I love my dogs, but sometimes they drive me crazy.  Sasha, my German Shepherd puppy, has made it impossible for my chickens to roam in the yard like they used to do.  Our other dog, a Rottweiler cross, is totally chill with the chickens and is more interested with their output than bothering to eat them.

Earlier this year, we brought home a German Shepherd/Blue Heeler mix who immediately found a new home after getting a chicken and a rabbit in her first week.  She was only six weeks old!  So to replace her, we brought home Sasha.  She is a beautiful, purebred German Shepherd who at least waited to worm her way into my heart before mercilessly slaughtering – and devouring – three innocent hens in my yard.

The hens were so good at keeping bugs away, too.  We had a fruit tree near death from a bug infestation (we don’t spray), but it came back to life after the chickens were let in the yard to eat the bugs.  Now, thanks to Sasha’s bottomless appetite, our poor chickens have to be kept out of the yard.  One that dared jump the fence met a sad fate, and the rest have finally gotten the idea.

So, is it my luck, or do all German Shepherds love to eat chicken on the hoof?  Even though she knows she can’t get in their pen, Sasha will stand at the fence as if hoping for a stray wing or other body part to get close enough to nab.  Even the goats get torment as she watches and waits for one to get close.  If I didn’t love the dog to pieces, I would probably give up on the idea of German Shepherds and happily go back to a life filled with rambling, clucking hens instead of buggy trees.