Farm animals

[kwelk]

Hi everyone!

Our family lives on a large property and we're thinking about getting chickens and horses. Does anyone have any experience with Labs around these kinds of animals? We adopted our girl Molly a couple months ago and are still learning.

Thanks!

~ Kate

[Jeff]

Well it all takes training. Jane Doe would be the best to answer this one with all her wildlife. Hopefully she sees this.

My sister has chickens and she had to spend a lot of time teaching her labs not to chase the chickens. One lab didn't care the other thought they were awesome toys. So it just take training to leave the chickens alone. My boy even being a lab was taught to herd the chickens. He is not very good at it like a herding dog, often forget what he is doing and just starts having a good time but he can do it somewhat. However, first introduce them through a fence. Keep the chickens inside the fence until the dogs get use to them and ignore them.

Horses are another matter. First, dogs are predators to horses. They are predators to chickens but a horse know this and will kick and kill a dog. This can take a lot of time training and honestly you are going to want to keep them both apart as much as possible and never let them together unsupervised. A dog can learn to keep it's distance but the big problem is a lab is everyone's friend. My boy has been around horses and the first time it whinnied he dropped into a play stance like come on horse lets play. Which the horse is not seeing as play but more a threat. So you need to keep that in mind. Even a dog running with a horse, the horse could feel threatened and your not taking about a few pounds of chicken but 1000 pounds of scared animal.

[Labradorks]

I have chickens and ducks and two Labs.

I got chicks when Sam was an adult (around two) and they were in the house while they needed the light (gross -- would not recommend that) and I worked with him on ignoring them. He doesn't have much in the way of prey drive anyway. No problems there.

I got Linus as a puppy and had grown chickens and ducks. He was desensitized to them all pretty quickly. I was concerned that field training would cause him to retrieve the birds, potentially harming them, but that never happened, and I think it had a lot to do with the ducks not quacking (they are a different type). In fact, at a park recently there were a ton of mallards. He completely ignored them until they started to quack and then he swam after them until I was able to call him off. Had I not started field work, I don't believe the quacking would have made a difference to him.

It's also important to note that my dogs are not field Labs. They can retrieve ducks and all of that, like Labs are supposed to do, but they are not the high drive type. I know many field Labs that cannot handle themselves well around livestock and have been known to kill chickens, ducks, rats, squirrels, rabbits and even cats. I would opt to not have livestock with a dog like that unless you had them well-secured away from one another. I live in an urban area and it would not really work well to keep everyone apart at all times.

My dogs have been curious around horses as my field trainer has them. These horses are used to dogs, so they don't get spooked and therefore, the dogs do not run after them or even pay much attention to them (they are separated by fencing anyway). If my dogs were loose in a field and horses were running, I am not sure how much self-control they would have not to run with them or chase after them in fun. In my early 20s I worked at an emergency clinic and have seen the result of several dogs kicked in the head by horses and other types of equines. I have also known horses that have killed coyotes. There are cows in the fields we have our field competitions in but the Labs don't seem too interested. I'm thinking it's because they are all fixated on it being their turn to retrieve a duck though.

[shellbell]

Tux is around horses pretty often, my family has four horses and a pony and we go up to their property to visit often. Tux was about four years old or so when they got the horses, so he was introduced to them as an adult. He barked at them the first few times he saw them (and he never barks), but it was only a few woofs and just the first couple of times he was around them. Now I actually take him with me to watch my sister and my niece compete in horse shows and he will walk on leash with me maneuvering through a ton of riders on their horses waiting their turn. I will say that when we are over on the part of the property where the horses are at, I keep Tux on leash. Because 1) He would have a feast eating all of the horse poop that is in the barn and 2) Our horses are not kickers in general, but if Tux would inadvertently do something to startle them I am not going to chance it. Plus they have an electric fence around their pasture and I don't want him shocking himself. My other two dogs have seen the horses from a distance and seem alright with them, but I don't take them over there that often.

As for chickens, when the chickens are out of their coop at my parents' house I keep my dogs in the fenced in yard. It would take a lot of training for Cabo and Cadbury not to want to kill them (I am guessing, they've never had the chance), and since they don't live with the chickens it is easier just to keep them separate. I keep Tux separate from them too. Not sure he would do anything other than maybe chase them, but don't really have a need to find out. So you would either just not let the dog have access to the chickens, or do some training that they are not to be chased.

[Mudlark]

All my dogs, whatever their breed are expected, (and indeed required!) to treat all other livestock with respect - that includes wildlife, whether it is a butterfly or a squirrel or a herd of cows!

It takes training, consistency, and a zero tolerance policy to any living creature being harassed! They are amongst farm animals and wildlife every day - my youngest has just developed his chase instinct - so lessons begin now before it gets ingrained.

[Snowshoe]

I dare say most people who have horses have dogs if only in order for them to used to meeting strange dogs. Riding, driving or working horses are going to meet up with dogs. Still, I have seen a badly behaved dog (unfortunately my sister's first dog) spook a team of Belgians used for sleigh rides. As a former horse person I make sure my dogs meet horses politely, easy living in my rural area, just take a walk. Cattle too. We don't go right into anyone's farm yard so not sure how he'd be with chickens.

I knew two horses who would charge and stomp at dogs, rare for horses. One we made sure was on a ride along a road with nasty dogs. The other was a brood mare owned by folks who's other mare I was riding. New people bought next door and let their two big dogs run loose. The mare's owner called and made sure they knew their dogs were loose with the horses. "Oh," they said, "The dogs won't hurt your horses." Stupid people. The mare's owner replied, "I'm not worried about my horses, I'm worried about your dogs. My mare will trample them if they get too close to her foal." No more dogs running loose.