Train Your Dog to be Chicken-Friendly

Last Updated on September 9, 2020 by Michelle

Some days homesteading is oh-so-hard. If you’re trying to train a dog to be off leash around free-ranging chicken or ducks, you may feel you’re facing an insurmountable challenge.  I can’t promise success, but I can offer hope. It probably won’t be easy. It probably won’t be quick…

training your dog

But you’re a homesteader. You never expect quick or easy. You know good things require hard work. So read on…

Here’s the low-down of our difficult, time-consuming, but oh-so-worth-it efforts to train our dog to not chase chickens. (Meet Bixby in the video at the end, or just click here.)

It was a colder-than-typical New England April. In fact, I had joked that the best way to hide the Easter eggs would be use store-bought ones and simply lay them on the snow.

 

With pending spring seeming so far away, we longed to pretend it had arrived. It was the perfect time for her third homesteading dream to come to fruition. She had already turned over and cared for an amazing vegetable garden and had planted many fruit trees last spring.

This spring would be a time for livestock. But we would start small. While she was preparing for her BHAG (our family’s code word for that really big dream: a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) of adopting a dairy cow, we adopted rabbits and chicken.

 



If you have a rooster, please read this post so you can avoid the awful mistake that I made.

And read this one if you’d like to meet not only the cow she did soon adopt, but also that cow’s sweet calf.

As for Bix, I wish I could train him to not chase a wild animal. Find out what we did after he chased a skunk here in this post. (You might wanna pin that one right here… you never know when you might be glad you did.)




train a dog to be off leash around chicken and ducks

We named the rooster Mr. Darcy–hoping for the best with his overbearing personality, hoping he was surely a nice rooster who was simply misunderstood. (Mind you, we have had many more learning experiences with roosters since that day we first added poultry to our farm.) Mr. Darcy was definitely a protector to his hens, which was why we put up with him (and the fact that he is a handsome fellow).

train a dog to be off leash and chicken-friendly

While Mr. Darcy would probably have fought off a chicken hawk or given his own life to save his hens from a prowling fox, there was one factor on our homestead that we didn’t have the foresight to see as a nuisance to our chicken. Bixby–our sweet, protective, salt-and-pepper Labradoodle–gave Mr. Darcy and his 3 hens quite a run for their money on their first encounter. While Mr. Darcy did deter our labradoodle from snatching up a hen at first sight, everyone got so frazzled and upset, mainly me, fearful that one of our wonderful egg-providing newest farm members would be lunch for Bixby before she even provided one egg lunch for us.

We suddenly realized we needed to do the impossible: train a dog to not chase chicken.

 



Sign up for my Resource Library for our recipe for our homemade peanut butter dog bones–our dogs’ favorite dog treats ever. Just click below, sign up, and you’ll soon have treats on hand that will make your pup wanna please you and–hopefully–leave your birds alone.

And order your dog’s favorite training treats at my favorite online dog food store and take 15% off your order–every order, anytime–with coupon code RESTED15.

 



♥ DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links. ♥

So we searched the web and asked online homestead support groups for help in training Bixby to love our hens as much as we did. But when we searched topics such as “train a dog to be off leash” we didn’t find any help overcoming a temptation as exciting to a dog as a chicken chase.  So we did our best to create our own training program. I would never say it was easy to train a dog to leave chickens alone. It took us over a month of daily training sessions, and many times we thought we’d never see success. But, with patience, this is the process that worked for us:

1. Show him she’s your friend. 

Stand with the dog on a tight leash, seated on a “stay” command, by your side. (Lupine leashes are hands-down my absolute favorite dog leashes.) Have someone else catch a chicken. (It’s important to do this OUT of the dog’s range of vision. NEVER let him see you chase a hen.) Then have them approach you and your dog, all the while speaking kindly to the hen and petting her. In the beginning, you’ll probably have to keep a tight, constant grip on your dog, making him stay seated as the chicken-holding friend approaches. We spent a good week or two on this step alone, advancing a little closer each day until Bixby would stay seated (without a tight hold on the leash) while both of us talked sweetly to the hen and petted her, in front of Bixby.

train a dog to be off leash around farm animals

train a dog to be off leash around chicken

After he was rather bored with this step, we scooped up hens randomly (still never letting Bixby see us ever chase a hen) and walked with them in our arms inside the house, talking sweetly to them the whole time, while Bixby followed us curiously. Our point was to let Bixby know that the hens were a permanent, valued, new addition to our homestead, not wild birds in his right-to-chase jurisdiction.

2. Show him they’re allowed to roam where they please.

Then we started leashing Bixby and walking him to wherever the chicken were free-ranging. We always kept him on a very tight leash. At this stage, he still would have chased after the chicken in a heart beat, if he had enough leash room to do so.

training a dog to be off leash around free-ranging birds

3. Show him they are rather boring.

When he was ready to do so without us having to continually choke him with the leash, we took him close to the roaming chicken and had him sit outside of their coop as they roamed in and out and close to him. At this point, he was starting to get bored with the whole chicken exercise and we finally knew we were making headway.

train a dog to be off leash around chicken and ducks

4. Show him their house is rather boring. 

He did gain a little interest again when we stepped things up a notch by taking him INSIDE the chicken coop. We were always certain to make him stay seated outside the door of the coop until we gave him the “okay” command to step inside with us. We only had to do this step a few days in a row before he got bored with it too and didn’t even want to go in the coop.

training our dog to be chicken-friendly

5. Give him a little freedom.

After a full month’s worth of almost daily training, we decided Bixby was ready for a test. We called him to accompany us outside, intentionally walking to the area where we knew the chickens were grazing. We kept talking to him soothingly and telling him to stay with us once the hens were in his sight. He started to jog towards them, but with our stern “come” command he returned to us. A few days of working with him and keeping a very close eye on him when he was in the vicinity of the chickens, and the training was complete.

He even stood outside the coop, with chicken walking nearby, and simply watched them go, almost in a guard-dog way.

 

Our dog off leash with free-ranging chicken nearby

 



I have all these training points laid out in an easy-to-read, printable page for you over in my Resource Library. You’re gonna need to refer to them often, so head on over there and print them and keep them in an obvious place in your home. For us, that’s the front of our fridge. (And yeah, I gave up long ago trying to keep the front of the fridge pretty.)

You’ll want to make sure everyone understands the training process so everyone is on the same page, giving your dog the same message.

You do need to subscribe to SoulyRested and then you’ll immediately be assigned a password to access a slew of info in my Resource Library.



Today, he barely even seems to notice that the chicken are around. And we are so glad to once again be able to allow our sweet Labradoodle full-range of the homestead with no worries of any fowl play. 😉



The Night Bixby Met a Skunk

Of course along with Bixby’s ability to roam the homestead as he pleases also comes the possibility of getting SKUNKED. Read about the worst night of my dog-owning life–and the solutions that finally saved us!–right here.

 



I hope these techniques work for you! They do take a lot of perseverance and patience, but it’s so worth it now, to watch our labradoodle actually guard our chickens and just watch them mosey around in front of him. Remember, if you’d like my easy-as-pie dog training treat recipe, just subscribe to my e-newsletter at the end of this page.

So, can you train a dog to be off leash around chicken? Yes, at least in our situation, with our labradoodle, yes. I realize all breeds are different. In fact, all dogs are different. But I hope our successful process works for you too. And remember to follow along below if you’d like my recipe for the best homemade training treats ever. (Oh, and the the resource library also includes a handy printable page of this 5-step training process–How to Break a Dog From Chasing Chickens.)


In all toil there is profit. Proverbs 14:23


Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

Meet Bixby & see him “perform” for his absolute favorite treats–>

 

Bixby’s favorite items that we order at Raw Paws:

These chicken & potato treats are the ones in the video above that I give Bixby every day.

Venison Jerky Bites are awesome. I give him a whole one for an extra special treat or break them into 3 or 4 pieces for training.

Freeze Dried Chicken Necks–Oh my WORD he seriously loves these!

And I sprinkle this organic sea kelp on his breakfast every day. The trace minerals are super good for him and–bonus!–this gives him good breath (it really works!)

Remember to use coupon code RESTED15 and take 15% off your order–every order, anytime.

 

 

And here are more dog products I love:

You’ll love the doggie treats, toys, and training items Bixby and I share on this page.

 

Pin this for later!

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Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

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26 thoughts on “Train Your Dog to be Chicken-Friendly”

  1. Pretty sure I book-marked this post when you wrote it, but I’m glad I read through it again. We’re trying to acquaint the puppy with the chickens, but truthfully, other than letting her see them and telling her “no” and not letting her eat them, I haven’t done much training. At this point, as she teethes, she wants to chew/eat EVERYTHING, so I need to be extra cautious, but I can have the kids and I work together on your technique to get her more comfortable and calm around them once they are both outside for the spring. Thank you so much for writing this!

    1. Oh, you’re so welcome Danielle! I know the whole process was such a blessing for us; I was so downhearted when I thought we’d have to never allow the dog off the leach whenever the chicken were out of their coop (which is from about 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. most days). Please keep me posted how it goes for you!

  2. I had to show my husband these pictures because we have the same exact dog! He asked where Charlie(our Labradoodle) was. Lol. Our boy is around 6.5 years old and half chocolate lab half standard poodle.

    1. Oh my goodness! I’ve met some Irish Wolfhounds, I think they’re called, who look a lot like Bix, but I’ve never seen another labradoodle with his coloring. He was a rescue from a farm where they practiced poor breeding standards, so I never thought I would meet another Bix. You should share a picture of Charlie! (Over on my fb page or in a private email.)

  3. I got a full grown Doberman mix from the pound, Got 18 chicks kept them inside in a little swimming pool. From the first day I got them, I allow her to sniff them, The by the second day, I had to change the litter. ( remember there in my house). She was watching me pick them up and put them in a basket, She thought It was alright for her to pick one up. I slap her on the the mouth and told her No. it was the first time I ever slapped her. But I did it automatically. But she knows, that they are babies and she can’t pick them up. They are now in coop and she goes in and out with ease. But I still tell her no, when they ( chickens) get excited. But I really like the way y’all took the time to train your dog. But I know some dogs Owners are just too busy or the dog has already got the taste of catching and killing a chicken. You can’t get them to stop ( I had a great dog before I got my new one. She would kill anything that enters her eye sight.) I had to use hot wire fence to keep my chicken safe.

  4. Christi Williams

    We had 2 cocker spaniels (bird dogs) when we had chickens in Colorado. We started with day old chicks in the garage and slowly moved them to more and more time outside in a small portable run with chicken wire on all sides and top. The dogs were agitated and excited when the chicks would cheep. We found a couple of dead chicks outside of the run over a few days. We had let the dogs run free around the run. All we could figure is that the chicks had stuck their little heads out through the chicken wire and one of the cockers had grabbed them. We waited until the chickens were larger and began to cluck rather than cheep (about half grown) to introduce them to the dogs. We used leashes and muzzles. One of us held a hen, the other a dog. We let them smell them and gave them a sharp NO! if they lunged at the hen or tried to bite at it. It took about a week of doing this a couple times a day. We held a hen on the ground to keep it quiet and let the dog have some slack on the leash. They tended to paw at the hen (still wearing a muzzle) again, getting a NO! Then we removed the muzzle and let the dogs sniff the chicken’s butts. There were a few nips at tail feathers but that ended after the No! We began taking the dogs into the chicken enclosure on a loose leash and just let them wander around. Then we let them loose. Finally we let the chickens roam in the field with the dogs. Even after a year, the dogs liked to run at the hens and make them scatter and squawk as the dogs went out in the field, but that was the extent of their chasing. Eventually, we trained one to herd the chickens back to the chicken house at night (partially successful). We got new chicks a few times in the years after and found we just had to let the chickens get big enough to not cheep in those enticing chicky voices and just wait until they were a bit bigger before putting them in with the dogs. We did get some Buff Orpingtons who, when threatened just flattened themselves down on the ground and froze. They were no fun for the cockers! The pups wold nip at a tail feather or two and quickly lose interest until they left them completely alone. We now have moved to Hawaii and have 2 new dogs of the “poi dog” type (here it means mutt) of whippet/terrier/lab/pit bull type mix and are introducing our recently acquired year old Welsummer hens to them. They live in a chicken tractor in the field and we make the dogs heel until we get to the chickens and then let them sniff around it. So far so good. We would like to let the chickens run free but we may have a harder time. These dogs are less anxious to please than our cockers were and are just out for a good time if they can pull it off. It can be done, we think but not sure if we could ever leave them unsupervised with loose chickens like we could the cockers. Right now they think the chickens are just mildly interesting except for the smells. Wish us luck!

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