A Tail of Four Chickens
A few years ago I learned about a dog trainer that started all of her training camps by teaching her students how to train chickens. This premise was that the students had to learn to keep the attention of the bird, not be forceful, learn correct timing for giving rewards, and patience. I had done some basic training with my chickens but never anything formal or exciting.
This year I purchased four more chicks to add to my coop. The breeder and I both thought that the chicks were female. As they matured it became clear that these four were boys. I was disappointed but this wasn't the first time that I would be caring for multiple roosters in one coop. The only difference is that I started to document their behavior development.
If you are reading this and wondering what my chickens have to do with dog training, I don't blame you. I do have a point, I promise!
Roosters are known for being mean. I have owned many roosters from various backgrounds, yet I have never been attacked by a rooster. I have had my thoughts about the reason for this but wanted to take the time to observe these four birds and find out what might be resulting in well -behaved roosters.
Once a week I feed the birds briefly from my hands, then dump the rest of their feed into the trough. Once weekly each rooster is gently encouraged to come to me, then picked up. During this routine handling, they get their face stroked, legs handled and wings stretched out one at a time while talking in a calm voice.
One of the roosters is named Frankie. He has never shown any fear. He is calm, relaxed, seeks out attention from me, and was the first to crow. The second one is Teddy. He had a week of being a little unsure and easily startled. I continued with the regular socialization routine and he moved through this phase smoothly which also made him the second one to start crowing. This pattern tells me that they are maturing at different stages.
The final two both developed the fear stage at the same time, however they remained fearful longer. These two (named Boris and Eli) started a display behavior that is a request to fight (circle around their target, drop a wing and start to stomp their feet). If the "target" moves towards the bird or leans over the bird, this is perceived by the bird as a threat or invitation to fight. Eli displayed this behavior first to the other birds. He chose the lead hen. She charged after him and chased him away. He then did this to one of the older roosters. This resulted in the rooster ignoring the negative behavior from the young bird. The very next day, Eli displayed the same negative behavior towards me. I didn't move, didn't respond in any way. He did this one more time, then never did it again. He started crowing the next week.
Finally, we have Boris. He is still struggling with his fear issues and is not crowing yet. I have continued the routine handling, hand-feeding with him. His behavior has been improving, though he has been very protective of his flock mates. As I was locking the birds in the coop for the evening, Boris would go into the coop but then come right back out to run behind me as I ushered the ducks inside. I was becoming frustrated and noticed that the more frustrated I became the more he would speed up behind me. I started watching him and using him as a frustration gauge. I would see him becoming stressed, so I would stop, take a couple of breaths and then proceed to move the ducks. The ducks went inside much faster when I calmed down, Boris stopped following me and he followed the ducks in the coop peacefully on his own - success!
What is my point in sharing this? Working with dogs is exactly the same. There are multiple factors that result in the behavior they display. Things to keep in mind when working with any dog are their development stage, breed, amount of socialization. Some breeds take longer to mature. We love the breeds that look like puppies forever - the big droopy "sad puppy" eyes, the wrinkles, extra skin, droopy ears. These breeds will take longer to mature, some never do. Learn what your breed of dog of bred/created to do (companion, hunting, guarding, herding, etc.), then learn the development stages of that breed category. Knowing this information will help not only your relationship with your dog, but it will help you know when your dog needs more strict rules for a time, more exercise, more mental stimulation, or even more sleep.
*If you would like to know more about how learning to train a chicken can help with training dogs, check out this link:
https://www.legacycanine.com/chicken-workshops
