Alternatives to chaining my new dog....

[DawnSuiter]

For 3 years I've been dealing with the neighborhood strays & neighborhood dogs which roam freely. And this year, when i got chickens, i decided we needed aNOTHER dog to keep away the predators & neighborhood dogs... so we got "Boy" a 75lb pyranese mix. Another rescue dog I found wandering with twine around his neck & all the normal bad stuff you would find in malnourished abused dog. Anyway.. he's home now, neutered & up to date, safe, sound & getting healthy and i want to train him to stick around here. For the 1st week he stayed on our porch either crated or on a leash, it's week two and I've been letting him roam during the day while we build the hen house.. calling him back every 30 min or so & rewarding him.

We have 3 other dogs, but they are smaller & don't jump our wimpy 4' fence, however Boy finds jumping the fence slightly entertaining!

So.. we have only about a half acre to fence in here in the front of our house, which I hope should be enough for him to roam & patrol, and I need to keep him contained. While the neighbors dogs roam freely (unneutered, unvaccinated & dangerous), I still feel it's wrong to let ours do so. I mean, none of the neighbors have chickens or livestock in danger, or even children or stray cats for that matter, but I would just feel better if I knew where he was all the time.

So.. what's your experience with keep dogs IN the boundaries... I refuse to chain dogs, there is never a lead long enough or space where he can't get tangled in trees. And the alternative, letting him roam is totally free of course, so I need a happy medium. What have you used, how did you train, what do you do?

 

[2 Beauts]

My Grandpa always walked the perimeter of the yard every morning and every evening with his dog so it knew where it's boundries were. You can always go with the invisible fence.

 

[arlee453]

Invisible fence (which may or may not work so well depending on if the collar contacts through all that hair)

OR a 6' chain link kennel with a topper, and exercise when you can be out with him.

 

[lurky]

Maybe you could staple (attach) welded wire fencing around the inside of the existing fence to add a couple feet.
I dont know how it would look, or if its even visable to anyone else. But its just what came to mind. You did not mention what your existing fence is, ours is stockade which is why i said staple.

 

[dogzrule5]

I have successfully trained dogs to stay in their own yard by teaching them where the boundries are. I would walk in the yard with them and then watch them. The instant they had all four feet outside of the boundry, I'd scold them and pop them with a rolled newspaper (I know, some people will croak). They all learned very quickly where their boundaries were and I rarely had a problem except when they'd decide to go have an adventure on their own.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Thing is, he's welcome to roam 3 acres in any direction, I cannot possibly walk that every day, and I hoped that he would, but i'm second guessing the "roaming" because it seems so wrong.

perhaps I'm just trying to easy my conscience (sp?) here.... I mean, my front yard, before the woods, is about half an acre, and I figure that's manageable to fence in, or use electric fence or something...
my current fence is the cheap green metal stakes & green wimpy wire fencing which as I measured, is actually only 3' tall, and it only encompasses a couple hundred square feet... it was plenty for the little dogs we already had, but not Boy.. it's too little room....

what to do, what to do....

(dawn hims and haws)

 

[farmgirlie1031]

You could put a strand of hot wire fencing at the top of your fence. Once he hit it and realizes it hurts he won't be jumping it anymore. My dog only hit is once down at the horse pasture where she would go under the fence and now she never goes in there anymore I didn't want her in with the horses and once was all it took for her to learn the lesson.

 

[DawnSuiter]

How does this "hot wire" work, and how do you wire it? or hang it?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Hot wire is simply a strand of electrified wire. It's what use use to keep our German Shepherds in our 3' chainlink.

You will need to buy chainlink fence insulators, a roll of wire, and a hotbox(to produce the electrical current).

One strand of wire is sufficient for us. The dogs only hit it a couple of times and quit. The dog/small animal electrical hotbox doesn't have a very large charge(compared to our horse hotbox- OUCH!), but it's enough to deter your pooch.

-Kim

 

[WrenAli]

One thing my granddad used to to was get a tire and wheel, probably a lawn tractor one for a dog, and attach it to the dog's collar. Dragging it will keep the dog from going to far and if you keep it short, 3 feet or so, he can't jump with it.

I know other people who use large sticks (logs) and such to accomplish this as well. It also works if you have a dog that likes to go after animals as the dog can't move very fast and keeping cattle/goats/sheep from jumping a fence.

It's not a permanent thing, you just keep in on the animal until they learn. It also has the great advantage of doing some of the lead teaching for you. I had a ram that would get out and we used this method on him. He leads great now and doesn't get out anymore.