General Care and Nursing - Fences and fencing

Whether your dog is a male or female, he or she is going to be healthier and safer if provided with a fenced yard in which to play and exercise, but, you say, your dog loves his home and will not wander away. Nevertheless, all dogs at some time in their lives may roam if they get the chance. And this urge may be strongest at the approach to maturity. Your dog may find his way home again, but his disheveled state will tell a tale of travels with other escapes. It is no reflection on the comforts of home when your dog takes off for parts unknown. Dogs are social creatures, and like to travel in packs. In fact, the pack instinct is something which man, with all the frills of domestication, has not succeeded in eliminating

There will come a time when the male dog desires a mate; the scent of a female in season will blind him to all other joys and prompt him to follow her to the ends of the earth. The female may also get the wanderlust, especially when near or actually in season.

To confine a dog properly, a fence must be high enough that he cannot jump over the exact height depends, of course, on his size. Since you want to keep your dog in and other dog out, choose a heavy wire fence such as woven chain link, rather than a light mesh that can be spread apart. The wire should be sunk at least six inches in the ground, and the posts driven well below the front line. Dogs can dig under a fence; the only way to discourage them to sink the wire into the earth or to pull a concrete wall a few inches thick into the ground. A diagonal mesh that pinches their feet will deter dogs from climbing, as will and overhang of about a food, braced inward, all around the top. The most effective fence for the female in season is double-wired; that is, a fence within a fence, about a food apart.

The gate must be strong and rigid so it cannot be forced open at the bottom. Use a secure latch, one that cannot be accidentally opened by deliverymen or by curious children. And remember that many dogs can use their paws like hands to turn a knob or lift a latch.