I have a small homestead with about 20 ducks and 6 chickens. THe dog doesn't have lots of prey drive she is calm and hasn't barked at dogs or other animals she sees.

My goal is at the least to get her to ignore the animals when I am with her gardening and such. Anything above that is icing. I would never 100 percent trust her as things can happen.

my question.
how should I go about this training?
My first thought is to use the power of training with food as the basis and treat the backyard animals as distractions. slowly get her closer and slower while feed feed feed. Should I allow her to see animals, rather than focus on me me me and train train train.

Any suggestions to best introduce a young pup to livestock.

thanks

Using them for distraction is a good idea but build up to that. There are very few things that can trigger a dog's drive then a cackling, fluttering chicken.

Also be sure to use the marker/food training properly or it can become a bribe to the dog.

Ok for her to see them but you want to discourage ANY reactions from her. A firm "NO" if needed but without yelling at the dog.

How old is the dog? This can go beyond just food training. Possible corrections if the dog is old enough.

Others here with more experience with exposure to stock will jump in.

My experiences with herding were all with adult, well trained dogs from the start.

As with any training being consistent is critical.

can be a difficult problem genetically for some dogs.

just throwing it out there, saturation exposure with excellent leadership might be worth a thought.

my dogs have been imprinted on stock from before their eyes open, never made it or had to make it a training issue luckily.

have seen many a psychotic hog dog left unsupervised with farm pigs including babies and they go so far as protecting them from other dogs, they just seem to get know what is out of bounds.

my neighbour's free roaming cat walks in and out of my house and the dogs (that's 4 pro cat hunters) do not even pay it any attention, the cat was present since they were all puppies, any other cat on the property.....

it is kind of known that one in so many ACD or kelpie pups will grow to be an uncontrollable chicken killer, every option that can be tried has been tried with no success that I know of.

one theory is the dingo which officially was never part of their genetic make up (absolutely officially not part of their make up....) comes forward, these dogs are re-located to where there is no chickens or just shot.

can be a difficult problem genetically for some dogs.

just throwing it out there, saturation exposure with excellent leadership might be worth a thought.

my dogs have been imprinted on stock from before their eyes open, never made it or had to make it a training issue luckily.

have seen many a psychotic hog dog left unsupervised with farm pigs including babies and they go so far as protecting them from other dogs, they just seem to get know what is out of bounds.

my neighbour's free roaming cat walks in and out of my house and the dogs (that's 4 pro cat hunters) do not even pay it any attention, the cat was present since they were all puppies, any other cat on the property.....

it is kind of known that one in so many ACD or kelpie pups will grow to be an uncontrollable chicken killer, every option that can be tried has been tried with no success that I know of.

one theory is the dingo which officially was never part of their genetic make up (absolutely officially not part of their make up....) comes forward, these dogs are re-located to where there is no chickens or just shot.

the dogs in this clip are as good as catch dogs as you get, stone cold killers. they hunt feral goats, dogs and hogs for a living. they have never been in a fight with a domestic dog.

they also moonlight as LGD of....pigs and goats in big open pastures on the edge of the same big black forest they kill goats and pigs in, they have killed many wild dogs trying to eat the domestic sheep, pigs and goats they protect.

the idiot blue dog male is straight suicidal on a hog or wild dog and he offers his nipples to baby sheep/goats. they all ignore chickens, go figure?;



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjwKiHQmFSc

8 weeks old

Saturation meaning jump in the midst of them?

And are we talking about leash corrections, hand corrections or just verbal at this age. I have never had issues with pack leadership so I am confident that won't be the issue. Just looking for a good way to introduce them. I can have them locked up in their cages and bring dog onto the back yard which is an acre. Start at a distance and what not. I could use ducks first they don't react to did at all. I could mark ignoring from a distance and correct when closer. There seem to be many approaches but looking for the best one to have the best success.

thanks

follow up question. I also have training with tug from michael ellis and will that prey drive conflict with stopping the dogs prey drive for poultry?

Worth noting my goal: My goal is not using a GSD for a livestock guarding to be left alone with them; but for the dog to live peaceably/ignore when I am out gardening and doing other things.

Forget that saturation line of thought. Too much potential for disaster. Some things don't translate well in written form.

Chickens are the absolute worst for prey drive in my experience. They sqwack and flap around and cluck and move in a "please chase me" fashion. They act scared. Or, they might flap and charge at a pup, using their feet. My Pinker was terrified of the black hen until she died.

Do not "look" at the chicken is my advice. I would correct for looking at the chicken. We don't look at chickens. c hickens are to be ignored.

update: went with the far away first approach. walked down opposite side of yard. treated as we went and kept dogs attention. She heard ducks and noticed but she didn't care. just wanted to play with us. I am using ducks first as their used to dogs and barely even move away. I agree on the chickens. last part trained and ignore completely. I have the option of leaving them in pen while ducks are out and that may be a general rule to avoid the prey issues. thanks everyone. I will keep updated if anything changes or what not.