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Australian Cattle Dog and poultry: good idea or bad idea?

7K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Dustyblue 
#1 ·
Hello doggy readers,

I am fostering a red heeler/ACD and he's a great fit with our family--I'm afraid I like him too much! Gets along famously with our dog, our cats, my rowdy 3.5 yo. I'm just a bit concerned that he will try to eat our chickens if I let them free-range. It's the terrier in him (and in all ACDs) that worries me. He's also rather bossy and listens only moderately well. Very strong herding drive and kind of mouthy--doesn't bite, but puts his teeth on me as I walk along. We can leave our border collie mix with the chickens all day and she never bothers them, EVER. But this little torpedo of energy, I don't know.

Any advice for introducing dog to chickens? I'm toying with the idea of keeping him, but don't want to have a major loss of food *producing* animals over this!

Thanks!

X-posted to Country Living/Off The Grid
 
#2 ·
No real advice, but my blue heeler is ok with chickens/ducks when he visits friends/family. We don't have any at home. He can be a bit mouthy too (he's only 18 months, how old is yours? They tend to grow out of the nipping/mouthiness after about 3 y/o). Our last blue heeler was the same.

He does enjoy rounding them up initially- very strong herding instinct there, he rounds me up too sometimes lol- but he doesn't lunge or try to bite. Eventually he gets bored or upset that they're not playing with him & loses interest.

But I think it'll depend a lot on your dog's own personality. Sounds like a gentle little boy though
I hope it works out for you, ACD's are such great dogs! (well, in Australia we just call them red/blue heelers, I wasn't sure what you meant by ACD at first!)

Good luck
 
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