How to stop a canine escapologist

squidsin

squidsin

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Feb 16, 2013
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I brought it on myself by buying a half-beagle, half-JRT, but my dog Spotty can't be let into the garden on her own because she escapes. All the neighbours in the street have brought her home at some point. I really need her to stay in the garden! Ironically, it was better after she was spayed as she couldn't get out of the garden with her cone on! I'm tempted to get a stash of cones and put them on her so she can go out and play safely.

The other thing I've heard about is shock collars, but I've just Googled them and I am not sure. Anyone tried these? Do they work and are they safe? I'm worried my dog would be shocked over and over again and just end up traumatised.

There's absolutely no way we can completely secure the garden so that a small and determined mutt can't get out.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!
 
shock collars are illegal in wales and there is a lot of pressure for the rest of the uk to follow suit. i think they have their place, can save a dogs life if nothing else has worked but should only be used by a trained professional. Just MHO, i have run training classes and 1:1 behavioural consultations so i do have a bit of background experience.

what kind of fencing do you have and how is he escaping? this should be something easily fixable, despite being a beagle x jrt :D ;)
 
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ok well ultimately no dog of any breed is likely to stay in a garden that’s not properly fenced, sorry :( You might be lucky with a big breed that cant squeeze through the spaces or something older that has no desire to but ultimately (and legally, sorry :( ) you are obliged as a dog owner to keep your dog secure which is what the dog warden will tell you if they have to bring your dog back. You either need to fence one side with netting or build a run / or create a smaller section of garden that is properly secure for her that she can be in when you can’t be supervising. Eeek sorry maybe not what you hoped for by way of an answer, hope you can get something sorted.
 
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We had this problem when we moved to a house with a garden 80m x 25m all hedged and a very energetic and determined English Springer Spaniel (10 years ago - she is an old girl now). My husband bought many rolls of 45 cm and 65 cm chicken wire and put them next to the stems of the hedges all the way round. It worked until our local badger tunnelled through about 2 years ago. A lot of work but worth it.

Otherwise a run or a tie out (I hate them btw) are possible. You could try sonic fencing but I doubt it would keep in a determined canine Houdini!
 
CharliesAngel said:
ok well ultimately no dog of any breed is likely to stay in a garden that’s not properly fenced, sorry :( You might be lucky with a big breed that cant squeeze through the spaces or something older that has no desire to but ultimately (and legally, sorry :( ) you are obliged as a dog owner to keep your dog secure which is what the dog warden will tell you if they have to bring your dog back. You either need to fence one side with netting or build a run / or create a smaller section of garden that is properly secure for her that she can be in when you can’t be supervising. Eeek sorry maybe not what you hoped for by way of an answer, hope you can get something sorted.
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I've thought of doing a smaller run - that might be the answer although not sure how we'd do it. It would be virtually impossible to fence the whole thing properly as it's uneven and with random drops down into neighbours gardens, plus we'd need them to agree to the fencing. She goes out on a lunge line tied to the washing line at the moment so she can't escape! I'd like her to have a bit more freedom but as soon as I let her off - off she goes!

ETA - I have a labrador too and she has never ONCE even tried to break out of the garden. One good dog, one bad dog!
 
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We secured our whole garden with green mesh stock fencing. Our garden is about 50m long and we had to secure the fencing against hedges. It is sold as temporary but we have had ours up 3 years with no problem. We needed a lot of the fence posts to get round awkward bits but it is do-able. There is no way our dog would stay in the garden without fencing. Anymore than my horses would!
 
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My friends rescued golden retriever was terrible for escaping (the reason he'd had 3 homes before he was a year old) his fully fenced garden, he would push and squeeze his way out of any tiny gap. After the 3Rd time the dog warden picked him up (not to mention the dozens of times neighbours did) my friend got a very stern warning from the warden, basically told to sort it out or they wouldn't give him back next time.
In desperation she asked for my help, we fixed up and blocked every hole we could find even 2" gaps and he still did it again so we resorted to my electric fence, I ran white tape and powered it up, we heard cries as he tried his luck twice :( we left the tape up but disconnected the power and that dog never again went near the fence, he's 15 now and still good as gold :)

At my old house I stock fenced the garden, 200M of fence under hedges, but it kept my terrier and lab in and safe :)
 
Ditto the electric fence. We had the kind with the matching collar, if the dog got too close to the fence he got a bit of a jolt.

He was a Lab/Sharpei who could shinny his way thru the smallest opening between the chain link fence and the ground, all to go chase the barn cats:(

I speak in the past tense because I laid him to rest when he was around ten, not because I got rid of him:). I rescued him after someone they him out of a moving van.
 
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