How to stop dog fom chasing deer and turkeys

[down_home]

Haven't seen turkeys in the yard since spring. hear them in the trees around though, in evening.
Whenever we let Dahkota out he can spot them in second.
He chased a deer that was about fifty feet from the house the other morning.
In times past he has brought parts of deer to the old home. Don't know if he found them or if he brought down one.
Even though he is old he might try.
I like having the deer and turkeys around the yard. Hopefully the grouse that Kids spotted this spring might even make it into view.
How can I stop him from chasing them?

[buta4]

RVcircus wrote:
We have an invisible fence. Our dog barks at deer, but doesn't cross the border. Our fence will alert before she crosses and will continue to shock if she runs through the border. She's never run through it and has only hit the border a few times. She really does stay away from the edges.

X 2

[Basketweaverz]

We use an invisible fence. I don't understand the above comment about the fence not keeping things out. It is the dog's job to keep things out!! We have coyotes, deer, elk, cattle, etc. that roam around the place. Our dogs are an Australian Cattle Dog and an Australian Shepard/cattle dog cross. Hardwired to chase. They view the deer and elk as just another type of cow and they only chase cattle when ordered to do so.

Training, training and reinforcement of the training. Good luck with an older dog. I think you should check into the invisible fence. It works wonders.

[Farmerjon]

kickstart wrote:
Beg borrow or steal a goat(preferably with no horns) tie a fresh deer skin to the goat douse skin in deer urine, tie dog to goat with 10' rope
leave them tied together for a day or two.

A fresh deer skin does not stay fresh very long and would not fool the dog into thinking it was tied to a deer.
That really is a very bad idea you would very likely end up with injured or dead animals.

[BCSnob]

Right, terrorize livestock (goat) in order to take the lazy way to train a dog. Humane animal treatment does not apply to just a few species.

[kickstart]

Beg borrow or steal a goat(preferably with no horns) tie a fresh deer skin to the goat douse skin in deer urine, tie dog to goat with 10' rope
leave them tied together for a day or two.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

davosfam wrote:
I would never want a dog corrected with an e-collar without the dog knowing the commands first.

I agree. I wish they'd call these "correction collars" - not "training collars". And I agree with the previous poster - they work best in many cases, when set "high" and the dog thinks the correction came from the thing they're supposed to leave alone.

My Cattle Dog wanted to aggressively "herd" a lot of things that could have killed him, like moving cars, large and small lawn mowers, etc. One perfectly-timed correction was all it took to break him of those desires, for the rest of his life.

[Billinwoodland]

Shock collar is the best approach but it must be done properly. I have broken two German shorthairs from chasing deer up at our mountain cabin. Without going into a bunch of detail, you want the dog to think the shock came from the deer, not you. And the shock needs to be uncomfortable. Do not use any commands, and the dog should not know you are there - just the deer. It is imperative to break dogs from chasing deer for a lot of reasons, but one big one is that even a fawn can do significant damage to your pup. A doe or buck can kill him/her.

[davosfam]

We use an electronic training collar for our youngest dog. It has a vibrate setting and a shock setting. When we have to correct her, she gets a vibrate first. If she responds, we are done. If she doesn't, she gets a quick, light shock. My husband and I have both used the collar on our bare necks (no fur there to protect).

When she was being trained, she wore the collar all the time while learning basic commands (sit, stay, heel, come). The collar was worn but never used during the learning process. The collar was put to use once she learned those commands but wouldn't obey when slightly distracted. By doing that, she never learned to associate the vibrate or shock with the collar itself. To this day, when we get the collar out, she happily comes over to put it on. I would never want a dog corrected with an e-collar without the dog knowing the commands first.

[pa_traveler]

We train dogs to chase coyotes ,need to shock them off of deer. Borrow a shock collar from a hunter. You can go somewhere where you can see deer let dog out if they chase zap them. Don't like doing it but better than some body shooting dog. You should have a tracking collar to find dog if it takes off,need to find area safe from traffic.

[fitznj]

First, it depends on the dog, if it's a breed that chases other animals, then it's in their DNA and harder (but not impossible) to stop them chasing deer/turkeys.

I helped train service dogs and one of the first things was to make sure they do not wander off our property. They way we did it was to take the dog on the leash to the end of the property and get them to sit at the boundary and jerk them back if they cross the boundary.

It takes a lot of patience and lots of hard work but in the end the dogs knew where the boundaries were and would not cross it unless they were on a leash with me. It gave us great confidence that when the dogs where in the back-yard, then they would not stray off the property.

Gerry

[Gonzo42]

Deer and Turkeys provide clean organic protien. Get a hunting license.

[magnusfide]

Shortie3 wrote:
All I can say is, Good Luck! I've had dogs over the years and was never able to make them accept any other creatures in THEIR yard. Aside from walking your dog on a leash or putting him in a dog run, I don't believe it is possible to break him from his duty to protect his turf. I've had 'friends' tell me they were able to break all their dogs bad habits by using a shock collar but I consider them to be a cruel device and tell anyone who is contemplating purchasing one to try it around their own neck first!

Double ditto. Dahkota is too old to change his ways. A good fence with plenty of room to run is your best solution when he's not in the house or on a leash. You don't want him running into traffic chasing wildlife either.

[xteacher]

A good fence and/or on a leash when out of the house. A dog with a high prey drive is usually never totally reliable, IMO.

[donn0128]

People may say bad things about them, but electronic training collars work wonders educating dogs what they can and cannot chase after.