred percent sure its the dog?


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## Cyngbaeld

A LGD should NOT be breaking into a coop or eating the poultry. His instinct should be to guard and protect, not kill and eat. I can safely trust my Pyr to never touch a living bird. If anybody bothers her birds, she will defend them. Training doesn't work too well for a dog who has the instinct to kill.


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## JasoninMN

Cyngbaeld said:


> A LGD should NOT be breaking into a coop or eating the poultry. His instinct should be to guard and protect, not kill and eat. I can safely trust my Pyr to never touch a living bird. If anybody bothers her birds, she will defend them. Training doesn't work too well for a dog who has the instinct to kill.


And you didn't train your pyr at all? Riiiiiight. The dog is still very much a puppy and training can correct this behavior, young animal make mistakes. Its been proven on this board numerous times that they can be trained and can become dependable flock guardians once they MATURE and stop acting like pups. Now would it really make sense to give up on a dog that you probably have a few hundred dollars into already because it killed a couple dollars worth of chicks? Not too bright if you ask me.

Unless the OP caught the dog in the act I am not convinced its the dog. It sounds like the dog has easy access to them during the day. If it ignored them then, I doubt its going to suddenly not be able to control its urges to eat one and rip through a chicken coop to get it. It makes me wonder if she doesn't have rats or some other small predator in the coop eating chicks driving the dog crazy. 



> Training doesn't work too well for a dog who has the instinct to kill.


That's the biggest line of B.S out there. I have had bird dogs that I shoot waterfowl and upland game birds over for years and not ONE has ever killed any of my free ranging birds. In fact they are kenneled next to the chicken coop and the chicks walk in and out of their kennel. The only dog I had kill a chicken was an American bulldog with incredible drive to kill things. She killed one chicken, I scolded her that was the last one. Of course its always easier to take the easiest way out though because people are generally lazy and want instant gratification with the least amount of effort so lets suggest just shooting the dog.


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## CAjerseychick

Our giant schnuazer moved to the country with us when she was 2, had never seen a chicken in her life, and did kill some (mainly chicks) and this year some new ducklings (first ducklings for her) she has to be watched around the new baby birds, she is a Terrier first and foremost, but now our chicken flock is established, the broody mamas raise up their chicks nicely and no problems (hope to have our current ducks do the same, they are 19 weeks old now)...

No predation in going on 3 years now- no *****, no possum issues, no yotes, and certainly not the bear that has been tearing up the neighbors property the past 3 years-- 
(they all got skunked a few nights ago, so they took care of that problem too, though now I got stinky dogs LOL)...

She comes to town with me a couple nights a week, she is our main people guardian, and our other 2 dogs guard the land fulltime.

Pyr pup killed our giant Jersey Rooster over his food bowl (roo had started acting up and chasing our little girl too) but that was his main infraction, but that was 6 months ago, and as I said, no bear problems and to us, that is worth more...

Yes pups do grow out of it, and require supervision and training....

What Jason in MN said....


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## MOgal

Our second male Pyr killed a few chicks when he was a pup. I expressed my disapproval loud and long. That was it. He lived to the ripe old age of 12 and was a solid guard that accepted any visitors we indicated were okay. But when he detected distrust from us, his "act" for the unwanted folks was worthy of an Academy award.

Give him time and instruction. I've heard that you get the pup when he's 2 months old but his brain when he's 2 years old.


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## oldasrocks

I broke our German Shepherd from killing and eating chickens by soaking a dead chicken he killed in hot pepper juice for 2 days and then tied it around his neck. He would still chase them for fun but stop short of catching them.

Before just tying one around his neck was just --lunch to go-- for him.


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## aart

MOgal said:


> ....... I've heard that you get the pup when he's 2 months old but his brain when he's 2 years old.


LOL this just cracked me up....so often true.


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## minica228

Thank you guys for all this wonderful info. He does great when he is out with me in the day. He just ignores the chickens and listens for any disturbances. Come to find out he is very afraid of fireworks :/ string to keep a closer eye on things


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## Maura

ProPlan is not a high grade food and some dogs do poorly on it. I tried it when it first came out about 25 years ago. Not happy at all with it. www.dogfoodanalysis.com Rates dog food. Check it out.


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