How to stop a dog escaping.

amtw

We have a 10 month old GS X. We have about 2 acres of gardens that she and our Staffie-Jack Russell X can run and play in. There is only one exit/entrance and that has an electric gate which is shared with 2 other houses. Over the past week the GS has escaped through the gates on a number of occasions when they were open. We are looking for suggestions to keep her from getting out as we live on a fairly busy road and she will get knocked down if she keeps going out.

I was looking on this forum to see what others thought of a radio collar and some people are very opposed to them. Would anyone have any suggestions. The gate is about 10 foot wide and it is the only way in or out of the property.

angeldaisy

We have a similar problem although less land, what we're doing is fencing off the back of the house and leaving the front open, this way our jrt is safe at the back but we can let our collie out the front so he can do his 'rounds' - making sure all the surrounding houses are safe!

micheleabc

OP IMO your dog is rather walking through an open gate than escaping. Electric collars and electric fences tend to fail often. If it was me I would build an enclose area (fencing the back of your house as angeldaisy suggests), that would also prevent future potential problem with your immediate neighbours if one day your dogs should become too cheeky.

gregers85

would you consider building a run/pen for the dog? and only leave out in the garden when supervised? German Shepherds are very smart dogs and are a working breed and need mental stimulation as well as physical to keep them content! is the dog getting plenty of exercise? also i would introduce obedience games like hide and seek to help stimulate its mental needs

amtw

I really don't want to fence her in. We have always had dogs and we have not had this problem with any of them before. Our house is in the centre of the 2 acre site so we can't cut off the back or front garden.

There is no problem when we are going out we tell her to stay and she does so. We have new neighbours and we have asked them if they would mind waiting outside the gates until they close but this obviously isn't happening. It would be a terrible pity to lock her into a compound where she would see the other dog running around, that seems cruel.

andreac

There is no other way to stop a dog from escaping unless you contain them, its as simple as that.

Electronic Collars do not work. Unless you can fence off an area, or put your dog in a dog run it will keep escaping. Just because other dogs had no problem does not mean you can do the same with this one.

Dogs will always roam and go investigating if allowed to, so its up to you to be responsible and ensure they dont do this and if this means fencing, then so be it.

Its illegal to have your dog out roaming and not under control so you run the risk of your dog being picked up by the warden, or worse still, being stolen or run over. You even said it yourself that its a busy road, all the more reason to do everything in your power to ensure this doesnt happen.

Its very unfair and irresponsible to say you dont want to fence her in, but thats what responsible owners do. They do the best for their dogs welfare and safety.
Its certainly not cruel to keep a dog safe and contained. What is cruel is that it gets out and gets run over or injured or picked up by someone and stolen.

angeldaisy

Is there a way that you could put a separate entrance to your own property and fence off your neighbours gate? That way you are not relying on your neighbours closing gate properly. Another alternative is to double gate the property, so you are effectively providing a buffer zone. Both are not cheap options but it might be an option?

ISDW

amtw wrote: »

I really don't want to fence her in. We have always had dogs and we have not had this problem with any of them before. Our house is in the centre of the 2 acre site so we can't cut off the back or front garden.

There is no problem when we are going out we tell her to stay and she does so. We have new neighbours and we have asked them if they would mind waiting outside the gates until they close but this obviously isn't happening. It would be a terrible pity to lock her into a compound where she would see the other dog running around, that seems cruel.

i can't work out the layout of your home, if its in the middle of a 2 acre site, but you share the entrance/exit with 2 other homes. Do the neighbours share the whole 2 acres?

Do you not think that electrocuting your dog would be cruel?

When you say she is a GS cross, do you mean german shepherd? Unfortunately they are part of the restricted breed list, so if she keeps getting out, apart from your concerns about an accident, you could get into serious trouble for allowing her to roam, and if found by the dog warden, she could be pts, a lot of pounds won't rehome RB dogs, so if she was picked up and you didn't manage to claim her back within the 5 days, she probably wouldn't make it out of the pound.

If you exercise your dogs properly, and spend a lot of time with them when you're home, as I imagine you do, then why not build a large run and keep both dogs in there when you're not home? My dogs don't actually tend to do much running around when we're not there, they sleep, so if the pair of them were together, they'd be happy enough.

_Lady_

Yes OP unfortunately some sort of fencing is the best option. Even people who are advocates of the radio collars will always say that the dog will have gone through the fence at least once in the beginning and in my view the prob with that on a busy road is that it only takes one bid for freedom for your pooch to be hit by car and poss no more also, it is illegal to allow them to roam and also lambing season so v unfair to both doggie and local farmer if you're in rural area.

Aside to this, it always astounds me how people who obviously love their pets and are coming on here to look into ways to help keep them safe or improve their situations - most of the time with the best of intentions - can be attacked straight up by posters on here so quickly! this op has already been branded cruel. Another guy was labelled stupid straight away (as in the guy on the other thread wondering about the ad). fair enough its not the right thing to do but people could always get down off their high horses and advise them in a polite way - just because people know so much already and in fairness are very dedicated to responding to people on here looking for help, shouldn't mean that newbies need to be slaughtered straight away - theyve come on here to research it surely that should be respected initially before they get hung out to dry!!! Just something that crops up over and over again - thought this was supposed to be an online community not a closed community only for people who already know everything!!! I've been learning from day one on boards from advice and past posts on here and it's been brill but frankly fairly scary sometimes!!! Sorry forgoing a wee bit off topic but relevant nonetheless. Pic of my one year old flaked out by fire attached - thanks for the help and advice throughout boards

DBB

With due respect lady, that is a very off topic post which could drag this thread off on a hell of a tangent.
Please feel free to open up a discussion about your concerns though... The appropriate place to do so is in the Feedback forum. Also, if you feel that a post in any thread is in breach of the charter (eg being uncivil, attacking poster not the post) please remember you should always report the post, rather than take matters into your own hands.
Back on topic please folks.
Do not reply to this post on-thread.
Thanks, DBB

ISDW

the other issue with an electric fence, is that if it just the gate that is the 'weak point' in the garden, I'm not sure how you could lay the fencing there,as obviously you would have to, I imagine, dig it up, if its a driveway, if its the type you mean where you bury it, and the dog wears a collar? If it was just laid on the ground, with 3 properties' worth of vehicles driving over it daily, it wouldn't last very long.

Sigma Force

Trying to figure out the layout of your house and garden OP, is your house in like a mini estate type set up that's fully open as in are all your neighbours gardens connected? Am useless at picturing things so not sure what the layout it.

I have a large garden and to be honest in the end the best option for us was to fence it off, I have crudely fenced off the side garden from the front garden because the front garden gate is low enough for the larger dogs to jump over it was a nuiscance at first but trust me the peace of mind soon out weighed it and we're well used to it now.

I mean maybe fence off an acre and keep all the dogs in that area so they still have loads of space (esp. compared to most dogs lets face it) and plenty of toys and chews to keep them busy will help. I can't see any other solution because any dog no matter how good will bolt if they see something that takes their interest or are just being curious.

You could also consider fencing off the garden bit by bit, into sections so sometimes you can open up the whole garden when you are there and then when you're leaving put them into the 1 acre paddock.

Elec. collars etc. imo are not reliable enough and with clever dogs you really need high strong fencing, there's no cheap way around it in the long run. I had to bite the bullet but now my lot can run around without me worrying. Obviously with any large garden it's important to go around the permiter once a week to make sure they aren't digging their way out or the fencing is secure. I found farm relief services great for practical fencing, not cheap but as I said worth it. Vet bills can be massive and legal bills if the dog gets out and causes an accident etc.

There's loads of types of fencing out there, you know your dogs best to work out which is the best option for you.

Or as suggested if it's possibly for you to section off and gate a secondary gate. Just hard to know what to suggest coz I can't picture it.

amtw

Thank you for all your replies <snip>

Angeldaisy, your suggestion about using a double gate is one which might work on the layout of our property so we will have a look at the mechanics involved in doing this as, as I've already said I dont want to keep her in a smallfenced off area.

<snip>


Mod note:
amtw, I'm wondering did you read my on-thread warning above?
If you have a problem with a post, report it. Do not take matters into your own hands.
Do not come on here after a mod warning about civil behaviour, and make flaming remarks.
Do not reply to this post on-thread.
Thanks,
DBB

CollardGreens

My neighbors have a GS & Rottie both around 1yo and both go through the electric fence quite often. My brother had a lab that would start yelping before she got to the electric fence knowing it would hurt but she kept going. Sometimes this brings a second problem whereas the dogs will not come back into the yard because of the electric fence. If they want out, it seems the electric fence will not work with some dogs.

I used a regular metal fence and made a nice dog run for my lab and take her for walks when out of the fence ~ this gets us both exercise

I had a second dog (cancer took him Dec. 29th) and he also stayed in the dog run.

I wish you the best and hope you come up with something that works.