I am wanting to start adding animals to our little urban homestead next year, and eventually we will be buying land and moving out at which time we'll have more livestock. The problem is that I have a 6 year old shepherd mix that loves to kill small animals. This will be good that she will kill opossums and raccoons before they get my chickens but I'm afraid she will also kill the chickens. It's like she can't help herself. She really wants to listen to us and be good when we tell her to leave birds or whatever that are in our yard alone but she just can't control herself. I don't think she'll torment goats or sheep or anything her size just small animals like bunnies and chickens.
I think the key will be for her to see the animals as part of our "herd" or family or whatever instead of a tiny intruder that doesn't belong. Do any of you have any tips for training her? I have noticed that she has begun to be more selective in her hunting as she's gotten older. The other day I looked out back and she was laying in the sun just lazily watching a robin dig for worms about 5 feet from her and seemed to have no interest in chasing it, but if I let her out of the house and there is an animal in our yard she runs right to it to try to get it like it's a game. Oh, and she doesn't typically eat or mangle what she catches. She just kills it super fast and then lays with it between her front legs like she's claiming it. Sometimes she'll play with it like when she caught a mole and threw it around like a toy.
I'm planning on starting with a couple of angora bunnies this fall that will probably stay in the house this winter and then outside in the spring. I'm also planning on adding chickens in the spring. I'm planning on building them movable runs so that they don't get in my garden so they won't just be running around free with her but I really don't want her torturing them and giving them heart attacks either.
I think the key will be for her to see the animals as part of our "herd" or family or whatever instead of a tiny intruder that doesn't belong. Do any of you have any tips for training her? I have noticed that she has begun to be more selective in her hunting as she's gotten older. The other day I looked out back and she was laying in the sun just lazily watching a robin dig for worms about 5 feet from her and seemed to have no interest in chasing it, but if I let her out of the house and there is an animal in our yard she runs right to it to try to get it like it's a game. Oh, and she doesn't typically eat or mangle what she catches. She just kills it super fast and then lays with it between her front legs like she's claiming it. Sometimes she'll play with it like when she caught a mole and threw it around like a toy.
I'm planning on starting with a couple of angora bunnies this fall that will probably stay in the house this winter and then outside in the spring. I'm also planning on adding chickens in the spring. I'm planning on building them movable runs so that they don't get in my garden so they won't just be running around free with her but I really don't want her torturing them and giving them heart attacks either.
