[macgro7]

I saw beautiful patterdale terrier pups for sale and thought to myself - they are small (i.e. eat and poop less), hate foxes - would they be OK to live with chickens?
But then, being hunting dogs after all, wouldn't they eat the chickens or geese themselves?
I really hate foxes... because of them can't let my geese out all day because I come from work after 5 and it's already pitch black. Geese have to stay in a fairly small run till weekend. For another several months 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

My mother had a really horrible experience with patterdales, they can be very vicious at times. What about a jack russel? I hear they can be a little ferocious sometimes but generally fine. Although Labs would be my first choice for family pet and smallholding setting any day. Or how about a welsh sheepdog or border collie? Both very well suited and you could even teach em to round up the poultry for you, plus I hear they hate foxes very much too.

[Jukes Mum]

Personally, based on terriers I have known, I would not let any terrier, especially a patterdale, anywhere near my chickens unsupervised.

[Steph Hen]

I had a pair of geese, loads of hens and a springer spaniel all free range together. Dog was lovely with the chickens, they'd sometimes snuggle in his kennel to lay eggs (which he'd eat!). However, The geese bullied the dog rotten. He'd be asleep and they'd go for him, it was awful. They drove him to bite back and had to go - also because i realised that my soon to be toddler wouldn't mix well with them either.

My birds were free range and the mooching spaniel wasn't enough to keep foxes away all the time: fine until the oil seed rape at the back got high enough to provide cover to foxes. I think if you had them in a large enclosure with a dog, rather than spread all over as I had it would help a lot.

I like to think any breed of dog can be trained not to hurt birds, I don't know much about terriers other than jack Russell's, which I wouldn't think would be ideal. But it's maybe a bit different to expect a dog to be with the birds unsupervised all day long and not get bored, and then excited and chase them if they start flapping about..? I'd be inclined to think about a protecting breed - something that's been bred as a herd protection dog. And please think about the geese bullying the dog!- it'll need places to get away from them!

[sabrina]

My Jack Russell is good with my chickens but I have trained him not to chase them or the cats. He catches rats during the winter. On saying that he is out with me. What he would do on his own might be another story !

[farmers wife]

when our terrier was younger she made quite a few marks on our chickens - it was always a mess.       There are better guardian dogs out there. Terriers are chasers not  guardians.      Not a good idea

[NethertonSH]

I think it partly comes down to the personality of each individual dog. Yes some breeds will be prone to going for the chickens more than others. I have a springer that given any chance would kill a chicken, I have a cocker that wouldn't bat an eyelid if one was to flap in her face, and I have a fell terrier which isn't far from a Patterdale (who I use for deer stalking) that shows an interest in the chickens but knows better than to go for one. I do think having the dogs keeps the foxes away and I also do my bit to keep fox numbers down.     

[macgro7]

My birds are in a 1/2 acre garden. With a 7 foot fence on one side brook on the other and a small wooded area at the back which has a dodgy fence and foxes come through there as well as under the brook, if the water is low...
I'd like a small dog that would not be allowed at home. Really wanted a hunting dog like a whippet that I could take for rabbits in winter. But obviously those kind of dogs are not the best as guardians
Shame...

[harmony]

They would be excellent for chasing off foxes.....that's if they aren't busy looking for a fox to chase, off after the neighbour's cats, or stuck down some hole they just couldn't resist going in no matter what they will find in it!!!


Once they chase the fox they maybe gone for days so you will need periodic cover for your chickens anyway so I would follow the advice of many and not get a patterdale to protect your chickens!


However if you want a strong willed companion that is equally loyal and can be trained not to chase livestock if you have an abundance of time, patience and a good shovel for digging them out of holes, they are a rather smart little dog.


How do I know? We have dog and shovel!


Do dogs actually keep foxes away? Well, I think once they have worked out a dog isn't loose they don't keep either foxes or badgers away because usually they visit when dogs and owners are all asleep.

[Marches Farmer]

Foxes and badgers generally have a night-time "round" that's quite predictable.  Once they know there are chickens they will check them out every night and, if very hungry, in the daytime too (that's assuming they're local foxes and not dumped by pest control companies from a nearby town, in which case they'll regularly hunt in the daytime). 

Terriers are bred to catch vermin.  Retrievers and spaniels are bred to pick up birds.  Greyhounds and whippets are bred to catch rabbits.  I think you can see a theme with this list.

[macgro7]

Yup...
"Our" foxes are so well fed by nearby takeaways and shops dustbins, they don't seem to be much interested in our birds.
Once I kept a cockerel in a broken cage next to the coup overnight and fox easily opened it.
Bloody thing only ate the breast meat and left the rest! I left it untouched for another night. And fox came back had a little bit more and left it!
I managed to catch two - one female in winter and then a young one in late summer.
They seem to be coming out as soon as it's dark - several times I was working in the garden shortly after the sunset and saw fox walking past the house - from underneath the bridge!

[Fleecewife]

The best guardian dog is an actual guardian dog such as Pyrenean Mountain Dog or Anatolian Karabash.  We had a Karabash x and she was great with sheep, poultry and pigs.  Ours didn't live outside though as she wasn't trained from birth.  Major drawbacks are that they are expensive and BIG.


We have two terriers, one a Patterdale x Cairn - wonderful ratter but decidedly glaiket where foxes are concerned. She totally ignores the poultry other than to steal eggs, and is mostly indifferent to sheep, except when they have new lambs when she's terrified of them. The geese ignore her.
The other is a Jack Russel cross - great at digging out mice, rabbits, moles etc, but again hopeless with foxes.  Having said that he has gone for a fighting dog which was attacking the other dog and he was well on the way to killing it     so not a coward. He's the one who helps round up the sheep.  Our new geese hate him, and one of the hens does the full kangaroo-style ripping out his guts the way two hens fight, but he just ignores them all and gets on with stealing grain or digging pits to break your ankle in.


I think any dog which is going to be left alone all day and every day to guard poultry needs to be a special dog and happy with its own company - not great welfare for any dog.  Can't you just improve your fencing?

[Jukes Mum]

not great welfare for any dog.

Definitely agree with this. Maybe more thought needs to be given to the morality of this, rather than the breed?

[in the hills]

Very concerned with the whole idea!

Left alone day and night and in an area that is not securely fenced? Not sure if that would be a good life for any breed of dog and asking for trouble if you ask me. There are a lot of dogs that can be trained not to harm poultry but left alone for hours on end, unsupervised, even they could become chasers or killers.

What if the dog gets out? Not very familiar with terriers but would think they can be good little diggers and escape artists.

All dogs need company and stimulation and there may be some guard breeds that could do the job but surely these have been bred to live in large areas with a large number of animals to protect. Don,t personally think that these suit your circumstances.

You could easily cause real welfare issues for a dog.

Think secure fencing for your poultry is the answer.

[macgro7]

The gaps in the fence are too small for chickens to squeeze through bit the fox manages somehow.
No need to be rude anyone.
I'm glad I asked for advice anyway.
Thanks