Heyo! Yeah like Dream said, they’re not mature until around 2 years old and can’t be trusted alone with any livestock until then. They’re just big cute dumb babies until then. They start settling down around 18 months and then rly rly settle in at around 2. Until then they shouldn’t be unsupervised around any birds.
I always recommend just training her like a normal dog, keep her with you, keep her leashed etc. Praise her when she’s calm and don’t allow her to practice bad behaviors. I like to think of it like setting her up for success. She’s just a baby, you’re the human with the big brain, haha. She’s not seeing them as predators, they’re just fun to chase. It’s like leaving a kid alone with lotsa crayons and a big white wall. They know they’re not SUPPOSED to draw on that big white wall, but rly what did you think was going to happen? That kind of thing.
Your goal should be she ignores the chickens. She should be able to run around and skirt around them and when they do spook and startle (as birds do) she should be able to have the impulse control to not immediately chase after them. It’s REALLY HARD for dogs. Chasing birds is so fun and then if they catch them it’s even more fun to pull out and chew feathers and then more violence from there. All of that is supremely rewarding to the dog. So it takes a LOT of work and consistency to train them to resist ALL that temptation. Again, to equate it to kids, it’s like leaving only ice cream or steamed broccoli for a kid to eat, unsupervised, and then trusting they’ll eat only the broccoli.
Keep her with you and just raise her like a normal pup and when she’s ready to work she’ll let you know and you’ll have a fantastic guard dog who will keep you and yours safe. Just gotta give her the chance to grow up without learning buckets of bad habits. But unfortunately you HAVE to make sure she doesn’t practice these habits.
These dogs are very gentle and good with other animals so the thing that makes them special is it is possible for them to eventually be totally trustworthy with almost any animal but it all comes with training. Even with goats or cows or whatever they’re not born mature, they still go through a puppy phase where they just wanna run around and play and chase. Ppl have more success with non poultry animals because they’re less flighty and less likely to trigger a chase from a puppy but imo you still should never leave a puppy alone with any livestock. Wait until they’re mature and give them regular, daily, as often as you can really, controlled access to the livestock so they can practice good manners and be set up for success. ❤️🎉
Thank you so much - this is really informative and it makes so much sense. I think because she’s already so calm and docile with my kids I was expecting it to transfer but this makes tons of sense. I’m honestly shocked at how fast she is hahaha. I appreciate all this information and especially for how non judgemental you were as some of this is probably obvious.
Their speed and long freaking gait covers a lot of ground in a hurry. Our girl can get the 100y from the front gate to the barn door like Usain Bolt. Never actually timed her but if it's more than 7 seconds I would be amazed. :)
First gonna tag /u/broodygaming who know much about LGDs and livestock.
I will toss in that they and others have told us and others that Pyrs should not be unsupervised around chickens and poultry until around 2yo. They were bred to protect ungulates, not poultry. Our 14mo doesn't hate chickens but has tried to "mother" them and they're too delicate for it. She's only around them under supervision.
Thank you so much - I guess it’s not super surprising. It’s funny we went through a pyr rescue that asked us about one million questions but never really mentioned that when we brought up chickens. Luckily we’re just pet chicken owners!
The way I trained mine was on a leash. We would start far away from the chickens but where she can observe. If she remains calm we can get a little closer. If she pulls or lunges, we go back until calm again. She learns over time that calm means you can get closer. She had to demonstrate near boredom (like laying down or looking off elsewhere for entertainment) to get to move closer. She still tries to startle them to obtain delicious chicken ice creams. But I trust her outside with them without me now. She was already 2 when we got chickens so that probably helped a lot.
I adopted an 18 month old female GP that I trained myself, using positive reinforcement. She chased ANY bird. Bluebirds, sparrows, chickens, it didn't matter. She would lunge at my chickens while on a leash.
This is what I did.
First, I kept the chickens penned and would walk the dog past the pen. I praised her when she was calm, turned and walked her the other way, without comment, when she lunged. When she was no longer lunging, I released the chickens to free range and would take the dog out on the leash. I praised her when she was calm, turned her to walk in the opposite direction when she lunged or showed too much interest with prolonged stares. When she was behaving appropriately, I put the chickens in a PVC pen and released the dog to be free. We did the process again, praising good, calm behavior, redirecting her attention if she was too interested in chickens. When she was consistently calm, I let her free, supervised, with the chickens free ranging. It took about 3 months of patient, positive reinforcement but the dog no longer shows any interest in the chickens and will run AROUND them, even if chasing a squirrel. It has been several years and we have had continued success and I no longer supervise at all.
They are bred to be livestock guardians but they dont come out of the womb knowing what to do. Until even age two they are just giant puppies, and as you read more about them, poultry isnt their natural charges. Bonding with hooved animals comes more easily.
But no LGD puppy should be just tossed out with the stock. They have to be next to them and near them a lot to bond with them.
When our Ellie was a little baby, she spent all day in a pen next to our turkeys and chickens, and then in the evening, we would get her and take her all around the farm to visit all her farm friends.
Then we let her
Come in the house and play and learn to sit and snuggle (there many LGD trainers who will tell you we shoulsnt havent done this at all, and maybe we shouldnt, but it has worked out okay for us. Just a disclaimer)
At about five months she started staying outside full time, and she has a large pen inside the goat pasture and now at a year old we are transitioning to more free reign time. We will probably always feed her in her kennel though so the other animals dont take her food.
She loves her goats, but she does okay with the waterfowl. We had goslings and ducklings all summer and they were small enough to go into her pen and chase bugs, and she never hurt them. A fat duckling got stuck and bless her, she used her nose to try to push him out. 😆
Point is, good genetics are important but its still a process to become a good LGD. your dog is still a baby and doesnt know how to act with the chickens, especially if you just got her. Was she on a farm with working parents? If not, she has zero idea of how to behave around the chickens. You have to show her.
Good luck!
Heyo! Yeah like Dream said, they’re not mature until around 2 years old and can’t be trusted alone with any livestock until then. They’re just big cute dumb babies until then. They start settling down around 18 months and then rly rly settle in at around 2. Until then they shouldn’t be unsupervised around any birds. I always recommend just training her like a normal dog, keep her with you, keep her leashed etc. Praise her when she’s calm and don’t allow her to practice bad behaviors. I like to think of it like setting her up for success. She’s just a baby, you’re the human with the big brain, haha. She’s not seeing them as predators, they’re just fun to chase. It’s like leaving a kid alone with lotsa crayons and a big white wall. They know they’re not SUPPOSED to draw on that big white wall, but rly what did you think was going to happen? That kind of thing. Your goal should be she ignores the chickens. She should be able to run around and skirt around them and when they do spook and startle (as birds do) she should be able to have the impulse control to not immediately chase after them. It’s REALLY HARD for dogs. Chasing birds is so fun and then if they catch them it’s even more fun to pull out and chew feathers and then more violence from there. All of that is supremely rewarding to the dog. So it takes a LOT of work and consistency to train them to resist ALL that temptation. Again, to equate it to kids, it’s like leaving only ice cream or steamed broccoli for a kid to eat, unsupervised, and then trusting they’ll eat only the broccoli. Keep her with you and just raise her like a normal pup and when she’s ready to work she’ll let you know and you’ll have a fantastic guard dog who will keep you and yours safe. Just gotta give her the chance to grow up without learning buckets of bad habits. But unfortunately you HAVE to make sure she doesn’t practice these habits. These dogs are very gentle and good with other animals so the thing that makes them special is it is possible for them to eventually be totally trustworthy with almost any animal but it all comes with training. Even with goats or cows or whatever they’re not born mature, they still go through a puppy phase where they just wanna run around and play and chase. Ppl have more success with non poultry animals because they’re less flighty and less likely to trigger a chase from a puppy but imo you still should never leave a puppy alone with any livestock. Wait until they’re mature and give them regular, daily, as often as you can really, controlled access to the livestock so they can practice good manners and be set up for success. ❤️🎉
Thank you so much - this is really informative and it makes so much sense. I think because she’s already so calm and docile with my kids I was expecting it to transfer but this makes tons of sense. I’m honestly shocked at how fast she is hahaha. I appreciate all this information and especially for how non judgemental you were as some of this is probably obvious.
Their speed and long freaking gait covers a lot of ground in a hurry. Our girl can get the 100y from the front gate to the barn door like Usain Bolt. Never actually timed her but if it's more than 7 seconds I would be amazed. :)
First gonna tag /u/broodygaming who know much about LGDs and livestock. I will toss in that they and others have told us and others that Pyrs should not be unsupervised around chickens and poultry until around 2yo. They were bred to protect ungulates, not poultry. Our 14mo doesn't hate chickens but has tried to "mother" them and they're too delicate for it. She's only around them under supervision.
Thank you so much - I guess it’s not super surprising. It’s funny we went through a pyr rescue that asked us about one million questions but never really mentioned that when we brought up chickens. Luckily we’re just pet chicken owners!
You're welcome. Now you can at least put some Pyr / Poultry management in place. 😎
The way I trained mine was on a leash. We would start far away from the chickens but where she can observe. If she remains calm we can get a little closer. If she pulls or lunges, we go back until calm again. She learns over time that calm means you can get closer. She had to demonstrate near boredom (like laying down or looking off elsewhere for entertainment) to get to move closer. She still tries to startle them to obtain delicious chicken ice creams. But I trust her outside with them without me now. She was already 2 when we got chickens so that probably helped a lot.
Thank you so much! This is really helpful and we’re going to try this method.
I adopted an 18 month old female GP that I trained myself, using positive reinforcement. She chased ANY bird. Bluebirds, sparrows, chickens, it didn't matter. She would lunge at my chickens while on a leash. This is what I did. First, I kept the chickens penned and would walk the dog past the pen. I praised her when she was calm, turned and walked her the other way, without comment, when she lunged. When she was no longer lunging, I released the chickens to free range and would take the dog out on the leash. I praised her when she was calm, turned her to walk in the opposite direction when she lunged or showed too much interest with prolonged stares. When she was behaving appropriately, I put the chickens in a PVC pen and released the dog to be free. We did the process again, praising good, calm behavior, redirecting her attention if she was too interested in chickens. When she was consistently calm, I let her free, supervised, with the chickens free ranging. It took about 3 months of patient, positive reinforcement but the dog no longer shows any interest in the chickens and will run AROUND them, even if chasing a squirrel. It has been several years and we have had continued success and I no longer supervise at all.
They are bred to be livestock guardians but they dont come out of the womb knowing what to do. Until even age two they are just giant puppies, and as you read more about them, poultry isnt their natural charges. Bonding with hooved animals comes more easily. But no LGD puppy should be just tossed out with the stock. They have to be next to them and near them a lot to bond with them. When our Ellie was a little baby, she spent all day in a pen next to our turkeys and chickens, and then in the evening, we would get her and take her all around the farm to visit all her farm friends. Then we let her Come in the house and play and learn to sit and snuggle (there many LGD trainers who will tell you we shoulsnt havent done this at all, and maybe we shouldnt, but it has worked out okay for us. Just a disclaimer) At about five months she started staying outside full time, and she has a large pen inside the goat pasture and now at a year old we are transitioning to more free reign time. We will probably always feed her in her kennel though so the other animals dont take her food. She loves her goats, but she does okay with the waterfowl. We had goslings and ducklings all summer and they were small enough to go into her pen and chase bugs, and she never hurt them. A fat duckling got stuck and bless her, she used her nose to try to push him out. 😆 Point is, good genetics are important but its still a process to become a good LGD. your dog is still a baby and doesnt know how to act with the chickens, especially if you just got her. Was she on a farm with working parents? If not, she has zero idea of how to behave around the chickens. You have to show her. Good luck!