help - dog attacked turkey

mazzie

Hey,
Am wondering if anyone can help. We got a new sheepdog pup in Nov and he was working really well until yesterday. On the farm we have a few turkeys and geese etc, the turkeys are pets and he attacked the oldest one yesterday. We found her and although she is missing her tail and has a bit of damage to her back, shes walking and eating and should be fine. We are wondering what to do with him, my uncle says to put him down but really dont want to do this unless its the final straw. We showed him the turkey and told him he was bold etc, he is now tied up. What else can we do?

madcabbage

If the dog drew blood your gonna have a serious problem. Once they get the taste, they strike again!

SillyMangoX

Im not really sure what you could do besides build a more secure pen for the turkeys so the dog cant get at them, it is in a dogs natural instinct to hunt. But the whole taste for blood thing is nonsense. I know of plenty of dogs who 'have a taste for blood' due to being fed a raw diet but they wouldnt hurt a fly!

ButtersSuki

PLEASE DO NOT put the dog down! If you do not want him anymore there are plenty of rescues that will take him.

are you serious

madcabbage wrote: »

If the dog drew blood your gonna have a serious problem. Once they get the taste, they strike again!

That is absolute baloney, its just like saying once you eat mcdonalds you'l definitely eat it again. . .

OP, can you not separate the dog and the turkey's full time apart from having to tie him up?

ISDW

madcabbage wrote: »

If the dog drew blood your gonna have a serious problem. Once they get the taste, they strike again!

A serious question, which has always puzzled with this 'once they've tasted blood' theory.

If the dog had never attacked any livestock/poultry previously, and so therefore had never tasted blood, what made it attack this time?

OP, I think that the only workable solution is for a more secure area for the poultry. You say the turkey is the oldest, maybe the dog senses the bird's age, perhaps it is getting ill in its old age?

baords dyslexic

It might be partly the turkeys fault if they aren't used to the dog. Our chickens are fine with all our dogs but they are out with them everyday and go around when the chickens when they are fed in the mornings. "No Chickens" has become a standard command with the dogs. The chickens don't fly off when they see the dogs and the dogs don't chase them. I can see a very large yo GSDx out the window playing with a toy (a very dead basket ball) and there are some cockerels scratching not 3m from him and they are totally ignoring each other (but don't worry folks my wife is also out in the garden with the dogs).

Take the dog out with you on a lead when you feed the fowl and keep him under control and keep it up untill he's bored with it and both dog and fowl are bored with it. Treats might help but difficult to use them to enforce a negative behavior ie not chasing turkeys so maybe feed turkeys make him sit then reward him. But I'm sure you'll get better training advice from someone here. We have a terrier, rottie and GSDx which are all safe with free ranging chickens.

Discodog

The poor dog is only a pup. He doesn't know that it is not acceptable to play with the Turkeys & that is probably what he is doing. Ignore your Uncle & the comments about tasting blood & start some proper training. If you give your approximate location someone here may be able to recommend a trainer.

Spunk84

It's pretty simple ! Stick the dog in a pen with the geese and I guarantee you that your dog won't touch any fowl after a few minutes with them .

As for the bold thing complete bull !!!!!!! Same think as letting your dog near your ear lol they can smell Ur blood, pure crap .

mikemac1

He's a pup and pups are daft and stupid at the best of times

And it's possible it wasn't his fault and the turkey went for the dog and the dog lashed forward as a reaction.
A swan or a goose would lash out at a dog, maybe the old turkey did the same

The blood story is nonsense.

For now secure the area and over time have the dog around the turkeys supervised for a few hours.

Eventually they'll ignore each other

Our golden retriever plays with lambs every year, he's spent his life around sheep
Sure the lambs probably think he is a sheep, he sort of looks like one and they don't know any better

madcabbage

ISDW wrote: »

A serious question, which has always puzzled with this 'once they've tasted blood' theory.

If the dog had never attacked any livestock/poultry previously, and so therefore had never tasted blood, what made it attack this time?

OP, I think that the only workable solution is for a more secure area for the poultry. You say the turkey is the oldest, maybe the dog senses the bird's age, perhaps it is getting ill in its old age?

I'm only going on past experiences. Me grandfather was a farmer and any time livestock were injured/killed the dog was put down. Any farmer will tell you that. And for the record, I'm not for putting the animal down. Tie him up or make a run would be the best solution.

Discodog

madcabbage wrote: »

I'm only going on past experiences. Me grandfather was a farmer and any time livestock were injured/killed the dog was put down. Any farmer will tell you that. And for the record, I'm not for putting the animal down. Tie him up or make a run would be the best solution.

Hopefully we have progressed a bit since your grandfather's time. Any farmer that believes this needs to do a little reading on the subject.

boxerly

I would deffo build a secure run for the birds.I have 5 hens who have a large run,I only let them out when my dogs and cat are inside.Dont know what theyd do but Im not going to take a chance.Runs dont have to be small prisons..ye can get wire quite cheap on ebay....My run has a large dog house a scratching area where they have their dust bath.A climbing area a shady area,sunny part and then lots of space to run around.They are safe and very happy.I deffo wouldnt put your dog down :(lots of dogs catch small birds....If your dog killed a sparrow or a crow would you consider putting him down??Keep them separate and safe xxxx

boomerang

The fact it was the turkey's tail he had a go at probably means he was in herding mode and being a young 'un, he still has to learn not to grip. I really don't think it's grounds for having him put down. You do need to make sure he's not around the birds unsupervised alright.

ISDW

madcabbage wrote: »

I'm only going on past experiences. Me grandfather was a farmer and any time livestock were injured/killed the dog was put down. Any farmer will tell you that. And for the record, I'm not for putting the animal down. Tie him up or make a run would be the best solution.

I live surrounded by farmers and have had many conversations with a lot of them about dogs and livestock, none of them believe in the 'taste of blood' myth. so sorry, but no, not any farmer will tell you that.:)

Sigma Force

That's not a good reason to put any dog down esp. when it's so preventable even in a farmyard situation. Have them build a pen for the dog as an alternative to being tied up for a start, fencing off animals from each other or using a system where one is out half the day and the other the other half. Something can be worked out but it's not the dogs fault it's 1. Lack of supervision. 2. Lack of training. 3.Lack of proper security for the birds.

maggiepip

It will be a cruel and frustrating life for your dog if you are just going to tie the poor thing up.

You know other places with more advanced animal protection laws are putting restrictions on the chaining up of dogs as it is becoming well recognised as being a cruel practice, e.g in California you can only tie a dog up for a short period - ie in order to complete a short task.

You should try to train your dog or fence off the turkeys.

x Purple Pawprints x

mazzie wrote: »

Hey,
Am wondering if anyone can help. We got a new sheepdog pup in Nov and he was working really well until yesterday. On the farm we have a few turkeys and geese etc, the turkeys are pets and he attacked the oldest one yesterday. We found her and although she is missing her tail and has a bit of damage to her back, shes walking and eating and should be fine. We are wondering what to do with him, my uncle says to put him down but really dont want to do this unless its the final straw. We showed him the turkey and told him he was bold etc, he is now tied up. What else can we do?

I do not agree with putting a healthy animal down. It could happen again but it might not either. If you don't want to risk it find another home for the dog or fence the dog in. Tying a dog up isn't fair either. Putting a dog down should be an absolute last resort.

Discodog

maggiepip wrote: »

You know other countries with more advanced animal protection laws have made it illegal to tie a dog up all day.

The forthcoming Animal Welfare Bill will probably make it illegal here as well.

mazzie

thanks for all the replies. the pup was tied up the day we found the turkey, he was brought for a long walk and loose the following day but housed when we had to leave the yard for a period of time. our dogs are not tied up as they normally have the freedom of the yard, it was just to let him know that what he did wasnt nice. we have since found another dog sneaking into the yard so we are not even sure it was the pup, it was the blood on his paws that lead us to believe it was him. we dont have an area for the fowl, we've never had to separate the dogs and the fowl before and as the pup was born on a farm that had free-range chickens we didnt see anything like this happening. putting down the dog is not an option, more training will be done as someone said he is only a pup and if the worst comes to the worst, he will be rehomed.

nc6000

The country ? :eek:

Limbo123

mazzie wrote: »

, my uncle says to put him down?

Is your uncle for real? :eek:

Jelly2

Glad to know that you are not going to put the dog down, I couldn't believe that anyone would even have suggested that you should. We have two dogs, and we successfully trained both of them not to chase the hens when we got our first batch. Now hens and dogs happily wander about together, without any problem. But when my sister's dog visited he managed to kill three hens, when she took her eyes of him. Awful thing to happen, but it never entered my head that he should be put down as a result. We just made sure from that point that he would never have access to them again - so they are left in their run when he visits. Putting a dog down is an absolute last resort, and you are right to reject it in this case. Good for you.