Dogs wandering

starn

Two of my dogs keep wandering up the feilds. Now this wouldnt be much of a problem. But our neighbour, who we dont get on with has sheep in a feild adjoning one of ours. This guy wouldnt think twice about shooting them if he saw them in one of his feilds. For the last couple of days I have had them chained up. I was hoping they might get the message and stop wandering. But no joy. I've heared of sonic fences for dogs. has anyone any exsperiance with thses or advice in general

fits

At this time of year if dogs worry sheep, they can cause the sheep to abort and not come into lamb (i.e. become pregnant) ever again with the trauma. Therefore your neighbour would be perfectly within his rights to shoot your dogs if they came on to his land.
You shouldnt rely on your dogs to 'do the right thing' and stay at home. It is up to you to ensure that your dogs remain on your property. A physical fence is the best possible solution in this instance, but a radio fence also works for some. Just make sure that you check the fence regularly and also the batteries in the dogs collars.

It is never acceptable to let your dogs roam, whether there are sheep around or not.

peasant

The safest thing is a proper fence, as the radio controlled thingies are not 100% reliable.

Depending on the size of your property this is of course a question of cost and you may have to opt for the radio controlled variety.

Either way ...a fence is a must, as there is no training method in the world that will reliably stop a dog from wandering off.
And as their lives are at risk, I suggest that you act promptly.

starn

fits wrote: »

At this time of year if dogs worry sheep, they can cause the sheep to abort and not come into lamb (i.e. become pregnant) ever again with the trauma. Therefore your neighbour would be perfectly within his rights to shoot your dogs if they came on to his land.
You shouldnt rely on your dogs to 'do the right thing' and stay at home. It is up to you to ensure that your dogs remain on your property. A physical fence is the best possible solution in this instance, but a radio fence also works for some. Just make sure that you check the fence regularly and also the batteries in the dogs collars.

It is never acceptable to let your dogs roam, whether there are sheep around or not.

I realsie that. But he has no livestock whats so ever. Now I realsie its ot acceptible that they go roaming. Which is why Im trying to nip this in the bud now. In the past the dogs have dug under the fencing round the house. So I cant justify putting a fence round 15 acres of land when thee just going to dig under it

luckat

I'd make a fenced yard for your dogs. Bury the bottom part of the fence 18 inches down and turn it back under about two feet, so they're grieved to discover that digging only lets them meet more fence.

Presumably you bring them for walks each day anyway, so they're not going to be too troubled by the restriction.

And it's probably better for everyone in the family, including the dogs, that they should stay close to home.

starn

The back garden is very small, and I would still like them to have some room to play around in.

luckat

Perhaps you could make a yard for them outside the back garden (if the 15 acres are your own)?

starn

Were I to that I couldnt make it less than 3 acres. Which seems like a bit of a waste of space. I was hoping to here some good reports of the sonic fences.

Trojan911

starn wrote: »

Two of my dogs keep wandering up the feilds. Now this wouldnt be much of a problem. But our neighbour, who we dont get on with has sheep in a feild adjoning one of ours. This guy wouldnt think twice about shooting them if he saw them in one of his feilds. For the last couple of days I have had them chained up. I was hoping they might get the message and stop wandering. But no joy. I've heared of sonic fences for dogs. has anyone any exsperiance with thses or advice in general

This might help. It would do you well to sort your dogs. My sister had to have her two put down as they were caught worrying sheep. I have to say, I agree with the farmer.

cr1272

I can't believe people are suggesting electric shock collars for their own dogs . :eek: Especially a moderator! I'm shocked!

If the dogs are wandering, you need to give them a reason NOT to wander. They are obviously not stimulated enough at home, and are looking elsewhere for it.

I would suggest training, so you understand your dogs better, and the cause of their wandering.

Also, far as I know, allowing dogs to wander is against the control of dogs act. But if it's on your own land, then that's ok.

johnny_adidas

cr1272 wrote: »

.....If the dogs are wandering, you need to give them a reason NOT to wander. They are obviously not stimulated enough at home, and are looking elsewhere for it......

unless these are working dogs and it doesnt sound like it, an example being????

fits

cr1272 wrote: »

I can't believe people are suggesting electric shock collars for their own dogs . :eek: Especially a moderator! I'm shocked!

Oh. My. God.

a moderator did that???

I never suggested a radio fence. If you read my post again, you'll see that I actually recommended a proper fence. However, a radio fence, properly trained for, is a lot better than nothing.

peasant

cr1272 wrote: »

I can't believe people are suggesting electric shock collars for their own dogs . :eek: Especially a moderator! I'm shocked!

If the dogs are wandering, you need to give them a reason NOT to wander. They are obviously not stimulated enough at home, and are looking elsewhere for it.

I would suggest training, so you understand your dogs better, and the cause of their wandering.

.... especially a moderator ...oooh :rolleyes: (PS ..I'm not a moderator on the animals forum)

Let's get real here ...giving the dogs a reason not to wander will not work, nothing to do with stimulation or training.
Given half a chance any dog will wander off sooner or later ...otherwise stimulated or not.

Especially, if said dog finds itself on 15 acres of own land ...how is it supposed to know where the own land ends and where the neighbour's starts?

So the dog has to be contained.

Easy to do if you have your average handkerchief-sized backgarden in suburbia ...bit different if your talking about acres.

Dog proof fencing costs a lot of money (3000 Euro for half an acre in our case).

The way I see it, the OP has two choices: either lock the dogs up in a kennnel/shed all day or get a radio controlled fence.

I'm no fan of radio controlled fences, I wouldn't really recommend them either, but in this scenario they're the best compromise and still a lot better than the dogs getting shot by the neighbour.

lucylu

3000 for a fence :eek:

we have a radio fence for our doggie on a 3/4 acre site. it was €300 from our local veterinary clinic also saw them in 4 homes..
It works a treat. Our doggie has a collar around her neck and there is a fine wire around our boundry fence connected to a Switchbox in our garage. When she goes near the boundry it beeps if she goes further she gets a small shock
Check out http://www.petsafe.ie/

TheB

Hi

I agree - radio controlled fence better than a bullet.

We had a slightly cheaper version of radio fencing that worked well and when we move I will be applying it to our new house/land (although our dogs are never outside unsupervised - but for safety sake it'll be there)

We previously had post and rail fencing as the boundary and field fencing on 19 acres (not ideal for dog purposes) so we ran a strip of electric fencing (the sort for large animals - white tape) between the bottom rail and the ground, another between the mid and top rails and another on inward tape arms (the kind to keep animals from leaning etc on fence) along the top.. powered by a battery energiser.. result : Horses didn't chew fencing, dogs neither leapt or went under fencing.. and they can see the tape and so respect it.. don't like the sneakiness of radio fences and those collars..

Intend to the same at new house with plastic posts initially until we can get the post and rail all done.. done with either plastic or wooden posts it is quite a reasonably cost effective option for large acreages.. we used narrow-ish white tape before but I am thinking of the green wide sort now (for aesthetics )



Bx

cr1272

fits wrote: »

...but a radio fence also works for some. Just make sure that you check the fence regularly and also the batteries in the dogs collars...

I'm sorry, but to me, that is suggesting a radio fence. But infairness, you did also suggest a proper fence.

I just don't get how people can knowingly put something on their pet that inflicts pain.

fits

cr1272 wrote: »

I'm sorry, but to me, that is suggesting a radio fence. But infairness, you did also suggest a proper fence.

I just don't get how people can knowingly put something on their pet that inflicts pain.

I'm not a mod in this forum, so dont give me this 'you should know better' rubbish here.

As for it inflicting pain, if the fence is properly trained for, the most a pet should get is a couple of shocks on the lowest level.

Monkstownman

I see four brands of fence out there:
PetSafe
Canifence
PAC Electronic Fence
Force Field
One poster has mentioned the PetSafe fence, as anyone experience of the others.
I have a loopy Gordan Setter who will chase cats at any opportunity and need the best way of keeping her in our garden

The Artist

fits wrote: »

I'm not a mod in this forum, so dont give me this 'you should know better' rubbish here.

As for it inflicting pain, if the fence is properly trained for, the most a pet should get is a couple of shocks on the lowest level.

i totally agree with you and your posts they should look at their profiles before starting an arguement who the mod is.The collar system works very well which they give your dogs space to a certain point and a little shock deactifates when they pass a certain area chosen by the owner.Its not a kind of shock that would kill a your dog unless hes wired up to the main electric supply god!As for fits saying at the lowest level cant do any harm but at least the the dog wont step out of the boundary and get shot by the farmer is entilted to shoot the dog on his grounds only.

kerrysgold

could you not just fence the piece of land attached to your house? or do you have a small garden and then 15 acres somewhere else? that's a bit confusing so maybe you could explain the layout of your land? dog's don't really need a huge amount of land anyway as they don't usually excersize themselves, and should be brought for walks regularly, preferably once or twice a day anyway, for both mental stimulation i.e. new things to look at, smell etc and physical excersize. steady walking is supposed to be more beneficial excersize than random running around.
also, are your dogs neutered/spayed?

Rodney Trotter

The electric shock collars are the way to go. They are brilliant.

Our dogs weren't long about learning the boundaries. The shock is small and they do not get shocked every day, in fact, they rarely get shocked now that they know the boundary.

As for the people who do not want to cause pain? These are dogs you are talking about, not children. The dogs inflict more pain on themselves when they nip and bite each other. Should I extract their teeth?

Animals are conditioned to take an amount of pain and unless it's continuous it's not cruel.

Our pet fence took about 300m of wire.


(BTW one can get them very cheap (about €200 less than the Irish prices) from the US , on eBay. You will need a different transformer, though.)

The Artist

Rodney Trotter wrote: »

The electric shock collars are the way to go. They are brilliant.

Our dogs weren't long about learning the boundaries. The shock is small and they do not get shocked every day, in fact, they rarely get shocked now that they know the boundary.

As for the people who do not want to cause pain? These are dogs you are talking about, not children. The dogs inflict more pain on themselves when they nip and bite each other. Should I extract their teeth?

Animals are conditioned to take an amount of pain and unless it's continuous it's not cruel.

Our pet fence took about 300m of wire.


(BTW one can get them very cheap (about €200 less than the Irish prices) from the US , on eBay. You will need a different transformer, though.)

im glad you agree

deman

starn wrote: »

I realsie that. But he has no livestock whats so ever.

Whether or not the farmer has livestock, he still has the right to shoot any dog on his land IIRC. As you said earlier, you don't get on with him, so do you want to give the opportunity to get one up on you. I'd go with the general concensous here and get a "shocking" fence rather than risk losing a dog or two.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The shock collars are not dependable. I know 3 people who used them with great failures, as they became accustomed to the dogs being under control only for the devices to develop a fault and the dogs strayed. A good boundary fence is the best solution (including burying wire or fence below soil level to allow for digging. But your reference to 15 acres has me confused. Do you think you can get a collar system that you'll install around 15 acres?
The neighbouring farmer has a right to keep your dog off his land but you have the responsibility to make it happen. I have only a 1.25 acre site but the dogs can't get out - simple wire fencing and hawthorn hedging does the trick very well.

Mr. Presentable

starn wrote: »

Two of my dogs keep wandering up the feilds. Now this wouldnt be much of a problem. But our neighbour, who we dont get on with has sheep in a feild adjoning one of ours. This guy wouldnt think twice about shooting them if he saw them in one of his feilds. For the last couple of days I have had them chained up. I was hoping they might get the message and stop wandering. But no joy. I've heared of sonic fences for dogs. has anyone any exsperiance with thses or advice in general

starn wrote: »

I realsie that. But he has no livestock whats so ever. Now I realsie its ot acceptible that they go roaming. Which is why Im trying to nip this in the bud now. In the past the dogs have dug under the fencing round the house. So I cant justify putting a fence round 15 acres of land when thee just going to dig under it

Which is it? TBH, if you have dogs you must control them, however you find necessary. If the electronic fence works then great, otherwise an actual fence or chain them up. If not one of those solutions then you need to get rid of the dogs. The farmer is within his rights to destroy your animals if they are on his land.

kerrysgold

Keeping a dog chained up is cruel and can lead to all sorts of behavioural problems.....

kerash

kerrysgold wrote: »

Keeping a dog chained up is cruel and can lead to all sorts of behavioural problems.....

it would be even more cruel to risk you dog getting shot than to chain it for the period while it's trying to go after sheep. It would just be a short period of time and wat else cant the owner do while they are putting up fence/getting electric collar sorted. Even the most trained and obedient dog can have this behaviour-they will often climb over /dig under fences to get out and it's the owners responsibility to appropriately contain their animal.

kerrysgold

they could always keep the dogs in the house while the fencing is being sorted, and take the dogs out regularly to go to the toilet and for excersize.

kerash

kerrysgold wrote: »

they could always keep the dogs in the house while the fencing is being sorted, and take the dogs out regularly to go to the toilet and for excersize.

Yes, if they are not working and the dogs are house trained etc but it may not be possible. lots of dogs are kept outside and are happier there. I hate to see dogs chained up all the time, however sometimes it is necessary for the period the dog wants to wander.