Do your dogs ...

[jann]

Jann that video of Flo is so funny, we have been looking at holiday cottages to rent this summer and loads boast about free roaming chickens or peacocks!!!! they are struck off the list instantly!!! I had a good chuckle at that what a sweetie 

Forgot to say there were sound effects too ! 

This was in the car park where we often go for a walk, the chickens are always there wandering about ,I don't know who they belong to   

She'd never actually chased them before   I stopped filming to call her back she totally ignored me and disappeared after one of them, you should have heard it sqwarking  (I still don't know whether she caught it or not)  she appeared about 5 minutes later 



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[MaggieR]

  at Flo.... Maggie gets rounded up by my mates two chickens... they stand between her and the door when we go over there so she can't get back in and she does her "Mum I want something..." grumble till I pop them out the way 

[Cockertime Blues]

I'm afraid Alfie's been known to chase jet planes as well as birds.  With the birds, I try to stop him before he gets going but it's hard work.  I've been hoping that, because we've so many birds in the garden because of my obsession with birdfeeders, that he'll get used to them.  So far it's not happened, though the other day he was under our huge oak tree yipping at them and a little blue tit made a stand (about 6 feet up) and really told him off.  It was hilarious.  He was really giving the dog some cheek.

[chanellie]

A goose, a seagull, a helicopter and aeroplane is there a difference    Molly chases them all, but only if she is in the, very small, garden she barks and runs along looking up with obvious ooppsss event when she hits the fence.

[Pip895]

Re Chickens

I stopped filming to call her back she totally ignored me and disappeared after one of them, you should have heard it sqwarking  (I still don't know whether she caught it or not)  she appeared about 5 minutes later 

I was wondering if a cocker would dispatch a chicken if she/he got one cornered (I suspect the answer might be yes especially a worker).  Saffi then 18 weeks chased next doors chickens which had escaped their coop, managed to corner one and before I caught up with her feathers were flying (recall - forget it!!). Luckily no serious harm was done on that occasion but if I hadn’t been in hot pursuit neighborly relations might have become strained (the chickens are pets belonging to the children). 

Any suggestions on how I might stop Saffi considering chickens as legitimate pray - one of them has ended up in our garden on a couple of occasions!!!


Any sugestions on how I might stop Saffi considering them as legitimate pray - one of them has ended up in our garden on a couple of occasions!

[The crazy hut]

Our rottie once crashed into a tree chasing a bird that took off just as she was about to pounce   

[SkyeSue]

If I ever hear the yipping sound from Chloe, I literally go weak with fear. Chloe never makes a murmur outside unless she is in full chase mode, and the yipping tells me that she is off on one. It hasn't happened for a while, but the sound of the yipping fills me with dread...it means:-
She is no longer listening to me
Her chase drive has kicked in and I can't control it

I'm afraid I don't find the yipping sound very cute 

[Mudmagnets]

One day when we were on our walk in Fritton, I decided to take the left route thro the trees BIG MISTAKE     Smudge got the whiff quite early of some chickens in a nearby garden and nothing was gonna stop him. When I eventually caught up with the little  he had got into the garden cos the lady had no fence round (thought that a bit silly with the fox population to be honest  the chucks where in a run  - but foxes are more determined than cockers me thinks

Anyway I put Smudge back on his lead - apologised profusely and off we hurried. Having got the whiff I now avoid going that way - just in case.

[Helen]

If I ever hear the yipping sound from Chloe, I literally go weak with fear. Chloe never makes a murmur outside unless she is in full chase mode, and the yipping tells me that she is off on one. It hasn't happened for a while, but the sound of the yipping fills me with dread...it means:-
She is no longer listening to me
Her chase drive has kicked in and I can't control it

I'm afraid I don't find the yipping sound very cute 

I'm another killjoy and don't encourage a chase - especially with a pup - it can lead to terrible trouble with recall if it's not stemmed at an early age.  You just need to look at old behavioural threads about chasing birds and hunting to see that although it looks cute at an early age it can be really awful when your dog goes into hunt mode (as Sue has said) and you can't get it back.

A working cocker shouldn't dispatch or kill anything - they should have a soft mouth - animals that are caught usually die of shock.  I would be far more worried if the working cocker shakes them like a terrier to break their necks or bites to kill it's catch.

Anyway, I did let Jarvis chase seagulls as a pup - we put a command to it and only let him chase when we wanted him too.  That didn't affect his recall but made it more difficult to train him for beating as he can get a bit excited and go to far - fortunately he's good on a stop whistle.

[smartietopdog]

Any sugestions on how I might stop Saffi considering them as legitimate pray - one of them has ended up in our garden on a couple of occasions!

Um, tell them to keep their chickens in their own garden?! If it was in your garden and something happened to it, I can't see they could really complain could they? Or is that just me seeing things too black and white as usual?!

[Pip895]

Um, tell them to keep their chickens in their own garden?! If it was in your garden and something happened to it, I can't see they could really complain could they? Or is that just me seeing things too black and white as usual?!

Their garden isn't well fenced (apart from the boundary with us which I have secured) and Saffi does wander in there sometimes.  I am trying to stop this without much success at the moment.  Even if the chicken was in our garden I still wouldn’t want to face a tearful 7 year old (usually the one to leave the coop open!).

Can you teach a dog to be soft mouthed and not shake? When playing with toys I have noticed Saffi (4 months) shaking things a bit - is that a bad sign in a working cocker? 

[Chocolatecoco]

I have to say my girls never caught anything but just love the chase although now they are into smelling the grass where i know wild rabbits are so i try and avoid that bit at the moment as the scent of them makes them go wappy. I have to say my cockers are nearly 10 months now and have strong recall. Mind you i have to say i would hate for them to hurt anything but they live with cats and love the cats.


Its quite hard to avoid things when you live in a rural village, I have to say.