Our dogs — Aquinnah, a chocolate lab, and Martha, a pit bull mix — have no direct contact with our chickens, but the two species are well aware of one another. The coop is located at the back end of our relatively large city lot, and in the winter, when it’s often impractical to take the dogs for longer walks, they sometimes make a circuit in the yard that takes them behind the coop.
The fascinating aspect of this, at least to me, is how the animals involved react differently to such close encounters of the critter kind.
At 85-pounds, Aquinnah (aka, Quinn) probably looks quite intimidating to our two Rhode Island Reds, Nellie and Hope. And it doesn’t help matters that Quinn, who is leashed, always tries to lunge toward the hens whenever he gets within a few feet of their housing. Invariably, the hens react to these attempted incursions by running up the ramp that leads from the pen to the coop, often with a flapping of wings to give them a bit more propulsion.
It’s another story entirely when Martha makes her rounds. For one thing, she only weights about 40 pounds, maybe less. More importantly, she shows no aggression toward the hens, and only the slightest interest in them. Not surprisingly, then, Nellie and Hope are equally indifferent to her presence in their neighborhood, and go about their business without any of the Chicken Little antics they display when Quinn’s around.
I’ve seen plenty of photos of dogs guarding free-range chickens in what appears to be a perfectly peaceful arrangement. I suppose Martha could have been trained to perform such a role, if our hens were allowed to run free in the partially fenced yard. Quinn, on the other hand, probably would have been stripped of his badge on his first day of work after jumping in to try for a quick snack, policing responsibilities be damned.
The fascinating aspect of this, at least to me, is how the animals involved react differently to such close encounters of the critter kind.
At 85-pounds, Aquinnah (aka, Quinn) probably looks quite intimidating to our two Rhode Island Reds, Nellie and Hope. And it doesn’t help matters that Quinn, who is leashed, always tries to lunge toward the hens whenever he gets within a few feet of their housing. Invariably, the hens react to these attempted incursions by running up the ramp that leads from the pen to the coop, often with a flapping of wings to give them a bit more propulsion.
It’s another story entirely when Martha makes her rounds. For one thing, she only weights about 40 pounds, maybe less. More importantly, she shows no aggression toward the hens, and only the slightest interest in them. Not surprisingly, then, Nellie and Hope are equally indifferent to her presence in their neighborhood, and go about their business without any of the Chicken Little antics they display when Quinn’s around.
I’ve seen plenty of photos of dogs guarding free-range chickens in what appears to be a perfectly peaceful arrangement. I suppose Martha could have been trained to perform such a role, if our hens were allowed to run free in the partially fenced yard. Quinn, on the other hand, probably would have been stripped of his badge on his first day of work after jumping in to try for a quick snack, policing responsibilities be damned.
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