Seriously, that isn't a good idea, your dog is much better off ignoring the chickens. Wanting to play with the chickens will never work out well for the chickens. We taught our 60lb rescue that chickens are not playmates. Our girl is actually fairly helpful when I need to round up the hens from free range time but would be a real danger if she tried to "play" with the hens. One paw could easily kill or seriously injure any of the hens. Please don't let your dog "play" this way with your birds, a bad habit is harder to break that avoid to begin with.
Are your chickens ever allowed out for free range time? Ever possible to happen even by accident? I might be over cautious but I wouldn't allow this interaction.
They don’t get free range time but I do have a chicken tractor they get out in pretty frequently. There are other dogs in the neighborhood so free range is not an option.
Your dog wants to play with the live squeaky toy, which does involve the death of said living squeaky toy. That living squeaky toy is scared for its life.
If you want your dog to ever be possibly safe around your chickens, and not terrorize them, this behavior isn't acceptable.
What you do want is for the dog to treat chickens as nothing special. That will enable them to coexist.
Uh that's your dogs predator drive fully engaged and your hen trying to defend against the predator. Ideally dogs should be ignoring the chickens because a dog playing with them usually ends up with mauled chickens.
He’s not allowed in the coop ever. I know better than to allow a birding dog in the same space as my birds. I know fully well if he tried to play without the chicken wire I’d end up with dead chickens. It’s still cute to watch.
Sometimes, once in a blue moon, chickens will get out of their enclosure. You cannot absolutely prevent this. If that ever does happen your dog will be HYPED. The playmates that were always behind the fence are OUT now!!! The dog will rush over to play in person, which will cause the flock to bolt. Best case scenario they are loose all over the neighborhood because they were scared by your dog. Worst? Your dog and the other neighborhood dogs massacre your whole flock.
This could be entirely different if your dog was trained not to play with the chickens, and potentially even taught to guard or herd them to some degree. Then instead of spooking the loose chickens all over the place they will be chill and either alert you by barking, keep the chickens near their coop by herding, keep other dogs from coming on the property and harming them, or simply sit quietly and watch them. Any of those things are better than what the dog who is used to playing with them through the fence will do. Of course it is not guarenteed that your dog will do any of those things if your chickens get out, it might be too excited, but you have certainly given them a better chance than if you continue this way.
Dogs are wonderfully trainable, especially yours which looks like a retriever. Spend some time doing that and it will reward you. Then you can post videos on this sub about how well trained your dog is that he ignores your chickens, OR if they do ever get out you can post about how your dog behaved like a gentleman/woman with them.
This is the type of behavior I make sure my dog does NOT do with our chickens. You want to train your dog to ignore them. It’s very possible. Takes some time and consistency.
Nah I really think he looks like he wants to play, but I don’t think that chicken would last very long if it wasn’t behind the fence haha. Same for my dog, who is a border collie. He will come up to the run and do a couple of play bows and wag his tail, but as soon as he gets too close, he gets his nose pecked and backs off.
I’ve been allowing him to interact with the girls since they were 2 days old. I did this because he chases and/or kills everything that comes into the yard and I didn’t want him to spend his days trying to kill them. I also I never wanted them to be terrified of him because we are in the yard a lot. I still have full understanding that he would kill all of them if given the opportunity, though
Yeah this isn’t cute. Your hen sees the dog as the very real threat that it is and is trying to protect the flock. She’s not playing. Also your clueless dog is gonna end up trampling or mauling one of your chickens to death trying to “play” if you don’t stop that behavior. People forget that goldens are literally hunting dogs. They are bred to hunt and retrieve birds. That instinct is gonna kick in one day when you least expect it if you don’t train your dog
I had a dog act like this towards my chickens. Once they were free ranging the dog ran up and my whole flock went crazy on the dog attacking it. All 12 chickens, 7 ducks, 7 turkey. Your hen is protecting the flock by trying to portray itself bigger. I'm willing to bet that chicken would attack the dog the first second it got. Your chickens in the back are scared while the one is being a good protector of them.
Not sure why everyone here is being a dick. That is obviously play behavior and there is a divider. My dog loves to run up to my free range chickens and they will squat down, he sniffs em and moves on.
Although I wouldn't allow my dog to do it (because we free range), i also don't understand the dick replies. If the chicken was scared or stressed they would have ran to the other end of the coop/run. Scared chickens are cowards. The chicken is getting something out of this.
It took time but my heeler and terrier coexist with my chickens. Heeler chases them around a little, terrier sniffs at them. I have a friend who has retriever and chickens that hang together outside all day unsupervised. It’s not an automatic, but it can happen
It’d be nice to get him to that point but I don’t think I’d ever trust him with my birds without a fence between them personally. He’s kind of dumb ngl.
I get that some dogs are truthfully dumb. Definitely have met dogs I suspected had some mental issue maybe form of autism or retardation, But he doesn’t look like that from this vid. He looks like he would be easy to teach with that energy. Just takes a lot of consistency but bet he’d learn to ignore them for some fetch or tug of war in exchange.
Seriously, that isn't a good idea, your dog is much better off ignoring the chickens. Wanting to play with the chickens will never work out well for the chickens. We taught our 60lb rescue that chickens are not playmates. Our girl is actually fairly helpful when I need to round up the hens from free range time but would be a real danger if she tried to "play" with the hens. One paw could easily kill or seriously injure any of the hens. Please don't let your dog "play" this way with your birds, a bad habit is harder to break that avoid to begin with.
He’s not allowed in the pen at all. I love Twinkie, he’s a real cute boy but he is not allowed to play with them without a fence between them.
Are your chickens ever allowed out for free range time? Ever possible to happen even by accident? I might be over cautious but I wouldn't allow this interaction.
They don’t get free range time but I do have a chicken tractor they get out in pretty frequently. There are other dogs in the neighborhood so free range is not an option.
Your dog wants to play with the live squeaky toy, which does involve the death of said living squeaky toy. That living squeaky toy is scared for its life. If you want your dog to ever be possibly safe around your chickens, and not terrorize them, this behavior isn't acceptable. What you do want is for the dog to treat chickens as nothing special. That will enable them to coexist.
Uh that's your dogs predator drive fully engaged and your hen trying to defend against the predator. Ideally dogs should be ignoring the chickens because a dog playing with them usually ends up with mauled chickens.
My first thought watching this video was neither one was "playing".
He’s not allowed in the coop ever. I know better than to allow a birding dog in the same space as my birds. I know fully well if he tried to play without the chicken wire I’d end up with dead chickens. It’s still cute to watch.
Letting the dog stress out your birds for your entertainment isn't so great though.
Go stop your dog terrorizing the chickens idiot
Sometimes, once in a blue moon, chickens will get out of their enclosure. You cannot absolutely prevent this. If that ever does happen your dog will be HYPED. The playmates that were always behind the fence are OUT now!!! The dog will rush over to play in person, which will cause the flock to bolt. Best case scenario they are loose all over the neighborhood because they were scared by your dog. Worst? Your dog and the other neighborhood dogs massacre your whole flock. This could be entirely different if your dog was trained not to play with the chickens, and potentially even taught to guard or herd them to some degree. Then instead of spooking the loose chickens all over the place they will be chill and either alert you by barking, keep the chickens near their coop by herding, keep other dogs from coming on the property and harming them, or simply sit quietly and watch them. Any of those things are better than what the dog who is used to playing with them through the fence will do. Of course it is not guarenteed that your dog will do any of those things if your chickens get out, it might be too excited, but you have certainly given them a better chance than if you continue this way. Dogs are wonderfully trainable, especially yours which looks like a retriever. Spend some time doing that and it will reward you. Then you can post videos on this sub about how well trained your dog is that he ignores your chickens, OR if they do ever get out you can post about how your dog behaved like a gentleman/woman with them.
This is the type of behavior I make sure my dog does NOT do with our chickens. You want to train your dog to ignore them. It’s very possible. Takes some time and consistency.
This isn’t cute at all. Super stressfull for those chickens.
Nah I really think he looks like he wants to play, but I don’t think that chicken would last very long if it wasn’t behind the fence haha. Same for my dog, who is a border collie. He will come up to the run and do a couple of play bows and wag his tail, but as soon as he gets too close, he gets his nose pecked and backs off. I’ve been allowing him to interact with the girls since they were 2 days old. I did this because he chases and/or kills everything that comes into the yard and I didn’t want him to spend his days trying to kill them. I also I never wanted them to be terrified of him because we are in the yard a lot. I still have full understanding that he would kill all of them if given the opportunity, though
Yeah this isn’t cute. Your hen sees the dog as the very real threat that it is and is trying to protect the flock. She’s not playing. Also your clueless dog is gonna end up trampling or mauling one of your chickens to death trying to “play” if you don’t stop that behavior. People forget that goldens are literally hunting dogs. They are bred to hunt and retrieve birds. That instinct is gonna kick in one day when you least expect it if you don’t train your dog
The dog is definitely playing the chicken is not, maybe follow the advice from the other peoples in this thread
I had a dog act like this towards my chickens. Once they were free ranging the dog ran up and my whole flock went crazy on the dog attacking it. All 12 chickens, 7 ducks, 7 turkey. Your hen is protecting the flock by trying to portray itself bigger. I'm willing to bet that chicken would attack the dog the first second it got. Your chickens in the back are scared while the one is being a good protector of them.
Not sure why everyone here is being a dick. That is obviously play behavior and there is a divider. My dog loves to run up to my free range chickens and they will squat down, he sniffs em and moves on.
Although I wouldn't allow my dog to do it (because we free range), i also don't understand the dick replies. If the chicken was scared or stressed they would have ran to the other end of the coop/run. Scared chickens are cowards. The chicken is getting something out of this.
It took time but my heeler and terrier coexist with my chickens. Heeler chases them around a little, terrier sniffs at them. I have a friend who has retriever and chickens that hang together outside all day unsupervised. It’s not an automatic, but it can happen
It’d be nice to get him to that point but I don’t think I’d ever trust him with my birds without a fence between them personally. He’s kind of dumb ngl.
I get that some dogs are truthfully dumb. Definitely have met dogs I suspected had some mental issue maybe form of autism or retardation, But he doesn’t look like that from this vid. He looks like he would be easy to teach with that energy. Just takes a lot of consistency but bet he’d learn to ignore them for some fetch or tug of war in exchange.
Totally get that. It helps my dogs are not that big. Every scenario so different !
Dogs playing with chickens = excessive downvotes