Info On Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, & Other Poultry.
Helping the world raise chickens successfully since 1995!

Here's a picture of my dogs with my chicks that are about a month or so old now. (He didn't corner them. The chicks are just snoozing there.) I have raised chickens with five different dogs now, all with great success. With supervision and training, they can live together.


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Here's another picture from a number of years ago. The big dog on the left has since died of old age. Both dogs were fine with our chickens and wouldn't even look at them when the chickens walked by.

I've heard "If a dog tastes blood, you can never train him not to kill chickens." Untrue. The dog on the left was a wolf hybrid that had busted through a weakness in my coop. This was (obviously) before he was totally trained. (Those were our first chickens ever, so we were not trained ourselves as TEACHERS in the dog/chickens ways.) We came home from work to find him with a dead chicken draped in his mouth.

After that he never touched another chicken. He lived peacefully in the same yard with them. And no, our training tactics were not brutal or cruel. They just involved a lot of supervision, praise, and rewards. Our dogs were never hit. I've never understood the mentality of tying a dead chicken to a dog to prevent it from killing again. It makes no sense to me.

I think a lot of it depends on the relationship one has with their dogs as well. If your dogs are constant yard dogs and not a true part of your family, it will be more difficult, in my opinion. If they're a true part of your pack, they'll want to please you.


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Although my German shorthair mix in the top picture is okay with the chicks, I still supervise him. He's completely used to our hens and pays them no mind, but these chicks (only recently old enough to be out of the coop) are a novelty to him. He REALLY wants to play with them, but he is supervised and praised when he minds his manners. He wants to please me, but it will take a few weeks before I would completely trust him alone with the chicks. (Our black Lab mix, the bottom dog in the other picture, has no interest in the chicks.)

We always have our dogs live with the rest of our animals (chooks, ducks, goats, sheeps, pigs, etc.), and they are fed on raw diet. It all depends on your training, time spent, and common sense. They also double as foster parents for any orphan we have around the place.

Andrew, I want to visit you! Your house full of animals seems like so much fun!

My dogs must not trust the hens; each new hatchling is checked out!

I love watching the birds rest on or ride the equine, and they roost on top of pigs that are laying down.

Mine is another place where all the critters roam free within the perimeter fence. No coop, no stalls, no pens. Just loafing sheds (3 sides and a roof).

I sometimes visit other sites and this topic comes up over and over among poultry keepers. A beginner is mortified to come home and find that Fido has bit the heads off most of the chickens. How could this happen, they introduced Fido to the chickens, making happy, cooing, encouraging sounds while Fido sniffed and licked the chickens. Good Fido, nice doggy, see how nice it is to be friends with the chickens?

It is at this point I decide that the poster should own neither dogs nor chickens.

I have seen people coo and coddle a dog who is behaving badly in an attempt to 'calm' the dog. GIVE ME A BREAK! If your dog is behaving badly, the heavy hand of the almight should sweep down unexpectedly and instill some attention and rethinking!

I use positive reinforcement and praise and happy, squeaky communication...right until it comes to the chickens. I have had many SPCA rescue dogs, dogs that came with mental issues, both adults and puppies and NEVER lost a chick or a chicken to a dog. NEVER. Why? Is it because I make all gooey lovey while dog looks over the birds? NO! If the dog so much as looks like he's interested, some massively loud and random event scares the beejeebers out of him so that he gets the idea that sniffing a chicken will unleash the almighty powers of the universe on his head and nobody wants to mess with those powers!

Really, this issue of dogs killing chickens is not about dogs killing chickens, its about people owning dogs and what they do, or don't understand about dog psychology. I know I am going to hear from two camps. Those who believe you can coo and coddle a dog into obedience. I agree. You can. But to get him past natural killer instincts you have to up the ante a bit. Because we all know that chicken killing dogs often face an unhappy fate. I will also hear from people who have tried all methods and still have dogs that kill chickens no matter what has been done. THis is also a true situation, there are those dogs who simply will always be chicken killers. BUt the vast majority of dogs can be reached and trained to avoid chickens....but in my humble opinion, this is not the time for the kid gloves. And at its root, this issue is not about the dogs or chickens, but the owners.

I brought home a 2 month old pup to be my companion. I had just received an order of 2 dozen day-old chicks. They were in my kitchen in a 10 foot x 10 foot area. I took the pup in the area and sat on the floor. The dog sat next to me. As I was petting the pup, I told her that these were my birds and she was not to hurt them.

She got up and went over and sniffed a few of the birds and then returned to sit with me. I told her a couple of times what I said above.

I then took the pup outside where the adult birds roam free. I told her that these were also my birds and she's not to hurt them. The pup never offered to chase them.

What I've told you is the extent of any 'training' with the pup. She's been on the job for 8 years and NOTHING better try to get ANY of my livestock!

I can understand her barking away the hawks, but the airplanes that are 30,000 feet up there??

My dog's not on the list of livestock guardians, but she chose the job. She's an American Pit Bull Terrier, the only breed I keep.

I agree with Uno above about being super firm and not being all sweet-talky when teaching dogs to be around chickens.
My friend visited me with her dog, who had never been around chickens. Predictably, the dog tried to chase the chickens (leashed). My friend would tell her dog not to chase, in a sweet, sing-songy voice. Of course the dog didn't listen, and didn't learn the entire weekend. And I didn't feel it was my place to teach my friend how to train her dog.