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alliet
Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 18
Location: Brighton
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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 1:31 am Post subject: That darn dog! |
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| My dog is a little spaniel who loves chasing birds so I didn't expect the beginning of a wonderful friendship when I got my chickens on the 22nd of june. However she really wants to play. She wouldn't hurt them but she just wants to chase them and so she was getting really good walking past them on the lead and then the other day I put the lead down and walked away telling her to stay there and she just watched them walk along and didnt move. It was like after a while she had lost interest so we decided to take the lead off and she went straight after them (think we may need a little longer) anyway she just cries at them and in the morning I find her sitting outside the run watching them and making whimpering crying sounds. Think she is jealous, she was here first? What can I do to make her leave them alone it is getting very annoying having to shut the utility door when they are out (she has a dog flap) and they cant be out for long because she has to go do her business and its just annoying taking her out on the lead. |
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Elly
Joined: 18 Apr 2008
Posts: 332
Location: Norfolk
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:15 am Post subject: |
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Your poor dog must be feeling a bit pushed out. New birds and not being free to go in and out as she did before 
Our dog has her own part of our garden and the chickens have theirs. That way we do not have to worry about 'accidents'. Could you not build your chickens a large run? Ours have a 30ft x 15 ft corner for general use and get to free range some days to.
Remember though, none of this is your dogs fault and she is probably feeling a bit confused by the new comers 
Keep smilin
Elly |
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alliet
Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 18
Location: Brighton
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes they have a run but we would really like them to be ranging across the garden, they seem to be waiting by the door now, there are a lot of things they get for nutrients that they cant have in the run, like fresh grass and slugs. |
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Elly
Joined: 18 Apr 2008
Posts: 332
Location: Norfolk
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| Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:08 am Post subject: |
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Our run is a mass of trees, bushes etc and is full of lovely juicy bugs. If you have a large area (ours is 45sq ft), that is not just grass, then they wont miss out 
Its going to be a case of balancing your chickens needs and your dogs needs. Your dog has had these newbies thrust upon her and is expected to bow down a bit. She probably thinks they are playmates and cant understand why she has to stay away from them  It wont help if she has been allowed to chase birds up until now and is suddenly being stopped from doing so 
Keep smilin
Elly |
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milkmaid
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 7364
Location: isle of lewis
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| Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:10 am Post subject: |
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what you are talking about is a hunt instinct ,she's just stopping short of a kill ,
we see this with sheep worriers all the time and owners often say they are just playing they would never hurt them ,the chickens unfortunately don't know that she's playing and to them she is a predator ,it's very stressful for the chickens
what we do is a stern no as they show an interest ,we have working dogs sheep dogs ,one of them is not and she really ignores them ,as everytime she moves towards them she is told to leave and then rewarded for doing so .cheese or liver cake works with mine ,the other dogs round up sheep /cows which is a modified hunt instinct .but they leave birds alone as we have taken the same approach with them
we start with a lead and then go onto a long line
sorry if it's a bit blunt  |
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