# 6 Foot Fence is no obstacle - HELP!



## mylissyk

So my little black retriever mix Cheyenne, 16 in tall at the shoulder and weighs 30 lbs, can scale my 6 foot wood fence without blinking. She is routinely jumping out of the yard into neighbors yards, one of which does not have a complete fence on the other side of their house. But since the fence is no obstacle it really doesn't matter. She has on several occasions gone from walking out the door straight over the fence with me right behind her telling her NO. Chasing squirrels most of the time. Then to add to her fun, she jumps back in our yard.

We have put up arms at an angle and initially had draped it with ground cloth thinking it would be a visual barrier that would hopefully stop her. She simply jumped up until she had torn the cloth and then jumped over in that spot.

Next we put up pieces of wooden lattice. Today she jumped over that, unfortunately then she couldn't jump back into our yard because the lattice was in the way. 

I am out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?


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## Mosby's Mom

Would you consider using a tie-out in addition to the fence in order to help her learn her boundries (boundries = as far as the tie-out goes)? I'm talking a long tie-out so she can freely walk and romp in the yard, but perhaps not reach the fence (I wouldn't want her to be able to climb the fence and then hang herself because she can't reach the bottom on the other side!).

Other than that, I would think just basic recall training, focus training, so she knows when you call her away from the fence she needs to come to you and not continue to try to escape?


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## GoldenCamper

Love your ingenuity with the lattice, something I would have tried too. You might try plywood at an angle then maybe she wont get a grip on it, or do an underground electric fence.

I've seen Youtube vids of dogs like Cheyenne going back and forth over fences like that with no problem, so I can visualize what your saying.


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## Dallas Gold

Oh boy, you have a jumper! We put up a 9 foot fence this summer on one side, next to our neighbor's home since their boys are constantly kicking/hitting balls that go astray into our yard--it's working so far. Our fence was pretty old and we needed to get it replaced completely before we even thought about a new puppy. The rest of the fence is 8 feet. I hope you come up with a good solution for her. Maybe the rescue's behaviorist can help? Other than that netting or a pergola making a roof of sorts?


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom

Good grief Melissa, what a little monkey! The only thing I could think of would be to perhaps extend the fence another 2 feet so you'd end up with an 8' ..... now how to do that esthetically is a whole other issue.


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## Dallas Gold

If my memory serves right, Barkley's foster mom over in Haslet had a jumper foster at one point and she might have some tips for you too.


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## GoldenCamper

Found this with a quick web search. Pricey but gives you an idea.

Fence Dog Extension - Fence Extension Arm


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## mylissyk

GoldenCamper said:


> Found this with a quick web search. Pricey but gives you an idea.
> 
> Fence Dog Extension - Fence Extension Arm


That might actually work unless it would hold her weight and she just jumps on it and then walks over. The rescue's trainer suggested a coyote roller to top the fence but I think she would just push with her back feet and still go over. The neighbor on the other side has an 8 foot fence, I watched Cheyenne this morning and she is 2 inches from jumping to the top of that also. :doh:


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## mylissyk

Mosby's Mom said:


> Would you consider using a tie-out in addition to the fence in order to help her learn her boundries (boundries = as far as the tie-out goes)? I'm talking a long tie-out so she can freely walk and romp in the yard, but perhaps not reach the fence (I wouldn't want her to be able to climb the fence and then hang herself because she can't reach the bottom on the other side!).
> 
> Other than that, I would think just basic recall training, focus training, so she knows when you call her away from the fence she needs to come to you and not continue to try to escape?



That was a thought, but the yard is a rectangle shape so a tie out short enough to keep her off the side fence wouldn't give her any running room.


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## Tennyson

Ankle weights.


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## MikaTallulah

Invisible fence! Fence = Shock. 

Neighbor did this with her fence escapee. The fence was no longer fun.


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## cubbysan

MikaTallulah said:


> Invisible fence! Fence = Shock.
> 
> Neighbor did this with her fence escapee. The fence was no longer fun.


If I had a physical fence, I would still have an IF too. I have heard of many people that have had to do that. I think once an escpapee, always an escapee - if they can't climb over, they will dig under or I had one dog that pulled my heavy duty chain link apart to to escape.


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## Golden999

Maybe cover the wooden fence with a second barbed wire fence?

You would want to make sure to go outside with your dog until she got used to it, though, to ensure she understood the barbed wire fence as a deterrent to escape and didn't get seriously hurt trying to repeatedly climb over anyway or something. You'd need to be able to step in if something happened the first time or two, until she gets the "I guess I can't climb over the fence anymore" idea cemented in her head and stops making attempts.

In a way, it's kind of a shame that we don't live in a world where she'd be safe jumping over fences and welcome in everyone's yard and stuff. It does sound like she's having a lot of fun. But obviously in the real world that stuff can't be allowed to continue for long.

Alternately, you could just stand outside with her every time she goes outside and grab her whenever she starts climbing. My dog can't be in the yard unsupervised because I share the yard with another apartment and other people go in and out of the yard, and it's not their responsibility to close gates fast enough to prevent the dog from going on his own "self-walk" or to fend off an affectionate jumpy dog while they're carrying in groceries, so I need to be there when the dog is there. Plus, low fences, and some neighbors to one side who are a little sketchy. Not the best of neighborhoods. I like to be there to keep him safe.

The fences are actually much lower than your's. He's never tried to jump them, though. Once he climbed a tree and wound up climbing down on the other side of a fence, but he looked very confused until I helped him back over. I think he likes the idea of having me there to protect him and knows I'd have trouble scaling a fence to do so.


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## Tennyson

Golden999 said:


> Maybe cover the wooden fence with a second barbed wire fence?
> 
> You would want to make sure to go outside with your dog until she got used to it, though, to ensure she understood the barbed wire fence as a deterrent to escape and didn't get seriously hurt trying to repeatedly climb over anyway or something. You'd need to be able to step in if something happened the first time or two, until she gets the "I guess I can't climb over the fence anymore" idea cemented in her head and stops making attempts.


You can't be serious........it's a fence for a high energy pup not a mass murderer.


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## goldensrbest

Enroll her into some kind of sport, she can use that high jumper skill in.


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## mylissyk

goldensrbest said:


> Enroll her into some kind of sport, she can use that high jumper skill in.


Pre Agility obedience starts Oct 1.


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## Golden999

Tennyson said:


> You can't be serious........it's a fence for a high energy pup not a mass murderer.


I've seen a bunch of fences for farm animals, specifically cattle, lined with barbed wire. They seem to mostly stay away from it. I walked my dog by one in another town we visited, so he could see the cattle, and he seemed to instinctively know to work around the barbed wire when poking his snout in. One of the cows also stuck it's head through, carefully working around the wire. I didn't see any escape attempts on the part of the cattle.

I am not saying this is option A1 for her dog, just a possibility. I don't see how it is worse than an invisible fence that electrocutes the dog and may cause brain damage. A dog actually might appreciate something visual that they understand rather than a horrible electric shock that comes out of no where as if it's the wrath of some mysterious dog god.


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## goldensrbest

Now wait a minute,golden 999 ,we have Iinvisable fence,for our 4 dogs,have had it for over 20 years, i would not have it,if it did that to my dogs.


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## Maggies mom

Hootie was the same way, tried extensions on the fence,and other things, *Nothing* kept him in but the Invisible fence. I went out and got the Pet safe fence, had it installed, that didnt keep him in. I had to have Kennelwood Invisible Fence Company come in and install there's. They installed it 5 feet away from thechain link fence, with it turned all the way up. He hit that line once(with it turned all the way up) he never ever tried again in the 6 remaining year of his life.


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## Maggies mom

Golden999 said:


> I am not saying this is option A1 for her dog, just a possibility. I don't see how it is worse than an invisible fence that electrocutes the dog and may cause brain damage. A dog actually might appreciate something visual that they understand rather than a horrible electric shock that comes out of no where as if it's the wrath of some mysterious dog god.


There are visuals with a If, you put flags out so they learn where the boundry is.


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## cubbysan

Invisible Fences do not electrocute dogs, they give a vibration. I myself have tested it, it is the same sensation as when we were children and would dare each other to put your tongue on a 9 volt battery.

In addition, before the vibration, they have a beeper warning, and are trained by the site of of the flags. With the visible fence already there, that would also be the visible boundary.

A vibration is much better than a dead dog.


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## Loisiana

Tennyson said:


> You can't be serious........it's a fence for a high energy pup not a mass murderer.


I'd much rather put up a little barbed wire than have my dog dead because he jumped the fence and got hit by a car.


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## Loisiana

Instead of putting up a whole invisible fence, I just put an ecollar on my dog and pushed the remote button when I saw he was going go jump. I prefer having the control over it. But it does require that you're supervising the dog.


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## GoldenCamper

cubbysan said:


> *Invisible Fences do not electrocute dogs, they give a vibration.* I myself have tested it, it is the same sensation as when we were children and would dare each other to put your tongue on a 9 volt battery.
> 
> In addition, before the vibration, they have a beeper warning, and are trained by the site of of the flags. With the visible fence already there, that would also be the visible boundary.


With all due respect cubbysan I disagree. Once upon a time a friend with a big boy Bloodhound asked me to help her with his collar. That collar was turned up to max setting and he still blew through it, never made a warning tone, new battery. So, stupid me I place it in the open palm of my hand and walk to the fence line. BAM! that collar went flying and my whole arm was numb for a bit. It really hurt. I have been zapped by household 110, car ignition, and a electric goat fence before. That collar took the cake, my god. Not a vibration, more like a lightning bolt.

I forget the specific company name, it was back in the mid 1990's


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## cubbysan

GoldenCamper said:


> With all due respect cubbysan I disagree. Once upon a time a friend with a big boy Bloodhound asked me to help her with his collar. That collar was turned up to max setting and he still blew through it, never made a warning tone, new battery. So, stupid me I place it in the open palm of my hand and walk to the fence line. BAM! that collar went flying and my whole arm was numb for a bit. It really hurt. I have been zapped by household 110, car ignition, and a electric goat fence before. That collar took the cake, my god. Not a vibration, more like a lightning bolt.
> 
> I forget the specific company name, it was back in the mid 1990's


I know in the 90's my former vet did not recommend them, but in the last few years I was there, she said the technology had changed, and she now recommended them. Both of my current vets use them for their dogs. I would not buy a cheap brand, I would buy one from the professionals - Invisible Fence, Dogwatch, etc. 

We do keep ours at a lower setting, never needed to increase it.

Sounds like your collar was defective, or in those days they did not have warning beep.


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## GoldenCamper

It was supposed to have a warning beep so I guess that dogs collar was defective. Glad the technology changed, that thing could have given me a heart attack.


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## amy22

When I lived in GA we had an invisible fence from the Invisible Fence company. It worked great...for my golden, but not for Riley, our lab mix that we adopted from PetsMart She would go through it and then come back through it.


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## goldhaven

mylissyk said:


> So my little black retriever mix Cheyenne, 16 in tall at the shoulder and weighs 30 lbs, can scale my 6 foot wood fence without blinking. She is routinely jumping out of the yard into neighbors yards, one of which does not have a complete fence on the other side of their house. But since the fence is no obstacle it really doesn't matter. She has on several occasions gone from walking out the door straight over the fence with me right behind her telling her NO. Chasing squirrels most of the time. Then to add to her fun, she jumps back in our yard.
> 
> We have put up arms at an angle and initially had draped it with ground cloth thinking it would be a visual barrier that would hopefully stop her. She simply jumped up until she had torn the cloth and then jumped over in that spot.
> 
> Next we put up pieces of wooden lattice. Today she jumped over that, unfortunately then she couldn't jump back into our yard because the lattice was in the way.
> 
> I am out of ideas. Anyone have any suggestions?


Does she do this when you are out there watching her or just when she is left alone out there? 
I have had 3 escape artists. All 3 were rescues. One I kept, and the other 2 were placed in homes without fences. Instead they went for walks. All 3 would only escape when left alone, never if I was out there doing yard work or playing in the yard. The one that I kept, if left out, would escape and come around to the front door and sit on the porch and wait for us to open it. She never wandered, just wanted to come in and be with us. 

If your dog is escaping right in front of you, maybe you can train her not to jump on the fence by using a long lead. Let her drag it around and when she approaches the fence, call her to you and if she doesn't come, grab the lead and pull her towards you, then reward her. It is just an alternative in case you don't want to go the shock collar route. This method may or may not work. I have also heard, "once an escape artist, always an escape artist", which is why I placed those 2 rescues in homes with no fence. In the case of my Sophie, when she came to me, she had been stuck in an outdoor kennel for the first 5-6 years of her life. I was told that she was uncontrollable and would run away if given the opportunity. In reality, all she wanted was human companionship which she got up until her death at age 13.
Sometimes it is so hard to get into the mind of the dog. If you could figure out why she is escaping, that might be your first step in correcting the problem. 
Good luck.


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## Brewer24

Loisiana said:


> Instead of putting up a whole invisible fence, I just put an ecollar on my dog and pushed the remote button when I saw he was going go jump. I prefer having the control over it. But it does require that you're supervising the dog.


I agree .. It works and I feel much better having control 


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## mylissyk

We did finally get her contained. The lattice worked after some adjustment and making sure the corners were interlaced. Funny story, she did start jumping the 8 foot section of the fence, my neighbor on that side lays in a hammock during good weather and reads a book. He got a big kick out of Cheyenne jumping the fence and hopping in the hammock with him. He said he was lodging a formal protest against the lattice since it would stop her from visiting him.


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## Ohiomom9977

We have the invisible fence (actual invisible fence brand) & it worked great for my last golden & great on my 6 month old puppy. They adjust the strength during training so that they will respond to the correction without it being too harsh. He has done AMAZING on it even with distractions like other animals. I know many people with off brand electric fences that have had issues, but I personally have been very pleased with invisible fence brand.


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