Boxer attacking chickens

[skeeter]

My 13 month old boxer has started attacking my chickens. She is fine with the horses, other dogs and cats.........but is going hysterical over my chickens. I let the hens out of their lot to free range in the late evenings. She has watched them couriously, but never attacked them until last week. She pulled the tail feathers out of the hen, chased it into the lot and had it cornered when I caught her and pulled her off and crated her.

I tried to hold a hen near her to let her sniff it and get acclimated to it as I petted the hen to let her know it was safe, but she kept lunging at its head and I would keep scolding her. She was trying to grab its head........scared me and the chicken......she has not been this intent on hurting something before. Is this a trait of the breed?

Any advice on how to get her to stop..........the words "leave it" did not phase her this time. Nor did "no" and "stop". I could tell by her expression she knew she was doing something wrong, but she kept doing it. I'm bewildered.

Thanks

 

[Darien'sDad]

Predator/Prey drive?

This may be an instance of food chain and instinct over training. She just may see them as food.

 

[sandy's mom]

Both of mine chase squirls like that. Barking, growling, etc.
Sandy caught a baby squirl one time and didn't know what to do with it so she brought it to me. Of course, we let it go. She still chases and barks very hateful but see is just playing. Maybe your baby is playing with the chicken and apparently a little too rough. Can you cage your chickens and let your baby be close to them on her own terms? This way she will get accustomed to them with no threat.

It is a game with them. Just like everything else.

 

[gmacleod]

Well, what I think you need to do immediately is to restrain your dog whenever you let the chickens loose. The more she is able to chase them, the more she will wish to do so. Yes, it probably is prey drive (well, certainly) but you don't want that to develop any further. The next step could be killing them and/or starting to chase the cats. So keep her restrained around the chickens (leashed, or else inside) so that you can start to work on modifying her behaviour without giving her any opportunity to get worse in the meantime.

Now, she is just an adolescent and the sort of behaviour where she tests her boundaries isn't unusual. LOL - what is unusual I guess is having chickens to chase...

Well, I would approach it in much the same way as you would any other behaviour modification. Keep her leashed around the chickens so that you ca control her behaviour. Any time she shows any interest in them at all, redirect her attention to something else. A short training session is ideal. Any time she lunges at the chickens, then take your own reaction a little further and tell her 'no' firmly, followed immediately by either putting her inside (so the consequence for her is losing her outdoor priviledges) or if you prefer, redirect her attention by engaging her in some training/commands. You have to use your judgement as to which response is better at the time.

Anyway, what you're aiming to teach her here is that (1) chasing the chickens is not appropriate; (2) that there are consequences for that sort of behaviour (being put inside on her own) and (3) what is more appropriate behaviour instead.

Given that she is an adolescent and that she's had the fun of chasing them at least once, I would not anticipate instant results, nor would I trust her unsupervised around the chickens for quite some time after she stops showing much interest in them. However, I do believe that her behaviour can be modified - but it will take a bit of persistance on your part. Good luck

 

[Cody-mon]

A big reason that she is not listening to your verbal commands is that she does not see you as the TOTAL dominant figure in the relationship. The best way to start correcting this chicken chasing is to first take her on a long walk (45 min or so). This will tire her out and make her more prone to obay. On your walks it is VERY important that she not lead you. You are the pack leader and she should never walk infront of you, enter a door way before you, etc. Walk her with some variaton of a choke lead high on the neck like at a dog show holding the leash short. Walk calmly and loosely not looking down at her. If she starts to lead you, divert away from you, or pull away give a quick upward pull toward you and then release while at the same time making a corrective noise (normal volume "chhh" sound is good, just be consistant) . If she is walking at your side and looking straight ahead there should be no tention on the leash.

After this walk, keep her leashed the same way and present a chicken, either restrained by a cage or held by someone, the chicken doesnt need to be still or calm, it just needs to remain near her. Have her sitting at your side while standing upright beside her. Bring the chicken close. If she lunges at the chicken do the same correction you gave on the walk when she pulled away. You should always remain relaxed and speak calmly. The point is to make her be relaxed around the chicken. By the end of the encounter she should be sitting near the chicken paying it no attention. YES, it is possible. When she is being completly submissive and calm, then praise and love on her for the behavior.

I know this is a long approach to correcting this but this is a very effective way to make many behavioral issues alot easier to correct. The strategy is exercise, discipline, THEN affection.

 

[gmacleod]

Codymon: before you post on a website, it pays to check the rules. You should review them now, especially this part:

Topics inappropriate for discussion on this site include:
-discussion of deliberate use of devices or practices that cause or have the potential to cause physical trauma to a dog. Boxerworld does recognise that people do have genuine questions regarding training tools (prong collars, mousetraps etc) and methods, but we support and promote wholeheartedly positive training and behavior management, that is, teaching the dog what to do by using positive methods, not teaching a dog what not to do by causing it discomfort and pain. Any threads which appear to promote "negative" training and methods will be closed.

Do not post again on this site promoting coercive training methods or the use of choke chains.

 

[Cody-mon]

Ok, Ok, sorry, no need to be rude, just trying to help. Wont happen again....
forget the collar part

 

[Boxerworld]

Ok, Ok, sorry, no need to be rude

Since when reminding the rules is considered as rude? Ignoring the rules is rude as you accepted to respect them when you registered here.