Kristine bought Morgan when she was a puppy and Morgan was introduced to the chickens when she was very young. In fact I think the chickens scared her because the hens would cluck at her and try and peck her.
We always kept Morgan on a leash when she was around the chickens and never let her chase the hens, try to play with them, bark, or show any aggression.
Morgan learned from the beginning that the chickens were to be watched, but not messed with. In fact, I used the word "watch" as my command word when I would take Morgan out to see the chickens and I would have Morgan sit or down and we would watch the chickens together.
Morgan does run around the chickens or through them at times, but I have noticed that she only seems to do that when I'm out feeding treats and the chickens are excited. Then Morgan gets excited too.
I think there are some breeds of dogs that would be very difficult or impossible to train to guard chickens or even to just leave them alone. But, there are many dogs who just need proper training to become good farm dogs.I have read about dog breeds that have been bred especially as guardian dogs for hundreds of year. The predator instinct has been bred very low and they have been used to guard livestock and poultry.
And I have read that herding dogs like Morgan are not suitable as poultry guardians. I have even read that some herding dogs are not left alone with livestock because they can not be trusted. I'm very glad that we have Morgan!
I finally found the photo of the mossy rocks I was going to post with the mossy trees yesterday.
It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow so I hope to get outside and rake up the area around these rocks. The water feature on the rocks has still not happened. I made a little dry stream bed by the rocks.
(February 27, 2009)
[6 eggs today]
~:>
Smiles
