Hi all:

I have a golden that likes to dig, and especially escape any place he's
contained in.

We bought a new house and first had a fence put in. Specified 5' fence,
with 4' above ground and buried 1' deep, so if he digs, he'd probably
give up and just stay put. Problem is, the morons that put it in only
buried it as little as 4", so he dug out.

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence the full 12",
will that be enough? What other ideas do you all have, so we can do
something ONCE and have him contained and safe?

Thanks in advance...

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence the full 12",
will that be enough? What other ideas do you all have, so we can do
something ONCE and have him contained and safe?

Consider adding chicken wire. Get 2" wide, and fold it down the
middle. Use clips (J-clips or hog rings work well) or zipties (the
black ones last longer but they all break down in the sun eventually)
to fasten the top 1' to the existing fence, and let the bottom 1'
extend out over the ground. Weight it down with a good sized rock,
brick, paver, etc. wherever it buckles, and wherever your dog has been
working at it. Let the grass grow up through it and it will anchor
itself down for you with a few weeks to a month. Or cover with mulch.

If there's only 1 or two spots he likes to dig, you might try just
throwing down pavers in those spots (in front of gates is a classic
spot).

And last but not least, get out there and play with him, so that it's
a fun place for him to be. Consider having him in the house and only
letting him out when he can be supervised. It does make your life
harder, but if the alternative is to spend the day hunting down your
dog after he gets out...

Sadly, none of these are a "guaranteed, will work every time"
solution, only a "this has worked before and may work for you, too"
sort of solution. For a sufficiently bored and motivated dog, there
is no fence that is a perfect obstacle.

Good luck,
--Glenn Lyford

"Matt" wrote in message
...
Hi all:

I have a golden that likes to dig, and especially escape any place he's
contained in.

We bought a new house and first had a fence put in. Specified 5' fence,
with 4' above ground and buried 1' deep, so if he digs, he'd probably give
up and just stay put. Problem is, the morons that put it in only buried it
as little as 4", so he dug out.

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence the full 12",
will that be enough? What other ideas do you all have, so we can do
something ONCE and have him contained and safe?

You might try laying down a roll of fencing material along the bottom edge
of the fence, and fastening it to the fence with wire ties as well as
staking it to the ground with U-shaped pieces like some tent stakes.
Eventually grass will grow through it and it will be nearly invisible, but
it should make digging uncomfortable and ineffective.

I'm not sure a fence 4' high is enough to keep a GR from jumping it. But you
can extend the apparent height by adding wire or rope above the top of the
fence and using ribbons or similar items to mark this higher level.

Paul and Muttley

Matt said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I have a golden that likes to dig, and especially escape
any place he's contained in.

We bought a new house and first had a fence put in.
Specified 5' fence, with 4' above ground and buried 1'
deep, so if he digs, he'd probably give up and just stay
put. Problem is, the morons that put it in only buried it
as little as 4", so he dug out.

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence
the full 12", will that be enough? What other ideas do you
all have, so we can do something ONCE and have him
contained and safe?

Your house should be pretty good containment. Left alone, dogs
tend to sleep through much of the day - why not leave him inside
while you're away?
--
--Matt.

With the Ozzy and Irish Wolfhound that I had that were diggers, I
attached a strip of wire mesh fencing along the bottom of the kennel
fencing. The attached wire mesh fencing was laying on top of the ground,
it could have been buried a few inches too. Being attached to the kennel
fencing kept the added mesh flush with the ground, after trying to dig
out a few times, with no luck at all, they finally gave up. The mesh
fencing I used was about 24 inches wide.

Matt wrote:
Hi all:

I have a golden that likes to dig, and especially escape any place he's
contained in.

We bought a new house and first had a fence put in. Specified 5' fence,
with 4' above ground and buried 1' deep, so if he digs, he'd probably
give up and just stay put. Problem is, the morons that put it in only
buried it as little as 4", so he dug out.

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence the full 12",
will that be enough? What other ideas do you all have, so we can do
something ONCE and have him contained and safe?

Thanks in advance...

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On 6/24/2010 7:44 AM, Matt wrote:
Hi all:

I have a golden that likes to dig, and especially escape any place he's
contained in.

We bought a new house and first had a fence put in. Specified 5' fence,
with 4' above ground and buried 1' deep, so if he digs, he'd probably
give up and just stay put. Problem is, the morons that put it in only
buried it as little as 4", so he dug out.

We are now contemplating what to do. If we bury the fence the full 12",
will that be enough? What other ideas do you all have, so we can do
something ONCE and have him contained and safe?

Keep him inside. Only leave him out for short periods and keep him
occupied by playing with him. Make him enjoy being in the yard so he
doesn't want to leave. DON'T let him get bored!

Favorite dig spots can be cured by putting his stools in the holes then
filling them back in. They won't dig there once you do that in my
experience. You can also try digging out a trench against the fence then
filling it with cement or pavers or chicken wire. If you leave the wire
on top like others suggest he will work around it. I've buried chicken
wire to keep animals away from my chickens when I had them.

The real problem here is not that he's digging out, it's that you are
leaving him alone long enough that he gets into trouble.

Char


Thanks in advance...

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On 6/24/2010 3:10 PM, Dogman wrote:


If your dog is a prolific digger, and has been doing it for a long
time, it's going to be very hard for him to give it up without some
real punishment.

Punishment is *never* necessary, real or otherwise.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:04:26 -0400, Dogman wrote:


So which Char-latan made this post? The one who said she wouldn't
post to me anymore, or the one who apparently relishes seeing dogs die
in the REAL WORLD, because of misguided notions regarding punishment?

She ought to stick to .health, where she can spout nonsense about the
magical effects of raw feeding and have a better chance of people
swallowing it hook, line and sinker. But the statement "punishment is
never necessary" shows a profound lack of understanding of both the
definition of the term "punishment" and the concept of punishment in
the context of operant conditioning. Here in .behavior, it's
[hopefully] more likely that at least some people will recognize that
she doesn't know what she's talking about.

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote
Dogman wrote:

So which Char-latan made this post? The one who said she wouldn't
post to me anymore, or the one who apparently relishes seeing dogs die
in the REAL WORLD, because of misguided notions regarding punishment?

She ought to stick to .health, where she can spout nonsense about the
magical effects of raw feeding and have a better chance of people

Enjoy your rapidly dying group. Posts like this are exactly why it is as it
is dying.

I'm sorry to lose the ones who cared to talk about dogs and help people
learn new things but it's just too abusive here for viability.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2010 17:26:02 -0400, "cshenk" wrote:

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote
Dogman wrote:

So which Char-latan made this post? The one who said she wouldn't
post to me anymore, or the one who apparently relishes seeing dogs die
in the REAL WORLD, because of misguided notions regarding punishment?

She ought to stick to .health, where she can spout nonsense about the
magical effects of raw feeding and have a better chance of people

Enjoy your rapidly dying group. Posts like this are exactly why it is as it
is dying.

It's not dying any more rapidly than it had been in the past 6 months.
In fact, less so; there are always new people with questions.

I'm sorry to lose the ones who cared to talk about dogs and help people
learn new things but it's just too abusive here for viability.

Whatever, Carol. I don't miss aimless chatter, and as I said, there
are always new people with questions. Char has been unnecessarily
nasty to quite a few people here who've disagreed with her, including
me, and while I refrain from unprovoked attacks on people, I don't
feel the need to turn the other cheek on usenet.