Dogs vs Birds ~today's tragedy

Today was a very tragic day for me, but I'm posting this to bring awareness that predators and prey just do NOT mix. I don't give a hoot how socialized the dog is with whatever other species of living thing~ INSTINCTS ARE INSTINCTS.

Yes, I trust all of my dogs with my toddler, but I do NOT trust them with prey animals....and neither should anyone else.

Today was like any other day~ hanging out in the back yard with my son and our three dogs. Unbeknownst to me, one of my huskies had escaped~ he literally pushed underneath the wire fencing (my other husky has bitten THROUGH wire fencing more than once) and ran the property....all while I was frantically searching in the wrong areas.

He had made his way across the property, found the chicken pen, pushed through the door and proceeded to massacre my entire flock. (I'll spare you all the gruesome details) Mind you, he is the sweetest, lovable, most friendly dog WITH PEOPLE.

I am not angry with my dog~ he was just following his instincts, which IMHO cannot be trained out of them no matter how hard you try. So please, do not be naive and convince yourself that predator and prey animals can coexist peacefully....socialization skills can only go so far, but when you put the two together (dogs and birds) you're putting lives at risk....so just don't do it.

Oh Shirre! Oh, you poor darling! I'm SO sorry that happened - you must be devastated. As you say, sometimes dogs will be dogs and we can't always predict when the inner dog will take over.

Many years ago I had a similar tragedy when my bull terrier suddenly broke into Dad's aviary and killed his Galahs. She had been completely oblivious to the birds until one night something led her to smash through the wire and kill. So I know the awful feeling you must have today. Chin up. You'd done your best to keep the dogs and chickens apart - you couldn't have done a single thing to prevent this. Grieving with you. XXXX

I am so sorry to hear about your chickens That must've been very shocking and upsetting to have happen. Thank you for bringing this issue up though and reminding people that predators always pose a risk to birds.

(((hugs)))

I'm so sorry, Shirre. I know your heart is breaking.

It was the one place I DIDNT look for him, and the one place I couldn't see directly from our house because it was on the other side of a barn.... My son and I were home alone, so he had to tag along with me on my frantic search for Apollo....and unfortunately he had to see all of his chick-chicks dead and me struggling to get the dog OUT of the pen while also trying to keep him from bringing a chicken along with him.

Poor kid was crying for a while (and me too). And poor hubby had to put two of them out of their misery.

We were in the process of building a new coop too-- we planned on making it predator-proof, and it was almost done....

I'm sorry

My mom had a similar incident that she wouldn't forgive herself for. We had two pet bantams that roamed the property. Very tame and lovely. We had a horse stall that we had made safe for the dogs to spend their days (school for me and/or work for mom). One day mom forgot to check the stall for the bantams. They had roosted in there somewhere.
Mom came home to them both dead in the stall with the dogs.

Very sorry for what happened to you today.

Shirre, I am so sorry this tragic accident happened. What a horrifying experience. I know you took excellent care of the chickens and I know how fond you were of them.

Thank you for posting this, I know it wasn't easy. Hopefully this will remind us all that nature often overrides training and even the most lovable dogs are still predators and birds are still prey.

Oh Shirre I am so sorry that this happened to your entire chicken flock. I remember their beauty in the pics I saw of them, and I know that you and your little boy are just devastated . How awful it was, but please don't blame yourself Shirre. *Big hugs!!*

Shirre, virtual hugs to you, your son and family. This news is horrible, however your experience in seeing this is worse. You are doing great standing strong. I hope your children are doing OK with this.

getwozzy said:

Today was a very tragic day for me, but I'm posting this to bring awareness that predators and prey just do NOT mix. I don't give a hoot how socialized the dog is with whatever other species of living thing~ INSTINCTS ARE INSTINCTS.

Yes, I trust all of my dogs with my toddler, but I do NOT trust them with prey animals....and neither should anyone else.

Today was like any other day~ hanging out in the back yard with my son and our three dogs. Unbeknownst to me, one of my huskies had escaped~ he literally pushed underneath the wire fencing (my other husky has bitten THROUGH wire fencing more than once) and ran the property....all while I was frantically searching in the wrong areas.

He had made his way across the property, found the chicken pen, pushed through the door and proceeded to massacre my entire flock. (I'll spare you all the gruesome details) Mind you, he is the sweetest, lovable, most friendly dog WITH PEOPLE.

I am not angry with my dog~ he was just following his instincts, which IMHO cannot be trained out of them no matter how hard you try. So please, do not be naive and convince yourself that predator and prey animals can coexist peacefully....socialization skills can only go so far, but when you put the two together (dogs and birds) you're putting lives at risk....so just don't do it.

Click to expand...

Ohhhhh I'm sorry to hear this. I have said this in a few threads before that cats and dogs are predators...they WILL take down a bird given the right mind set and circumstances.....Guaranteed. But I get shot down in my posts as not liking cats or dogs.

I have 3 dogs, and 6 birds, well 5 now, the dogs took down one of my birds. Horrible sight. I yelled at them for 3 hours. I was so mad. But it's their natural instinct. My dogs will kill anything that moves outside. Including a cat. But the rest of my birds inside, they won't touch...they remember my scolding. But I don't 100 % trust them. My bigger birds they are afraid of, my senni they made a move at once, and said " don't you even think about it"....

We have chickens as well, 15 of them now. they chase the dogs and gang up on them. Funny, but wouldn't trust the small chicks around the dogs. They'd end up dinner for them.

I bought my daughter a kitten many moons ago, and as it was playing in the yard my daughter came in to grab something and as she went back out I heard this " DAAAAAAAADDDdddddd" that made my heart stop.
This hawk came down and grabbed the baby kitten. It was a grey and resembled a bunny probably.

So yeah I agree, cats and dogs don't always mix with birds.....I don't care what any one says, the risk is and always will be there.

Oh, Shirre, I am so sorry for your losses. I know you truly loved those chickens and it must have been terrible to walk into a scene like that one.

I want to thank you for having the courage to make this post in the aftermath of what happened. I know writing this so soon must have been rather difficult for you, but it just goes to underscore just how urgent you deem this message. And it's a message that definitely needed saying, as there are still many who don't fully recognize the dangers of even a well-trained dog or cat around their birds.

Shirre, just know that there is nothing you could've done to prevent this. And again, I'm so very sorry for your loss.

I am so very sorry, Shirre! Having seen the chickens grow from wee little ones to majestic, beautiful, healthy hens, and sweet ones, too, I know you and Jed are so sad. Poor baby had to witness it all. More hugs to you!!! How's Jed this morning??

None of this was your fault in any way, shape or form.

I do NOT let my dogs and birds interact because quite honestly, even though I may be right there next to them, I would not be able to react as fast as either of my animals if either of them 'snapped'. Accidents can happen in a blink of an eye, in a nano second, and this is one accident I'm doing my best to avoid by keeping them apart.

I am so sorry. You are right there is no need to be mad at the dog he was doing what dog's do.
There is so much wild life around us. Mostly Canadian Geese this time of year with there young. We had to install a underground fence to keep the dogs contained and away from the water.
Again I am sorry it must have been so heartbreaking for you

I am so sorry, I am as you know personally and painfully aware of how fast and terrible this can be. I am so VERY sorry that your son had to witness the carnage. I will agree with everyone else there is no amount of socialization that makes birds 100% safe with prey drive animals and anyone who says differently is deluding themselves.

I am so sorry. It can happen in the blink of an eye. Last night my cat and a bird were less than 3 feet away from me and the cat started batting with his paws and the bird started batting with his wings. Kinda of funny but it made me realize...I can not trust them. If the birds are out...I have to be on my toes. You are a strong woman. A toddler, three dogs, chickens, and parrots. Whew!

Shirre, I am so heartbroken for you all. I also enjoyed seeing all the pictures, and listening to you talk about them, your love for them was always so apparent.
I am so sorry you and Jed had to witness that...how is he today? And you? And your poor hubby having to take care of the others who were injured.
I am in tears thinking of what you all went through and you are all in my prayers

I am so sorry for your loss and that you have to go through this. Thank you for the excellent reminder to everyone. This seems to happen far too often

Thank you everyone for your condolences....

I know it wasn't my fault, but it's hard to not blame yourself when you're put in these situations. I wish I could take back my son having to see that, but unfortunately death is a natural part of life, and some day he'll have to understand that.

We are ok today, but I'll still have to go out and clean out the pen today so it's not over yet *sigh*

I just hope that whoever reads this, will think twice about letting their dog or cat play with their fids....no matter how socialized and sweet they seem, danger can happen in the blink of an eye because these are animals.

Sorry for your loss. Sorry your son had to witness that Best wishes!

That's so sad I'm so sorry that you had to go thru that and thanks there's a lot of us out there that have a mix breed family...I have four cats and actually one of them was grabbed by a hawk when younger and dropped from the air..she's good but her back was ripped open and today you can't scratch her back.....you can never be to careful but sometimes accidents do happen and when they do it's hard....be strong.