Very confused animals...

[Bephlam]

Ok...see if anyone can spot the obvious problem here.



First, I have a hen that crows...now it appears I have a hen that barks!! Whatever next??

Davey decided to help me in the chicken run today...as you can see...he likes life as a chicken!!



Getting acquainted with the new girl...Mavis.



He does a mean impression of a teddy bear as well....!!


"err...what do you mean dogs shouldn't be on the table - I'm not a dog!"

Cute or what?

[HayleyB]

Awwww, cute, the girls are bigger than him

[Hans Mum]

he is gorgeous....hope his table manners are better than our dogs'

[sheena]

Aww that is soooo sweet!

I tried introducing my dog's to my girl's today... without success!
Lara my girl rottie was more submissive but each time one got flighty she would perk up and get ready to dart. Good job I had a strong halti collar!
The funniest was when "Asbo" decided to dash from the run directly towards her, Lara would of had her tail between her legs if she had one!

However it was a different case with Shadow our boy rottie!
Although he wanted to get in their and play with them, they were way to scared of he's forcefulness in trying to sniff them and would run a mile, even back into their run and house just to avoid him. He's a whiner too, so the more he wanted to play the more he would whine at them. They weren't impressed.

I didn't want to stress the girl's too much, so was glad I did Shadow first as there was no way I was gonna take both to see them at the same time.
But I did reward Lara for the best effort in actually staying calm whilst I threw mealworm around the garden, slowly edging the girl's closer to her... I think we managed to get them about a foot away from her and she was cool with it, until "Asbo" did her party trick! (I wish I had a camera with me)

[Bephlam]

All my animals get on great with the chickens - it was a worry at first, with owning terriers and lurcher breeds. But...they were great...now they're all walking around together...with no worry at all. In fact my wheaten terrier girl nibbles the chickens to clean them...they're never impressed, but she does it to everyone...so they just have to accept it!!

You sound like you're doing the right thing...introducing them slowly. Rewarding when they're calm...and removing the dogs from the chickens when they're too hyper.

You'll get there...eventually.

[rew15]

When our Jack Russell ,Stanley, was introduced to our girls we kept a close eye but anytime he went too close the girls let him know.
He doesn't like any sudden movement from them an will not go too close now.

[Irie Jan]

Awww how sweet is that! Arnt animals just so sweet and funy!

[Flummery]

Actually, with your Big Girls, Davey is about the same size so he shouldn't be too intimidating for them! They all look at home together anyway!

[Bephlam]

Yeah Flum..the big girls are actually bigger than him. He's been with them since he was 6 weeks, so to him they're just sisters! The big dogs are fab with them too though.

[lynda66]

regarding the rotties don't show the girls to them play with the dogs in the garden and distract them when they go near, eventually they will learn to ignore them .... showing a chook to a dog is like saying here doggy this is lunch, i'm going out now don't touch it ... and expecting it to still be there when you get back

dogs chase chickens ... until there is no reaction to the chooks, keep them confined when you have the dogs out, one they will feel safer and 2 a dog won't get them by accident...... distraction will not be so confrontational and once they start to ignore the chooks you can progress further


bephlam, my dog goes in the chooks run too .... but only to see what food they left her lol .... otherwise she just tuts at me when i bring anything new in and ignores it

[Snadger]

My dog has no problems with the chooks looking bemused thats all. It's the chooks that have a problem with her!
Take the dog anywhere near the run and they go scatty......screeching and squawking and trying to fly out the top of the run which is covered in mesh.

And this is when my laid back German Shepherd gets within 20 yards of them!

I thought that maybe because she looks like a wolf they naturally hit the panic button!

[chicken slave]

My poor German Shepherd actually wet himself when the cockeral took a dislike to him.
He was standing next to the fence as normal watching chicken TV, when the cockeral decided to charge the fence poor Bruno just stood perfectly stillin shock whilst nature gave him wet paws. Now when I open the gate for him to go into the garden (even when the chickens are away) he refuses and goes to sit on the door step. He now hardly ever watches his chicken TV and to be honest I don't think he really likes the chickens much anymore.

[lettucegrow!]

Awww! can just imagine that great brute of a dog being intimidated by a chicken and creating a puddle in fright.Terrifying those chooks! My cat still thinks he can chase the hens, despite the water throwing incident.I Let them roam the garden on Sunday pm which was lovely but I couldn't trust him to behave. Must be a jealousy thing cos soon as the coop is empty and I am there cleaning he just wants to have a look see!!

[AnneRatty]

I am glad I am not the only one with confused animals...our pigs bark like dogs, and our dog thinks she's a cat....?! Luckily we haven't got a cat otherwise it would think it was a pig!!

[sheena]

I had a cat once that thought it was a dog and would walk to school with me and the kid's. It was an half hour walk, across 2 busy main roads and turns out she wanted to stay at the school all day (I could not get her to come home no matter how hard I tried) and ended up collecting her aswell at the end of the school day along with the kid's.

And she would eat anything, inlcuding salad from a kebab (tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber onion, and red cabbage). Strange thing.