My new dog keeps jumping the fence.

[Cheyenne]

He is a Black Labradore Retriever. We had a Samoyed before. He could jump too, but he never jumped the fence. He dug and squeezed through the posts. The main problem is we get dogs from shelters and the have too much wanderlust. They get treated well here, but they can't help wanting to explore beyond the yard. I am so tired of going and retrieving him, so I have tried chaining him, but there is no where in my yard to chain him where he can get to the grass to use the restroom and not get tangled up on the posts for the porch or reach the fence to jump over chain and all. :banghead I really love this dog and don't want to give him up, but I don't see raising the height of the fence as an affordable option. It is about 4 1/2 feet tall. Again, we have never had a dog try to jump it before, so I never thought he would be able to. Well, surprise!!!! Now what? Any suggestions.

TIA

[ArmsOfLove]

I'm going to be watching this thread . . . our dogs are 1/2 golden retriever, 1/4 black lab, and 1/4 queensland heeler and they both jump the fence (through 12 food high Oleander bushes :eek) and run off. We chained them and they figured out how to wrestle out of their collars :banghead

I have info on how to train them but that would require being outside with them all the time and I'm just not sure what to do :shrug

[Cheyenne]

We bought him a body harness that he can't wrigle out of. That works, but I still don't have a place to put the chain where he can't reach and jump over the fence. Right now he is indoors where he wants to be anyway, but sometimes I need to be able to have him outside.

I really doubt there is a real solution other than moving or extending the fence. I will be thrilled if one can be found though.

How high is the fence next to the bushes?

[IslandMama]

Is your dog an outside dog??? Does he come in the house at all? This will affect what your different options are. Also, it is usually recommended to have a 6 ft fence with large dogs.

[Cheyenne]

He is allowed to come inside. He is more inside than out, but sometimes with four little ones I need to send him out when things get a bit hectic inside, or when they are eating. I don't need them feeding their food to the dog. I wish we had a six foot fence, but we are stuck with the one we have. I really have never had a jumper for a dog before, so this new to me.

[arymanth]

Have you looked into an "anti-jump harness"?

http://www.dogsafield.com/webstore/Products/R159-085.html

I've never had to use one, but I remember seeing them and I wondered if they really work? It just seems safer and less restrictive than chaining them and less expensive than having to build a new fence.

Hope this helps!

[Cheyenne]

Thank you so much for the harness link. It looks kind of uncomfortable, but has to be better than being on a chain. It is a good price too. I think we will have to try it. He got into our neighbors fenced yard yesterday. This was not a good thing. This neighbor is not a friendly neighbor. Thankfully they weren't home, but this can't happen again. We want to be at peace with out neighbors as much as possible, and that won't help any if our dog goes in their yard.

[ArmsOfLove]

Thank you, Stephanie! I'm going to run it by DH and will probably be ordering two of them! :jump

[arymanth]

Don't forget to shop around!!! I saw a harness for as little as $6.50 on one website, but I don't know what sizes it came in. A simple web search should give you a variety of choices.

[ArmsOfLove]

thanks for posting that suggestion! I did a google search and found it for $9.95 (http://lcsupply.com/store/catalog/new_jump_restraint_harness.htm) each :tu

[IslandMama]

I've never seen a harness like that before, pretty cool! :tu I hope it works for you, let us know... It doesn't look cruel either, probably more comfortable than being chained. I'm curious to know if they work, my german shepherd tries to jump to see the neighbors dogs when he hears them playing! It kinda scares the neighbors to see a 90 lb dog popping his head up above a 6 ft fence! If it works, maybe I'll try one too... :-)

[ArmsOfLove]

well I ordered them so I'll let you know how well they work :grin

[Sanveann]

Do be cautious with the chain ... if it gets caught on the fence, he can hang himself. I know someone who lost a puppy this way :cry

[Can Dance]

I think the easiest and most economic solution for this problem is to purchase a wireless fence. you rig the stuff around the top of your fence, the dog wears a collar, when they attempt to jump it, they will be corrected. my friend bought it and his dog did it twice and never did it again. I think they run around 200, but you can probably find them on ebay cheaper.
Candice

[ArmsOfLove]

Sanveann--we have the chain so that it doesn't reach the fence. there is nothing for them to jump or get hung on :tu

And mumtokiera--my best friend is who we got the dogs from in the first place and she also has two from the same litter. They both just run right over the electric invisible fence :shrug

[Can Dance]

oh great. that is not good at all.
hmmmm.... :think. there IS something you can use called boundary training. you basically teach the dogs to stay within the yard using a clicker. you set up a perimeter along the inside of the fence with string and you go along side the string, clicking and rewarding them as you go along. you do this lots. if they step outside the boundary, you totally freak out, like its the END OF THE WORLD and then are really happy when they come back in.

but this take a long time and no dog is going to be reliable after the first few weeks. its a long drawn out process that takes time. of course you all might have genius dogs too. but it does require patience and time to do it. I don't think many of you HAVE lots of time with all of your little ones!

if you want more about this one, ask away.
Candice

[ArmsOfLove]

I've done clicker training with other things but, you're right, I don't have the time. :/ It does work great, though, when I've used it :)

[ServingGod]

Its so hard to have dogs with issues when you have little ones!! Gotta love a dog that barges through an electrical current. :eek Mine would do the same thing. I would probably just keep the dog on a shortish chain and keep it in as much as possible. Course I have a dog that the vet said is "literally insane" Our yard isnt fenced and our dog barks her head off if she is out for more than 2 minutes without me...and if she can reach the door will scratch the screen and tear it. At our old house she would dig out under the fence if I left her out too long. Im never getting a rescue again. :/

[Sanveann]

There are lots of perfectly sane rescue dogs out there :)

[ServingGod]

There are lots of perfectly sane rescue dogs out there :)


Im sure there are....Ive just not had the best of luck. :( Zel seemed perfectly normal for the first month...then she got super attached....Jack was an abuse case...did lots of training, he was even tempered great dog. But when my 2nd ds became mobile he started growling at him. And once Jack bit my dh's friend. We spent so much money with training on these dogs. Jack...after that transgression was gone....he was no longer safe around my dc. Zeldas safe...but not safe to herself with the level of panic she hits. :(