Ideas for escaping doggy?

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budley95

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My In laws rescued a lovely litle 18 month old cockapoo, who recently has started escaping in a rather bizarre manner from the garden. First time was in the snow, he was called in, ran so fast up the decking steps, couldn't stop and went flying through the gap in the railing, over next doors 6 foot solid fence and landed on their hedge, jumped down and then got stuck over there... In laws have boarded all the railing gaps up now, however yesterday when called in he ran up the decking steps again at quite some speed and proceeded to jump OVER the 3 foot railing, clearing next doors fence and hedge and got stuck in their garden again. So advice on keeping the monster in?
 
Lol although sorry as I do sympathise really but I walk a 8 year old cocker spaniel who is the master of bizarre escapes like this. He will find any gap or chink in the fencing "situation" and every few months I get a call to say he's been found (wears a tag with my number on it) by a random members of the public!
 
Dylan is an escape artist I now have a 5ft rabbit netting electric fence along the side where he escapes from (hedge) and I do put the electric to the mains and it does stop him.

I think if it was clear the other side he would jump it but even he isnt silly enough to try and tackle the netting and a hedge.

3ft is nothing. Two of mine (one no bigger than a springer) regularly jump 4ft in and out the cow shed for fun/ playing with calves; springer also can tackle a 5bar gate with his mind to it spaniels are designed to fit in small spaces and tackle obstacles and your cockapoo is half spaniel:)
 
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I was going to say the only thing to keep our spaniel in is rabbit fencing. Even then she knows she can push through it under our gate but most of the time it stops her. She's tried to go through sheep netting (we've got lambs in the back garden) which was connected to a fencer, won't go near that now so you could try that too!
 
Its more it's the decking rail thats 3 foot and then clearing a 2 foot gap, 6 foot panel fence the other side and the 2 foot wide hedge, dropping about 9 foot onto the other side to land on the grass. He's a tiny little boy, hence him being a rescue as they didn't give him puppy food and he's got stuck at about 10 inches high to his shoulder. He's tiny! How would you add fencing to a decking rail would be my next dumb question! He's now started jumping over the stair gate in the kitchen doorway. We put some left over plastic trellis on top of it and he just flew into and broke it! He can open the kitchen door by launching at it, hence the stairgate there!
 
No help with the stair gate (I presume it's a tall dog one not a child one) the freedom fence (for decking area) is just a black wire the zap comes from the collar they wear and can be set at different levels (though after an initial zap my cocker responds to the warning sound it gives) He possibly could jump over the zap zone but usually once they know the wire is there then they don't go near enough. And u would train him to know where the wire is. It sounds like a really big jump he's got!
 
The freedom fence sounds a good idea then. I hadn't heard of that! I'll let my in laws know. The stairgate is a tall one. It kept the mallumute (sp) x alsation in that's my aunt's. I've never had this kind of problem with my collie. She just stays in the garden! Thank you lovescobs :)
 
The freedom fences are quite expensive and you cannot rely in them. I have a friend who lives on 4 acres in the middle if nowhere and has used them for years. The collars do fail and this resulted in one of her dogs being killed by a car, its not the only time it's failed too! I couldn't trust it.

Is the dog put in the garden unsupervised? Can someone not watch the dog? I assume the dog is getting well exercised every day?
 
i've got a JRT who is a master of escaping and we used to attached a lunge line to the washing line, then attach him to the other end.. you have to keep an eye on them thou incase they get twisted up. Luckily we dont have that problem any more!
 
Firstly, re the stairgate......buy a smaller one and fix it upside down above the larger one such that you have a stable door type of set up.

Secondly, re the decking fence.....buy some cheap 6foot high trellis and attach to decking and back of decking rail. Another option is strands of wire horizontal to and above the decking rail with a split length of plastic piping over each such that they rotate if the dog tries to climb or get a purchase on them. Build as high as necessary and also consider putting the top three strands closer together and coming back intowards your own property rather than going straight up.
 
galaxy said:
The freedom fences are quite expensive and you cannot rely in them. I have a friend who lives on 4 acres in the middle if nowhere and has used them for years. The collars do fail and this resulted in one of her dogs being killed by a car, its not the only time it's failed too! I couldn't trust it.

Is the dog put in the garden unsupervised? Can someone not watch the dog? I assume the dog is getting well exercised every day?
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yes its not 100% guaranteed but neither is any type of fencing as it can get a hole in or they find a way! I also have 4 acres and freedom fence 2 acres of it. if the wire breaks the unit beeps at you quite loudly. and the collar on mine has failed once (the battery came out) but as my cocker is trained (and even though she is smart she hasnt yet worked out its the collar that zaps her) she never goes near the fence boundary even when she doesnt have the collar on (in fact I carry her over the front gate boundary when we go for a walk!) in her mind its a no go zone so even with a collar fail it is safer than nothing. If OP's dog is getting over high fence then this may give added back up as long as you are aware to train your dog. I'm not saying your friend didnt, sounds terrible what happened. I'm just comparing it to all types of fence failing or a dog finding a way through.
it's not cheap so some of the othe suggestions may be worth a try first. as I say it's a suggetion for a back up to the fence that is already there. also be aware if a dog goes through a freedom fence, they wont come back as they may get a zap. OP's dog cant come back anyway due to the 9' drop the other side.
I hope you find something, and I'd like to see a photo of your dog!:)
 
Lovescobs said:
yes its not 100% guaranteed but neither is any type of fencing as it can get a hole in or they find a way! I also have 4 acres and freedom fence 2 acres of it. if the wire breaks the unit beeps at you quite loudly. and the collar on mine has failed once (the battery came out) but as my cocker is trained (and even though she is smart she hasnt yet worked out its the collar that zaps her) she never goes near the fence boundary even when she doesnt have the collar on (in fact I carry her over the front gate boundary when we go for a walk!) in her mind its a no go zone so even with a collar fail it is safer than nothing. If OP's dog is getting over high fence then this may give added back up as long as you are aware to train your dog. I'm not saying your friend didnt, sounds terrible what happened. I'm just comparing it to all types of fence failing or a dog finding a way through.
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They have used it on 3 GSDs, all of them have been professionally trained with the unit by a dog trainer that came in. All 3 of the dogs have escaped numerous times when it has failed for breaking/collars not working. They have also replaced the whole thing more than once. Some dogs realise when it doesn't beep they are not going to get a zap!
 
Also a dog's drive can carry them through the discomfort of a buzz on the neck. They will endure a brief feeling of discomfort if it means they can go chase bunnies etc.
Dogs will go into thorn bushes after balls because the drive to chase the ball is higher than the negative consequence of momentary pain.
 
I don't disagree with you, it's working really well for me, we've been using it since July and she's not yet worked all that out. She did know how to run through it so I use it in areas that she would have to slow down (bush, fence etc) rather than an open space. It goes over the driveway but I still close the gates as I don't want her to ever run through it straight onto the road. Without it she escapes through bushes etc.
I agree it should t be soley relied upon but in Op's case it might suit them for extra back up on their existing high fences. You're right to highlight pros and cons.
 
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