So while I admit to scratching my head a bit here, I have a training question I thought I would throw out here.
I have a nearly year old Shepherd pup who is doing really well with all aspects of obedience and such. Great temperament, gets along with people better than I do, and is in general pretty great all around.
At around 6 months of age, my son let her out to potty trying to be helpful, but she was not supervised. She had a fantastic time terrorizing my poor chickens. Since then we made changes to the chickens (now in a run nearly all the time) and she had a lot of engagement work near and around the chickens to teach her to remain focused while working near them.
That said, she still loves to chase the chickens, and no matter what I have done, will pin one if given the chance. I know this because a few days ago, a chicken was loose unknowingly, and she promptly caught and pinned it. She recalled perfectly off of it, and the chicken was fine, but I know she would have killed it if I had not been there to call her back.
Anyone have any success with training an avoidance on a chicken? I don't intend on leaving them to free roam together, but I would like to be able to get at least a little more of a buffer for my poor hens.

Chickens are one of the hardest critters to keep a dog off of.

They are crazy flighty and scatter every direction in a panic.

I've herded with my now passed SchIII German Shepherd and chickens were a real pain. I've not used them but an ecollar in the right hands is an excellent tool for proofing off "critters". In the wrong hands they can be a disaster for training. Find a "good" trainer to help with this. Once a dog makes a kill on any "critters" it will be a REAL pia to break. Possibly someone here that has more ecollar experience can help but face to face training tops over the web training every time.

I trained her on the e-collar, and we use it with her when she is offleash to reinforce commands. I know she can stop herself if she feels it is needed - she learned to not chase the cats after one or two good swats to the face. She is pretty low to lower end of medium drive wise, but has a good ball drive. She will ignore the chickens completely for a ball or a sleeve.
I'm not unfamiliar with training an aversion, but I could use some suggestions for how to set one up as I'm a bit puzzled by this one, and she is fairly soft.
All humans have to be completely out of the picture to duplicate the situation, because we have really worked hard on engagement with her, and even my 11 year old son is able to have her full attention and focused heeling around them. She will recall off them, even for the kids. She hasn't killed one yet, but I don't want it to get to that point. All things considered, she is a fantastic companion dog. They always just that one thing don't they? lol

It sounds like you haven't used the ecollar on her with the chickens yet? I'm absolutely against "swats in the face". It's way to easy to create a hand shy dog. Especially with a "soft" dog. As to setting her up. Are they your chickens? Why couldn't put one in a cage in a place you could safely work the problem.

 Quote: Bob Scott

It sounds like you haven't used the ecollar on her with the chickens yet? I'm absolutely against "swats in the face". It's way to easy to create a hand shy dog. Especially with a "soft" dog. As to setting her up. Are they your chickens? Why couldn't put one in a cage in a place you could safely work the problem.

Hi, Cameron!

I sure do agree with Bob on this. He is far more knowledgeable on this than me ... but I want to echo 100% what he says here.

The cat swats at her if I am not quick enough to correct her for chasing, not me ;-)
I also do not agree with hitting a dog in the face, so no worries. Sorry for the confusion

 Quote: Cameron Feathers

The cat swats at her if I am not quick enough to correct her for chasing, not me ;-)
I also do not agree with hitting a dog in the face, so no worries. Sorry for the confusion

Ohhhh! I see now.

 Quote: Bob Scott

It sounds like you haven't used the ecollar on her with the chickens yet?

specifically for this issue, no. In general to reinforce trained commands from a distance around the farm (such as recall), yes. To date, this has only happened twice. First time was nearly 6 months ago and she was not yet used to an ecollar. She was also a lot younger. I simply walked out to her, leashed her and walked to the house. It wasn't her fault she was loose, or that she got to chase them, it was human error, and I didn't see her recalling off them as she was really amped up. Basically called that one a wash and just ended the situation without response. We started doing focused obedience work near them the next day under better controlled circumstances (high value rewards and a leash) instead. The second time was the other day. Now that she is used to an ecollar, and is fairly solid on basic obedience, the situation is quite different, and I want to be sure that I have thought through how to handle this one before ploughing ahead.

 Quote: Bob Scott

As to setting her up. Are they your chickens? Why couldn't put one in a cage in a place you could safely work the problem.

I do have the ability to do that, yes. my son and nephew have a really tame and mostly non reactive pet chicken who lives on the back porch most of the time. I could probably set something up with him.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Cameron Feathers

The cat swats at her if I am not quick enough to correct her for chasing, not me ;-)
I also do not agree with hitting a dog in the face, so no worries. Sorry for the confusion

Ohhhh! I see now.

I have a Siamese who is not terribly tolerant of being chased. She is also a bit lazy so she prefers to glare down a dog and whack it over leaving a prized lounging spot.

Due to the high amounts of wildlife in my yard, i did correction training for non compliance with the e collar for Sasha.
I let her chase one rabbit, and she got a high correction on constant for non compliance to the word oi, which is reserved specifically for knock it off and get your ass back here.
The correction stops when ahe spins to turn back.
Now she can hang out amongst the bunnies and birds, and treats them like they are invisible. She is 7 months old today.
Normally I would train the word off, than after enough repeats correct, but we have no fences and are surrounded by bush, so a no nonsense approach was necessary to allow her to enjoy the yard off lead with me, without worry.
Done correctly without anger, or raised voice/ emotions makes it simple and effective.
I also used the method, with the word back to train her to walk along with the four wheeler, correction only when trying to get in front of it.
Good luck!