My gsp got out and killed one of my chickens and don't know what to do. Should she be punished somehow or do I just ignore it? In her defense she has been kenneled up without much exercise since we have been moving.

I wouldn't blame it on the dog but if you were able to catch her in the act I would correct her

Take a chicken to the next snake breaking.

that's what I was thinking, I am letting her out tonight and getting her some exercise she will be wearing a shock collar for sure.

I have a female lab that loves chickens. Most of the time she just brings them to me alive. My spouse doesn't think its as funny as I do but she hit the last one so hard it killed it. I told my wife the dog was here long before the chickens.

Where was the chicken? Too late to punish it now for that chicken.

I let my chickens free range during the day and in a coop at night. My dog normally stays in the house but the wife was moping the floors and put her out. She must of dug a hole and got out of her kennel.

When I was a kid we had a hen with nubby spurs. We would let her hatch a clutch of chicks and my dad let puppies get around her. She would scare the fool out of puppies shuffling around on them. They would just watch them chickens from far off after that. Funny stuff to watch.

Well I planted some pigeons for her and ran her with her elec collar and she ran and pointed the first pigeon, as she was running after the pigeon she went after the chickens and got a zap and turned away and found some more pigeons.

The first training book I ever read was by Henry P Davis. He wrote about trainers tying a dead chicken around a dogs neck and leaving it there until it rotted off.

Might have to try that if this happens again.

Can't really fault the dog, its a bird dog and chickes are birds. Mine knows better but I suspect she would kill one if I wasn't there to call her off.

I had a friend do that once. The poor dog drug that chicken around for a week. Then one day the dog was laying by the porch with that stinky chicken and acting like it was killing him.
So the chicken was removed. The next morning he went out and all of his chickens were dead.

Chickens taste good ! Especially the white meat !

It has been my experience that bird dogs and chickens are not compatible. Keep them separated. I would never chance messing up a bird dog over a darn chicken.

My GSP and her mutt buddy have a big pen to roam in. Jenny pretty much kills any and everything that has the misfortune to make its way in there. If a chicken went in there it would be a dead chicken in very short order.

Has never affected her hunting one bit. I would never dream of punishing her for it. I have never owned a shock collar and never will.

I'm a neophyte gun dog owner and maybe all that is considered heresy. I don't know and I don't care.

The fact that you classify yourself as a "neophyte gun dog owner" is why you have a misconception or are ignorant to how an e-collar when used responsibly and properly is a great tool for dog training. Is there some other reason you are opposed to using one?

What if I told you that you could use an e-collar everyday in training and not once use it to punish or even correct a dog?

I didn't say I was opposed to them. I just don't use them.

I do note that somehow the old timers I grew up with got along without them just fine.

I guess I'm lucky. My dog does great without one. Heck, she does great despite having an owner who never trained her other than some basics and taking her hunting. Works cover thoroughly, stays close, finds birds, holds her points, steady to the shot, finds dead, and retrieves.

Heck, had her 6 years and didn't even put a bell on her until this year (because I lost her for about 10 minutes in thick cover - she held her point the whole time).

She kills squirrels almost weekly and never even notices a squirrel when we are bird hunting.

My rooster antagonizes our dogs through their pen almost daily. Went home today, rooster- no beak!! Who's the idiot now? For the most part they don't even look at them, but if they ever killed one id be pissed for sure. However, looks like I'm looking at a chicken dinner.

I wish my dog could be trained to bring home Golden Chick, :-)

Just an update... i have been running her with the shock collar and havent even had to use it, i can call her off when shes headed for the chickens and she turns the other way and continues to burn up the field.

Yep, amazing how their hearing improves with the collar on. Strap it on them and you can't MAKE them misbehave.

When I had walker hounds, we had a coop with some old english game bantams. In our presence the dogs and chickens got along in and out of the coup. The chickens were my wife's pets. One day one of the hounds managed to figure out the latch on the coop. I know this because I witnessed that one hound open the coop again at a later date. I imagine the chickens running with no humans around was just too much for one or more of the hounds to bear so at least one dog did what dogs do. It was a slaughter. There were dead chickens, chicken parts, and blood all over the yard and all over one particular hound. For the hound it must have been nirvana chasing and killing all those poor chickens. My wife was devastated, but we did not fault the dogs.