Help! HOW does an 87 pound dog JUMP a 5' fence?!?

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Ok, so here's the situation... the dog is an 87 pound australian shepherd mix. The other night I was heading to my second mom's house (Nancy) and as I was pulling up to turn in the driveway, I saw a stray dog run accross the street and then Dante (the aussie mix) run around the house to the gate... HOW DID HE GET OUT?!?
Nancy has never had ANY dog jump the fence, it's a 5' chain link fence! There are 3 gates, 2 of which are locked at all times and one of which is unlocked but closed, as it was when I arrived that night. There are no holes anywhere, I walked the entire parimeter to be sure. There were no people around that I could see, either. Nancy had ran out to the deck to see what was going on, cause she heard them fighting- he's done that through the fence before, but she was shocked and scared when she saw him on the other side of the fence! Thank GOD he didn't follow that stray! Here's a diagram of the yard. Any ideas? COULD he have jumped it?! We're stumped! Poor Nancy has even lost sleep over it thinking someone had jumped the fence and tried to steal him! Please help!

 

[paddock36]

We used to have a lot of dogs when I was a kid, mostly beagles that my father hunted with and they could actually climb the fence. If your dog didn't jump it then maybe he climbed it or is it possible he pushed through a gate on the bottom?

 

[wanda047]

I too have had several dogs which learned to climb the chain link fences. One dog in particular actually got his leg caught in the chain link and broke it, attempting to climb out. We eventually had to leave him running loose. I just refused to put him on a chain and HE refused to be penned up.

 

[RagTyme]

Few dogs actually jump a fence, usually they jump to get their front feet on the top of the fence and then climb the rest of the way over.

I have one that will do this and their is a simple solution that has worked for me 100%

My fence has a hot wire around the bottom and around the top, the wire is about 6 inches inside of the fence. This serves 2 good purposes.

1) the wire around the bottom keeps the dogs at least 6 inches away from the fence, meaning no opportunity to dig under and no charging the fence if a stray happens along.

2) IF one tries to climb the fence their front feet hit the hot wire instead of the fence, therefore preventing them from even thinking about continuing to climb.

When you first put it up the dog will get zapped a time or two, but they often learn very quickly that the fence now "bites" and they will stay away from the wire which also means they stay away from the fence.

 

[vtsarahb]

My family has boxers (which are also around 80-85 pounds) and I have SEEN them jump the 5 ft. fence in my parents' yard.... So I would say yes, it's possible.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

sure the dog didnt get UNDER the fence or let herself out by opening the gate? our aussie mix is EXTREMELY smart.

my hubby had a wolfmix who figured out how to open the gate, let everyone ELSE out, and when she heard the truck coming up the drive she would go back inside the pen like 'what? i dunno what all those naughty dogs are doing out there - i'm just sitting here like i'm supposed to.'

 

[georgialee]

I've had plenty dogs go over our 6' chain link fence - bearded collies and a great dane (have to admit the great dane surprised me, lol!). I never saw one of them do it but I think they climbed it.