Fencing Requirements of your dog.

Chain link is just a challenge to Dakota. If you can see through it, then there must be a way out. That's the way she thinks. Now I have a 6' privacy fence, that the dogs can't see through. Around the fence is a 2' stone bed where I have various plantings. The stone bedding keeps them from trying to dig under the privacy fence. 

I can do with a chain link fence. Maze knows better then to scale a fence. But for my peace of mind I'd prefer a privacy fence.. I don't like people walking by and teasing Maze.. 

we have an e-fence and Bugsy is 100% with it since about month 2 or 3.  Our development doesn't allow 6 foot fencing and 4 ft is just great fun for B.  Besides 6 feet is probably not an issue either.  I also think that for him NOT seeing is more stressful than seeing.  If you close him in a room he freaks if you put some broken cheap baby gate in the door way he will lay in front of it but since he can see he seems fine.  Sorry off topic there.

With the e-fence we did SERIOUS training.  His prey drive is really, really high and he also would go across the cul de sac to play with a GR.  We do not leave him out there when we are not home, and we do keep him in our mind when he is out for more than 15 minutes or so,  you know you go see where he is.

I know for sure that it is 100% because just last week a deer was grazing in a neighbor's yard and he was in full stalk, ready to fly mode.  I mistakenly said OK and he took off but did a cartoon-esque stop (burned feet job)  when he hit the sound alarm.  Then still completely on fire and staring down the deer a rabbit hopped by about 12 feet in front of him.  He was freaking out but he did not go through.

It served as a great testimony of his respect for the boundary. 

we put it in ourselves so it was really reasonable in price too. 

Maggie can clear 5ft easy from a standstill (she hops straight up vs. climbing, and then just pulls herself over the top), so she requires a tall fence.  My parents' put up 8ft plastic deer fencing and that contained her well; she never seemed interested in digging out.  After they got Gryffin, my parents' had to reinforce the fence since he likes to chew or dig out; they still haven't completely solved that problem even with a double layer fence, 18" overlap on the ground, and stakes every 4 inches around the perimeter. :\

I don't have any idea about Z, but since she can jump straight up almost as high as my head (5' or so), I figure she'll need a tall fence too.  When we get a house the girls will never be left unsupervised unless we have at least a 6' fence of some type, preferably privacy fencing with the smooth side inside. 

We have a 4' chain link fence around our large backyard. Our dog at the time when we put up the fence we found out liked to dig herself out to freedom to sit on the front steps and wait to come back into the house. Hey Fluffy that what the deck doors are for. I then lined the bottom of the fence with more fence as that was all I could afford to do after putting up the chain link fence. I cut it about 12" or so and hooked it to the bottom of the chain link fence. That fence laid really nice and flat on the ground. Fluffy then would had to do some serious digging to get out. It didn`t take very long and the grass grew up in the fence and it so called embedded itself in the the yard. We mowed over that fence with no problem what so ever. That was the end of Fluffys digging out to sit on the front steps. She then used the deck doors to come into the house. She was to small to even try to jump out of the fence.

Now when my daughter brought her Lab here she would play in the fence until she got bored and would then jump out play in the rest of the yard then jump back into the fence. She now has a Basenji and I have seen Lexi climb. I don`t see keeping her in my fence either.

My son has a GSD and his fence is a high wood privacy fence. I like them but they need some up keep or they can deteriorate after a few years.

I guess you could say I don't need a fence with Kirby because the lack of a fenced in yard wouldn't bother him in the least.  That being said, while at my parents house I do have a large fenced in backyard for him.  It is chainlink and once kept in my mom's horses with the help of a bit of hot wire.  It's been years however since she has kept her horses at our house and after multiple hurricanes and storm wear, our fenced in yard is in poor order.  A 50-60 pound dog could easily squeeze out in several areas without much work, and the ducks don't even bother flying over since they know all the little areas they can squeeze right under.  Still it is no problem with Kirby because he is an absolute velcro baby who wouldn't dream of trying to break out of the fence to escape me and he is only in the yard when I'm there.  If I wasn't there he would do nothing but sit at the fence staring at where I last went so it is pointless to let him out in the yard on his own.  He just isn't an outdoor kind of dog unless your there to entertain him. 

 It's actually kind of silly.  I was so paranoid that he would try to squeeze out of the fence before I got him.  I even went with my dad to the hardware store and bought a tone of this green gratting we were planning to run along the bottom of the fence in places he would be able to possibly squeeze out.  After him being at the house for a week we returned that laughing at the fact I was dreading him fleeing when at the time I couldn't even get more than a foot away from him.
 

Thanks so far everyone.  This is interesting. 

kpwlee

I also think that for him NOT seeing is more stressful than seeing.  If you close him in a room he freaks if you put some broken cheap baby gate in the door way he will lay in front of it but since he can see he seems fine.  Sorry off topic there.

No, not really off topic.  I've had the same concern actually.  I want to put up a wooden privacy fence around the yard to keep Crusher from getting out, but I'm wondering what it will do to Onyx.  Right now she barks at people that walk past or come into the yard.  But typically she is pretty good about dropping it when they are out of sight.  I'm a little curious about how she(and Crusher for that matter) will react when they can't see exactly what is on the other side of the fence.  I'm not stupid enough to think that they won't know when something is there.  But it might be harder for them to know when someone is walking away or walking towards the house.  This might freak them out.  So this makes me a little nervous.  My dogs lay by the $10 babygate that is falling apart too, but lock them in the porch...forget about it.

If you are thinking about a underground fence you really have to make sure the batteries are good at all times. I have a friend in town here that has one and they have a problem with the two dogs running around town because the batteries are always going dead. Another Friend that has one said if the dog got excited enough nothing could stop it. The fence made no different he went through the fence and wandered around town until they found he was missing and went and found him.

Weird. I have the opposite problem with Dakota. She is much better off not seeing the other side. She will pace a chain link fence forever trying to find the weakness. I think that it is partly an anxiety thing. Like maybe she feels confined when she can see the other "world" but can't get to it. A privacy fence though - she's fine with.

We have a 6 foot security fence around the back yard. Unless, I am in the front yard, & Bevo is in the back yard, the security fence contains everyone very nicely. If Bev knows that I’m in the front yard without him, he jumps the fence to come see me.

The front yard has an e-fence. I’ve never had an issue with anyone trying to break the barrier.

Seeing as Tootsie is never outside alone a fence is unnecessary. She is so velcro to me she would never even think of jetting. My parents do have a fence and even if the gate is open, she won't cross the area where the gate should be.

When I had several acres, I put in an e-fence because putting up a physical fence just wasn't practical.  I checked it almost daily to make sure it was working because the batteries could go dead, or sometimes the deer would kick up the wire somewhere and break it.  My beagle challenged it every day, and I had the fence people increase the depth of the field several times before she couldn't run through it at top speed.  It stopped my dogs cold when they chased a bear one morning.  

The dog I have now needs a fence or a leash, he is not -- and will never be -- 100% trustworthy.  I am always worried about a gate being left ajar.  Our current postage-size property has a 6 foot fence which looks adequate at first glance, but dogs can always find a way that you never thought of. 

It's nice this has come up, because I've wondering what to do about the fence around the yard of the house that DH and I want to buy.  It currently has a 4 ft. tall chain link fence on the sides of the yard, and a 6 ft. chain link fence (with barbed wire top) at the back line.  (The back line fence is owned by the forest preserve that it backs up to).  My main concern with the 4 ft. sides is that Honor could scale it, so I'm thinking about raising the height to 6 ft. on all sides.  My only big concern would be the bottom.  Honor's small enough that she could probably fit through any gaps in the gate fencing.  Does anybody use any materials near the gate to ensure non-breach, but still maintain a working gate?.  I really like the idea of adding stone gardening along the fence line to inhibit digging under. 

Sasha is amazing at escaping. Thankfully, she almost never thinks it is worth the effort. But when we had new neighbor dogs and my daughter was an infant, Sasha thought it was her god-given duty to drive away the intruders. Chain link is worthless. It is very bendable, it turns out. She had no problem scaling the 5 foot fence, and was able to make it over the 6 foot fence when she really wanted to.

Right now, we have a 6 foot wooden fence with 2-3 inches of wood plank buried beneath the ground. Sasha hasn't shown any interest in getting out for a few years.  She's also getting older and not as agile as she once was.