Gracie's Lesson

     Having dogs with chickens can be a challenge. Mostly we've been able to train them quickly that chickens are not lunch, nor are they play toys. When we first got chickens we had a golden retriever named Maggie who wanted the chickens in the worst way. I was determined to have them share the back yard so Maggie and the other dogs were leashed for about two weeks until they figured out the yard birds were staying.
     By far the hardest dog to chicken train so far has been Gracie.

Yeah, that's Gracie. She looks pretty harmless, doesn't she? I mean, she's wearing a scarf and she's all clean and cute. She looks like a dog that would ride on your lap in the car and never care to lower herself to the ground unless she absolutely has to. Yeah, she looks that way. But really, she can be a tenacious, evil chicken chaser and raccoon rouser. A dog who can't stay away from any bird and who recently, in her old age (she was 8 when we rescued her) learned to swim. So she also terrorizes the fish and the crawdads that live on the edges of the pond.  Seems hard to believe from such a sweet face but it's true...



     What? Don't believe me, huh? Well this is the same dog....

Yep, there is no denying it. This is after a hard day at bird chasing. Mostly the wild birds. Not a bad life for a dog who was kept in a cage the first two years of her life. She finally stopped chasing the chickens after a lot of arguments from us and a lot of time outs on the lead. But I think the final straw was the showdown with the rooster.  Yep, for sure the rooster fixed her and taught her something we continued to fail at, miserably. He taught her not to mess with his girls.

Gracie faces off with PeeWee

Gracie decided one day to take on PeeWee. As much fun as it was to watch, I think she learned her lesson on that day. He let her know he is very serious about her not messing with the hens.

Gracie darts one way...

I couldn't tell at times if they were playing with each other or not. Surely PeeWee would have spurred her a time or two if he were serious.

PeeWee stays in close pursuit

Gracie: Seriously? PeeWee: Bring it

But PeeWee wasn't done when Gracie was done...

By now she wanted away from the crazy rooster...

She even tried to hide next to Buddy.

And off they'd go again! This went on for a while and Gracie finally gave in and gave up. But we haven't seen her chase a hen again.