Unlikely Working Dog Candidate - My Chug and Her Chickens

by Michelle Wetherbee
( (Sherman, Connecticut, USA))

This dog breaks through the working and guardian dog stereotype.

I received a Chihuahua pug mix about four years back by a relative who just could not deal with her any more. To this day I don't see why. She is house trained, lovable and her only flaw is the unstoppable desire to protect her home and apparent disability to stop barking when a stranger comes in and she has the chance to smell him.

We have had several sheep dogs over the years, the majority of them being Border Collies but we have never had a chicken dog.

When first got the dog we had a few bossy ducks. After a few squabbles between the dog and the ducks Kiba started to stay by their side. Sadly the last duck died before we could see if she would guard them like a working dog.

Later we got twelve chickens. Since we had no chicken coop in the barn I raised them in the house until they were big enough to go outside. That's when I noticed something odd.

Although Kiba does show an interest in the chilled lambs that come inside to be bottle fed and warmed that was the extent of her interest. Yet with the chicks she bathed them and didn't want anyone to get near except for me.

When they were old enough to go to the barn Kiba was not allowed to stay out considering she is a family pet. Every time she did go out, her time was spent with the chickens in the barn or finding them outside the barn (they were free range chickens). If they were out she chased them inside the barn.

It would look like she was about to bring one down but then she would stop and let the chicken get a head start until it was in the barn then she would do a roll check and go find another chicken if they were not all there.

The first time one of the chickens was killed by some sort of animal Kiba was inside at the time. She was going berserk yelping and whining, scratching the door, something she never does unless it's an urgent cause.

We didn't know at the time that a chicken was being hunted. By the time a fifth chicken had been killed we noticed a surprising similarity in the deaths. One, Kiba always went berserk. Two it never happened while she was out and three, afterwards she goes up to the chickens circling them and nuzzling them for a few hours, ignoring all orders to come in. She doesn't allow anyone except for me, to go in to feed them and she eats beside the chickens on those days.

Another odd thing is although she's not one for herding or collecting junk every time one dies a few days after it disappears she returns with a feather of the dead chickens color and buries it in the lawn. I always thought it was a coincidence until she came back with a tan feather shortly after our only tan chicken had passed.

Soon we were left with only two chickens, a black one and a brown one. Shortly after the black one passed Kiba leaves the brown chickens side to eat and sleep.

We've had all the chickens for four years thanks to my dog when surly without her they would have all been gone in one year.

The chickens have also opened my pups maternal side even though shes been spayed. When the first bottle baby of the year came in she seemed determined to help the chilled lamb live, much like she helped the chicken live a longer life.

We still have Kiba, the brown chicken and Eugene, the bottle lamb that my pup saved. In a few years the chicken will be gone and my dog will be gone but the lamb that she saved will live on in the new lambs each and every year.