Keeping Chickens Newsletter

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Do Your Pets Get Along?

Even if your dog is never allowed near the chickens, accidents can happen, and having one of your pets try to (or succeed) in hurting one of your other pets can cause you to look differently at them.

It can vary from dog to dog (and some breeds will have a stronger 'chase' instinct) but for the most part it is not natural for a dog to ignore a chicken if it happens to be wondering around nearby - however, most can learn to respect your feathered pets and understand that they are also important to you - and not to be played with! With a bit of careful training you can end up with a dog that you can trust not to worry your chickens at every opportunitity.

You may even find you have a guardian for them…

The most important control commands are sit, down and stay. If your dog will do those, regardless of what is going on around him, then you are already are in a better position than most.

To build up that kind of control it is best to train in different places, so that he can stay in a rock solid sit in the house, then out in the garden, then in a quiet street, then near a supermarket etc. etc. so you are gradually increasing the distractions. The same would be for down and stay (which is a more comfortable position if you are doing longer 'stays').

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