AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

OK I have got the info on the other thread.
I am going about it a bit wrong.
Every time I go into the chook run I take Beau.
I let him mingle with the chooks and pull him up when he gets a bit boisterous with them. He wants to play.
I also have a couple of ducks and chicks free ranging that he doesn't hurt or chase.
All my birds are very nervous of him because of the dog attacks, so I take him down there quite often.

My dog Rex I originally trained him with goats. From 3 months he was living with kids and I would just keep an eye on him for any sign of rough play. I would not yell at him I would walk down to him and catch him in the act. Take him by the scruff of the neck and push him to the ground and say no very firmly to him. It took a few times ,but he learn quickly. After that he protected them for 2 years without anymore loses.Then we sold all the goats due to the drought and hand feeding.
I then had to re train him. We bought another place and moved. We had no fences so that was the biggest challenge. We moved all my poultry which at that stage was about 30 out to the property.We had to teach the dog his bounday till we built a fence around the outside of what was to be the orchard and chook yards. I walked the dog every morning and afternoon around the boundary 10 times each time. He learn't very quickly to stay there. We built pens for the chooks and he was in a pen next door. After a few weeks I let him run with the chooks. He ate,slept and lived with them. Not once did he hurt one. After we got all fencing finished he had his whole boundary set permanetly. The only time I had any trouble with him leaving before the fences was when a fox came in and he would leave his boundary to kill it. Now he just barks at them and kills any stray animal that crosses that boundary. Any eagle that flies over he barks at. They try very hard at times to wear him down playing games by more than 1 swooping at the same time in different places in the yard. Still have not lost any poultry to anything. I have seen him pluck a wedge tail out of the air and kill it. The only time I lost something was when he had to be treated for a snake bite. He also kills all snakes. While he was away some person came in and helped themselves to some chooks when I we were away one weekend.
I really believe that for you to train a maremma properly you cannot treat them as pets when they are little you have to distance yourself and treat them as a working dog or a bloke that you are teaching how to do things on your farm. If you play with them and keep them at your house and just take them to the chook yards when you go, you are buggering a good working dog remembering that is what they are bred for. Having them at the house is only teaching them to protect the house and you.When they grow up they will protect you anyway and then you can spoil them a little. They also react better to having only one handler. My husband was the first handler for Rex and now I am. He has learn't who belongs in our house hold now and excepts them,but god help anyone else who comes into the chook yard.I don't let people in my chook yards or even come onto my property now. I meet them elsewhere when they want poultry for 2 reasons,disease, and Rex. The first is the main issue disease. We can control Rex very well.

I will have to treat him differently and try to ignore his complaining when I leave him in the pen. I tries that yesterday and he winged and was trying to get out.
I dont want to ruin him as a guard dog.
I dont spoil any dog I have or had.
I am the only one who looks after him. My hubby is at work and only sees him in the early morning or at night.
Being on only 5 acres and only having strand fencing I dont see people very often. Most people around me work.
Beau doesnt go off the property at all except the vet for needles.
I appreciate and value the information you have given me and will take being told off if I do something wrong as I have never had a dog of this kind before.

I hope it is some help. He will carry on for hours at first so if you dont have any close neighbors it should not be a problem. Just don't leave him in with poultry unsupervised till you know he wont hurt them. Put him in somewhere next to the poultry that he can see them but cant get them. It might take a few days for him to settle down it may take a few weeks before he works it out. Give him a bone to chew on as well.Other people out there might have different ideas as well. I found this to work for Rex his partner Katie and she is now on a organic turkey farm at Byron bay. Also the last of there pups 6 in all that I had to train. See what other people say I am no expert. Far from it. Just a farmers daughter who has been around stock all my life. It worked for me. Good luck with it all

I will have to make a pen next to the chook pen and put him in it.
I have some mesh there and a kennel not doing anything.
I am more likely to listen to someone who has successfully trained these dogs than one who guesses.
The neighbour on one side has 3 shepherds and one is a bit noisy, so they wont care. The other side is vacant and will be for some time. No one over the road just an empty block, so I dont have neighbour issues here.

Thank you for your input.
I will let you know how he goes in a couple of weeks.