Goodbye Dasher

I think I had posted earlier that we were taking my mom's dog in, both as a favor to her, and as a guard dog for the goats once they got here. Unfortunately, Dasher (also known as Chewbacca) is not going to work out. We had been keeping him on a leash around the chickens so he could get to know them and I had assurance that he would not attack them. Everything had been fine-they would come up right next him, and he would totally ignore them. So, since we were outside today, I let him off to run around and play. He stayed pretty close to me, then decided to explore. I couldn't see him, but suddenly noticed feathers where there were none before. The roosters have really started getting cocky lately, and I had just seen some fighting, so I kind of brushed it off. I asked the girls if they could see the dog, and they did-"Dasher's eating a mama chicken." OH. NO. I ran to see, and sure enough, he was going at it. I was able to grab him and chase her a bit to get her to run the other way, while praying that she was not mortally wounded. Dasher fought me pretty violently the whole time. I have scratches on my face where he got me with his claws, as he wiggled and jumped to try and get at another bird. I had to drag him up to the bigger garage and lock him in, so he wouldn't take off or injure another bird. After a rest, the hen looked okay. She had some wounds on her backside, but was pecking and scratching about. I'll keep an eye on her, and unfortunately, Dasher will be taken elsewhere tonight. My birds are a priority, and in general, once a dog gets a hanckering for chicken, you can't change them. They get pretty determined to accomplish their goal.