Is my dog hunting or herding my chickens?

Post date: 2021-06-17 07:17:06

We have a mini-Aussie, he's 8-months-old. He's got a lot of predatory instincts. He caches food/treats by burying them. He does that kill-shake move with toys. And he's actually caught and killed four things in the yard so far: a mouse, a rabbit, and two wild birds. He's currently obsessed with our flock of chickens.

We've done a lot all along to introduce them to him and to reward him around them. We have baby chicks and teenager chicks and adult hens and roosters and they are fenced in. But he's still managed to catch, I dunno, five or six of them? over the last month or so. They either get out, or he catches them through the fence. Thing is, he doesn't kill them. He just pins them.

He seems particularly alerted when they are in distress. And early on in his life he alerted us to a hawk in the chicken yard by howling (he hasn't howled before or since).

He's a shepherd, but also clearly a good hunter. For those who know dogs better than I do, can you tell if this behavior is protective or predatory?

Please click Here to read the full story.