LGD Killing Chickens--HELP!

[TexasJacobs]

Hi everyone!
I desperately need advice about our Anatolians and chickens!
We have two 7 month old Anatolian shepherd puppies and are training them to guard our livestock and chickens. Their names are Joshua and Caleb and they are both unneutered. However, we are having problems with Joshua and the chickens--he wont stop killing them. The first time he killed a hen was at 3 months old and I think it was an accident, but since that time he has continued to kill chickens any time he has a chance.
I have read a ton about training LGDs (lots from BYH!) and have used several training techniques like:
taking him in the coop when I feed the hens and, if he attempts to chase a chicken, rolling him on his back and telling him "NO...leave it!"
I also have held our hens in front of him and (if he acts too interested) telling him "My bird...leave it!".
The pups are never allowed to roam unsupervised with the chickens except today one of our bantam hens escaped from the run and we later found Joshua over her body.
So my questions are: Since he is only 7 months old will he outgrow this behavior? And would neutering him help?
Thanks for any advice or info ya'll have!
Besides the chicken killing the pups are AWESOME dogs and we would really like to work them through this issue.

 

[Southern by choice]

7-9 months is the prime age for killing poultry. Sometimes the behavior starts earlier, around 5 months.

The success really depends on how much time you spend with the dog. If you are only able to work with him on the weekends or evenings after work and weekends the odds are you have only a 50/50 chance. Often as these dogs are growing up and learning their job as well as mature dogs, when you have the birds and the dogs seperated and a bird flies/walks into the LGD's territory they will go after it. When raised full time and trained with poultry the success is higher than 50/50. There again supervision is key.

Dogs in general do not outgrow it, they are trained to it.
IMO Anatolians are a little more difficult in the poultry training.
They are livestock guardians, not poultry guardians so poultry is rarely a priority to the dog, more of a by product of guarding the livestock. This age is toughest.

Neutering will have no affect with the poultry issues.

Lead working him is good. I do not agree taking him through the poultry house is a good idea.

A little off the subject but it is an unspoken rule that we get pics of all posters LGD's. You see... we live for that.
We get our "fix" that way... we get to ooh and ahhh and drool and get all happy.

 

[TexasJacobs]

Okay I'm glad to hear its not uncommon for them to kill poultry even at 7 months. I was afraid that once they tasted meat it was almost impossible to stop them from killing again. I'm able to work with them every day but probably haven't done enough with them and the chickens.
The pups do great (even at this age) when it comes to guarding the property and sheep--its just the birds they have problems with. I'm going to keep working with them and hopefully they will learn that "mommy's birds" are off limits! They are super smart. I'm amazed by their intelligence!
And I think I will stop taking them into the coop. I had read on some Anatolian site that that's how you train them to guard poultry, but honestly going inside seems to bother the pups more than teach them to like the chickens and I don't want to do that.
Thanks for your help!

And here is their pic...Caleb is the one in the foreground and Joshua is further back. What do you think?

 

[Southern by choice]

Awwwwwwwwwww! Love them!
Caleb looks a lot like our Callie. She has that same funny way of sitting in all these peculiar ways. We call her the "slinky" dog. She can put her body into the strangest positions.

The boys are quite handsome! Always happy to see LGD's doing their thing!

 

[Baymule]

Beautiful dogs! I was given a Great Pyrenees at 10 months because she killed chickens. They punished her terribly for it, when I got her she hated the chickens and would charge the coop, snarling. It took me 2 years to undo the damage, but she became a chicken champion LGD! We live in town with a small backyard, not the best place for a GP, but she has a better home than she did have.
There is hope, you will have to work him through this. From my limited experience, LGD's are very smart. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is training who! I think what finally tipped the scales with Paris, was chicks. I let her go in the chicks run to eat their feed, while I watched. She would come to me for hugs, then go eat more feed. The chicks were unafraid of her and scrambled all around her. She behaved herself, if only to get the starter crumbles. If that was what it took to get her in the run, ignoring the chicks, she could've eaten it all! I let her in the run almost daily to eat the feed and slowly, as the chicks grew, she accepted them. I have pictures of them following her around the yard, so cute.

This is my posts about Paris, our GP.
http://www.backyardherds.com/thread...heep-goats-or-chase-bears-hawk-post-26.23771/

Paris and her pullet admirers.

 

[Southern by choice]

@TexasJacobs just so ya know... recently (a few weeks ago) we moved 25 production hens to a new field. It also has many roosters in their new field. The hens do not like he roosters and have decided to leave that field... unfortunately some have chosen to go through the woods into Callie and "D"s field. Callie (anatolian) does not recognize these birds- they are not hers they do not belong in her field- according to Callie. Today we found a hen in shock, Cal had definitely gotten a hold of her. Surprisingly she did not kill it but the hen was clearly traumatized. That is big progress for Callie, as she is fine with birds that she knows live in her field... but this was a stranger. Dogs are picky! Then hen is alive!

 

[babsbag]

My 14 month old Pyr is doing better with chickens, but I still don't trust him. There are some that he sees everyday and he ignores; others that he sees everyday and he wants to "play" with them. What goes through these dog's minds is beyond me. He hasn't killed one in weeks, but I did find one yesterday that had obviously been a unwilling toy, but alive. One thing you might do is give the chickens some places to run to that the dogs can't. Maybe make some little triangular shaped enclosures from stock panel out in your field. My chickens will run into the area around the coop or hop up onto the feeders; sometimes all it has to do is break off the chase and the thrill is gone.

Strange birds dare not enter my pasture. My dogs do just like Southern's; even my female, and I consider her 100% chicken safe.

 

[Baymule]

WHO KNOWS WHAT LURKS IN THE MIND OF A LIVESTOCK GUARD DOG????

 

[Southern by choice]

WHO KNOWS WHAT LURKS IN THE MIND OF A LIVESTOCK GUARD DOG????

 

[Pips]

Hi, some short advice on how to stop it. There are five main things you can do.
1. Tie the dog to tire with a rope. Standard chasing prevention and training. make sure they move but running is hard (weight wise)
2. Muzzle the dog in question for a month if you can. The behaviour is habitual so can be corrected with prevention techniques.
3. Get a really smelly t-shirt you have been wearing for a few days without showering and rub it on your chickens, don't miss one. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but LDGs work heavily on smell and this has been known to help a great deal, associative smell works well with some LGD breeds.
4. There are sprays, smells and tastes that dogs hate, you can also spray your chickens with which helps
5. Constant presence correction. Be there with them with a long lead and any "interest" in the chickens is corrected with a heavy tug and whatever you use as your correction voice. Treats should be given when a chicken gets to close and they move away from it, etc ... takes a while but worth it.

Added note: the tire and rope ... rope should be tied to a harness never on collars or chokes.