# Multiple dogs without a fenced yard?



## Jamm (Mar 28, 2010)

We also dont have a fence so everytime Joey is outside, myself or my parents are out there with him. We wont be adding a second dog for as long as im living with my parents but i think i would get another dog IF i would be sure i could control both outside on the lead. For playtime i drop Joeys lead and he basically stays by my side but never out of my sight. Im sure it could work


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## GoldenMum (Mar 15, 2010)

I have 5 Goldens on an invisible fence. I do also have an area I can put them if I can't be watching. We have about 6 acres invisible fenced, they can explore when I'm outside. I have used invisible fence for ten years with no problems. I just make sure to test my collars monthly.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

My parents have 2 dogs, no fence. They take the dogs out with them every time. It can be a pain, especially in the winter. They make it work. They have a huge yard and the dogs are pretty reliable about staying with my parents if they're off leash. They also live in a nice neighborhood, very little traffic besides the people that live on the street.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

We don't have a fenced yard... and I would never use a zap collar on any dog.

You have to border train your dogs. And then it depends on your dogs how soon they get to go off leash in the yard and how long they have to drag long lines behind them. When we let the dogs loose, we usually start off with controlled situations. Like they are dragging the long line or at least a 6 foot leash while they play or are tired out/super relaxed. 

Our previous goldens were 3 or 4 years old before they were trustworthy off leash. But both of them were more independant minded. Both Jacks and the collie on the other hand have never really had any problems. 

Jacks has broken property to go play with his girlfriend (a pitmix who was adopted by her owners the same time we got Jacks). But other than that he was easily and quickly border trained. And the collie only needed a few walks around the property lines to learn to stay within them. 

The other main thing is the dogs do not go outside without you going out with them or standing on the porch and ready to run after them.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

If there's any way you can put in a secure dog run, it's well worth it. We have one off the side of the house, in that space we'd likely not use for anything much anyway (actually I didn't like that the kids would have played there and been far out of sight anyway). It's nice that on warm days like today, they can go out and I know they can't get into much trouble while enjoying the fresh air and sun, and the rest of the yard doesn't get trashed.

It also has a nice, high fence, for whatever reason the people who built the fence did six feet everywhere and three feet on one small section, and both of the younger dogs figured out quickly to hop the fence and go into the neighbor's personal garbage dump for snacking.

I have used the e collar (or zap collar) on my border collie before we had the run put in, mainly because he'd go out, hop the fence and GO and I had a newborn and was not in the mood to go hiking to find him ten times a day when he was in that mood to go off on his own. I stood in the house and zapped him when he jumped up a few times and he soon got the message. Still had to watch but at least it wasn't an instant escape.

The invisible fence would be an option too, simply so you can pop collars on and go out with them and have them do their thing (my guys love to play and wrestle which would be limited on a leash). Depends on your area and traffic and how safe it'd be for them to run off if they were loose.

Lana


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## DianaM (Feb 18, 2010)

We don't get too much traffic on our street so that's good. Unfortunetly, we aren't allowed to have fences in my neighborhood (homeowner association rules).


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## kgiff (Jul 21, 2008)

I have three dogs and no fence. Well actually we have an invisible fence that two of the dogs have been trained on, but hasn't been used in years. The dogs are NEVER outside unattended. They all went out on leash until they had a really reliable recall. They still go out on leashes at certain times. Two of the dogs are seniors and I think that makes a huge difference. If we had multiple young dogs, they'd probably need to be taken out individually.

Is it the ideal situation? No. I'd much rather have a fence, but it would cut the area that looks like out backyard in less than half and the dogs would have no room to run around.


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## 2golddogs (Oct 19, 2009)

We have 2 goldens and no fence. During the day though while we are gone they have the garage with a large attached outdoor run that can't be seen from the road. We are also in a neighborhood with no traffic and 2 plus acre lots. Jackson is still on a leash and learning the boundaries. Kosmo is a senior and has never really had a desire to explore outside the yard. When they need to go out we go with them and they are never left unattended outside. I don't really mind because I just love being with them!


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

I went 3 years with taking 2 dogs out on leashes. When we made the decision to take my aunt and uncles 15 months old golden, I said no way, not unless we geta fence. Presto! Fence was done by the end of the weekend. Its just chain link, but I couldn't live without it now that I have 4 dogs, and my roommate that just moved in has a dog, so thats 5 dogs running around off leash and having a good time, rather than everyone being leashed. I am not totally opposed to electric fences, as long as there are not wild animals/neighborhhood dogs, etc that will still come in your yard.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

We only have one dog; we have a fenced backyard where Hank can be unsupervised as well as a 1 1/2 - 2 acre area that has an invisible fence for supervised freedom. 

Invisible fences are easy to install, we did ours in a weekend for less than $200. (amazon.com). Hank learned to respect the boundary within 4 days. He was zapped 3 or 4 times but now will not cross for balls, wildlife, people etc. I don't leave him out there unsupervised or after dark, just because it's a large area and I can't visually see everything. I'm still learning to trust it.

Honestly, I believe "border respecters" are born, not made. Some dogs seem to never leave their yards, where some run no matter what and are almost impossible to train.
I've had both.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Taz Monkey said:


> I went 3 years with taking 2 dogs out on leashes. When we made the decision to take my aunt and uncles 15 months old golden, I said no way, not unless we geta fence. Presto! Fence was done by the end of the weekend. Its just chain link, but I couldn't live without it now that I have 4 dogs, and my roommate that just moved in has a dog, so thats 5 dogs running around off leash and having a good time, rather than everyone being leashed. I am not totally opposed to electric fences, as long as there are not wild animals/neighborhhood dogs, etc that will still come in your yard.


Hehehe.... putting up a fence for us would involve chopping down trees or artistically twisting and turning the fence around the trees. And we have an alpine hill in back which would cause other problems. <- Which would explain why we were OK with letting our intact male dogs drag leashes around for a couple years until they were trustworthy.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

I would have totally done an electric fence, but we have about 5 neighborhood dogs that do not know boundaries, and I have one dog who will pick a fight with anything that walks near her yard, so that wasn't an option for us


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

For several years I had 1-2 dogs and no fenced yard. 

Fenced yard are nice for sending dogs out to potty without heavy supervision (esp when weather is poor), for letting dogs play together, and for training.

A fenced yard is NOT a substitute for exercise. 

Since getting a partially fenced yard... I find it much m ore challenging to exercise my dogs appropriately, and I spend more time on yard maitenance than playing with them!


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## DianaM (Feb 18, 2010)

Hehehe.. just for fun, here is our yard. Pink is our property lines. Very awkward. Our back patio is like 5 feet from the corner of the neighbors driveway, their deck is about 20 feet from our patio. So we really don't have much of a backyard. Our sideyard is full of trees and needs some major landscaping to make it nice enough to play. I don't even go in our yard because it's so bad. I would rather walk Gracie to the park in our neighborhood for run around time or we go to the dog park. I guess we will see how things go as we fix things up and maybe it will be nice enough to actually hang out in with two dogs .


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

We have two dogs on a small property, and we rely on recall to set the boundaries. I take both out at once and simply call them when they hit the border. They wheel around and come back, and pretty soon they learn that it's the border. 

You need a lot of recall work to do it that way, but it's definitely a reliable method.

We only use the yard for bathroom breaks, though. Very little playing goes on there (none right now, since we just reseeded about 3/4s of it). I take them to the land trust for long hikes, so I don't really hang out in the yard with them.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

tippykayak said:


> We have two dogs on a small property, and we rely on recall to set the boundaries. I take both out at once and simply call them when they hit the border. They wheel around and come back, and pretty soon they learn that it's the border.
> 
> You need a lot of recall work to do it that way, but it's definitely a reliable method.


That's part of how we taught our guys. 

The other thing we do for border training is take them out on collar and leash and walk them along the border, especially where they are likely to break. For us this would be the front border where it is wide open to the street. The rest of the property has a thick natural border (we've kinda encouraged raspberry bushes to grow in the meager open spaces not covered by trees or tangly bushes. 

Every time the dogs think about crossing the border (the edge of the grass) they get a quick pop and "Home!" reminder. And "Good home!" praise and treats when they quickly step back on the good side of the border towards you. 

As the dog gets the idea, he's given a longer and looser leash which is carried by you. And then he's allowed to drag behind him. And then overtime the long lead is shortened until it's taken off completely. 

Every time the dog breaks the border, you put the leash back on him and go through a week of border training until your dog is making no attempts to cross the property line.

And the dog does not cross that border until they are given the "OK" from you. 

It essentially works the same way as the training if you were using a zap collar. Only difference is you aren't shooting nauseous electric currents into your dog's neck.


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## Enzos_Mom (Apr 8, 2010)

We have Enzo and a 7 year old yellow lab (who likes to run off) named Hunter. We don't have a fence (we're also not allowed to), so we have a line that runs from the back door to the back of our yard. The dogs are on leads that are about 20 ft long, so they pretty much have run of the yard. We still supervise them. Enzo and Hunter don't play much together in the backyard, but Enzo and his littermate, Ryu, have no trouble playing on the leads when Ryu comes over. The only part that sucks is when they get their leads tangled up with eachother.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

We have a condo and thus no yard (but a tiny patio) and found it very difficult when Cosmo was a puppy and we still had our guide dog. They would play on the patio but I remember thinking over and over how nice it would to have a fenced yard to let them play outside since we have such a tiny amount of space inside. If we get a second dog we'd only do it with a fenced yard, at least a small one.


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## DianaM (Feb 18, 2010)

I think we have a bit of a start on the border training. Since we don't have sidewalks, I wanted to make sure she didn't think it was ok to go on the street without me saying so. Before we leave our driveway for a walk, I make her sit and wait while I look both ways (she started looking both ways with me haha) then I say ok and we go. She also likes to do her business right along the edge by the street and typically stays on the grass without me pulling her. Once in a while she tries to chase a leaf but I tell her no and give her a little pull and she comes back. I will continue working on it.

I would LOVE to have the same control our trainer has with his golden. It is amazing to see them two together. I feel pretty lucky having him as our trainer because he is the president of the local GR club


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

DianaM said:


> I would LOVE to have the same control our trainer has with his golden. It is amazing to see them two together. I feel pretty lucky having him as our trainer because he is the president of the local GR club


I'm just curious... is he an older guy? Who wears Michigan sweatshirts. Who has a beautiful light golden?


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