This guy breeds some of the best dogs in the country
Don’t Abney has been in catahoulas for a long time. He does breed nice dogs. He had the first certified SAR catahoula in the country.
Thank you everyone! I have been on Don Abney’s page reading up!
Yes, autocorrect. Didn’t catch it.
Many dogs will. And many will eat them.
My point is that I don’t think you can say there is a “breed that is ok with chickens.” Individual dogs might be, but as a rule, I would not expect a breed to be born “chicken protectors.”
People who get a puppy/dog with the expectation that it will naturally be good with birds often find out the hard way that it requires training or fencing. For some reason, a lot of people think that “farm dog” means “will guard all species of animals but not eat them”…not really true.
That’s who I referred to in my post. He also offers training, and has written several books.
man, herman sounded like “my” perfect dog until you got to the eatin’ cats part… where on earth does one even find one in the states?
for all of this, i think an ACD is actually a pretty good dog for your wants and needs if you have the ability to train them, which it sounds like you do. i don’t think any breed is guaranteed ok with chickens - IME that is something you install in them. every dog likes chicken nuggets until you tell them otherwise.
Herman was actually given to us. Eventually. He showed up in our yard as a stray. Never could find his owners. We called him Buddy as we looked for his owners. He was young, beautiful and very well taken care of, but had no ID. Two years later, new neighbors moved in and recognized him. They introduced us to his owners who told us what he was and said we could keep him. They raised Rottweilers, and he kept letting them out and taking them far from home. And leaving them! He’d come home alone and the people would have to go round up their other dogs. They were tired of it and said he was a pain.
He tried the scam with our Heeler and Beagle. I caught him just as he ditched them. He didn’t get far, and never did it again. Maybe because the Heeler asserted her alpha-ness. Maybe because I caught him and he was embarassed.
So we kept him and named him Buddy Herman, because “Buddy” was no where near dignified enough for him.
As for the cat thing, yeah, that was something he would not give up. Cats in the neighborhood just learned to avoid our house and stopped walking on the fence.
