We were so happy the day we brought those four young hens home to live at Longleaf Breeze. And we should have been, given that we had been planning for and dreaming about chickens for more than two years. It was finally happening!
Our joy quickly turned to fear, though, when we watched the bloodthirsty attack our springer spaniel Oddie mounted on them. Nobody told him so, but Oddie immediately concluded that chicken taste like chicken, and he wanted some. Something had to give. Either the chickens would have to go, Oddie would have to go, or Oddie would need to become a different dog. We rejected number one (too much of a retreat from our core strategy), delayed number two (possible but highly distasteful), and set about number three. Our chosen tool was an e-collar. We had all the reservations most people do about using electrical shock as a training tool, but a little bit of research convinced us that the e-collar is actually more humane than the other options available.
As we discuss in the podcast, the collar that made such a difference for us is actually the second one we purchased. After less than a week wearing the collar, Oddie is once again off his leash and running happily around the farm. He still looks at the chickens every now and then, but he knows to leave them alone. We still don’t trust him alone with them, but maybe one day we will.
Listen – 19:31
With a generous assist from the e-collar, Oddie is once again a happy, well-adjusted free-ranging farm dog. And the chickens are safe too.
Here’s the first collar we purchased, a PetSafe Yard & Park Remote Dog Trainer. We just couldn’t depend on it to work reliably.
Here’s the collar that changed our lives (and Oddie’s too), a Dogtra 1-Dog Platinum System.