border collies and chickens

Question
We have two female border collies both about 5 months old. We also have a
small herd of chickens they like to herd. One dog has seemed to do well with
the chickens while the other started out a little too aggressive and was
reprimanded. Since then she has started in with herding behavior again and
now
they are both too aggressive with the chickens. We came home and found a
dead rooster with both dogs chewing on it. Can they be trained to leave the
chickens alone now that they have both gotten a taste for them? We want to
train them to herd chickens, not kill them.  

Answer
Hello Susan,

Your Border Collies must be thoroughly trained in order to prevent this situation from happening again.  That means you must set limits by locking your dogs up when not being worked or supervised.  Yes, I believe they can still be trained.  I would recommend going to a herding clinic or getting training info at my website http://petchronicles.blogspot.com  It is important that you start your dogs off right so that they develop good habits.  Bad habits are hard to break.

Thank you for your question.

Ann Jordan
Border Collie Coach