My new dog jumps the fence

In My Humble Opinion
1

Background: I’ve had a dog for 10 years, plus a couple of kitties. I also have 4 kids (ages 11 through 18) and a house with a decent sized yard.

I decided to get another dog. I went to the pound and found an adorable 3 year old mutt (maybe lab / greyhound / sharpei). She came home, got along famously with the other dog and kitties. I can tell she wasn’t treated well wherever she came from, because she seems scared of being beaten. But nevertheless she loves snuggles and is a very loving dog.

But now she’s started jumping the fence. It’s only about 4 foot high in places, a solid brick wall around the backyard, with a wrought iron fence in two places. The first time was during a storm and she was afraid of the thunder. But now she’s done it even when me and the kids were all hanging out in the back yard with her. When she gets out she runs as fast as she can in whatever direction, which is very dangerous since we live near a busy street.

So far we’ve managed to get her back every time she’s done this, but obviously this won’t always be the case. Any suggestions?

2

Figure out how to raise your fence, get her a large enclosure of her own, or stake her with a nice long line. Another factor could be that she really needs to run. You may need to get her voice trained way better so you can take her to fields and let her run until she’s pooped, with the knowledge she’ll come back when you call her.

3
  1. The collar with the invisible fence thingee, first choice.
  2. Keep her restrained when in the back yard.
  3. Build the fence higher.
4

Obviously not knowing your dog at all, Palo Verde, I have only guesswork to offer. And good intention of course!

The first that comes to mind is that maybe she’s not spending enough time outside the confines of the house and yard. If you’re correct with the mix, the greyhound part wants to find something to chase, the lab part wants to find something to eat and the Shar-Pei wants to find some real estate to buy.

It may be, given your suspicions of having been mistreated and her reaction to the storm, that loud noises and a lot of people trigger a flight response. It may be that she doesn’t understand the unwavering rule of never, ever leaving the yard. It may be just a wonderful wonderful game for her.

To find out things about her, it’s useful to spend a lot of time in the backyard with her. One-on-one. And then increasing the number of people when you know she’s not distracted by them, she feels safe with the extra noise and movement, and you can rely on her to obey you immediately. Use positive reinforcements when she keeps away from the fence boundary, and spraying her with a hand-held water atomiser when she doesn’t. The reason I wouldn’t use the hose for this is that you don’t want her being wary of it and/or killing it sometime. Be consistent. EVERYONE must know the rules for her, and absolutely adhere to them.

You haven’t mentioned how long you’ve had her - she may not understand her place in the pack yet. Which includes who gets fed first and where.

Have you tried anything with her yet? Congrats on your fabulous menagerie by the way…!

5

My rescue mutt jumps my 4’ chain link fence too. Drives me mental because I have this big beautiful backyard with a very nice, secure fence - and it doesn’t do a damn thing to keep my dog safe!

At first he figured out he could leap over the neighbor’s 3’ fence with ease when the snow was 2’ high. I contained him with a manual shock collar until the snow melted, and then I had a 5’ fence installed on that one side of the yard. He cannot get over the 5’ fence.

But then he figured out the 4’ fence - not a running leap but an actual CLIMB - and now he’s off. Luckily he comes back but I don’t like it one bit.

Right now my problem is that he is very well trained on the shock collar. I’ve used it to beep and buzz him in other situations (not shock), but when we’re in the yard he sits with me on the deck. He won’t go to the fence and he doesn’t try to jump. Great, right? Except I can’t train him if I can’t catch him in the act!

I’ve been outside with him 100% this spring and summer and he’s left the yard about 7 times while I am verbally trying to correct him. He did stop once but once he sees that squirrel, it’s game over. He’s in doggy la-la-land.

It’s the squirrel that does it for him, by the way. He’s not un-exercised or bored. He doesn’t WANT to get out. But he makes poor life choices.

He’s got a sister dog, by the way. Also a rescue. She is the same size and shape as him but does not have the hops he has. She stays in the yard and barks until he comes back (yes, he JUMPS BACK IN) and then wrestles him until we go inside.

Anyway…sorry, no answers. Just need to vent because it happened again today and it’s the worst. I’ve either got to get an invisible fence put inside my fence (but he’ll have to wear a collar and then be afraid of perusing the yard) or pony up to replace the rest of my fence with 5’ fence.

People have suggested that I add a PVC roller to the top of my fence but it’s ugly and weird and seems like a hassle on my very long fence. I did find this fence extension thing just now when I was searching for the PVC pic and that looks pretty promising. It was $2000 for 1 side of my yard for a new fence so this fence-extender might be waaaay cheaper.

Good luck - keep us posted. This has been driving me nuts all year and I need to get it FIXED so I don’t have to spend the freezing winters outside with the dogs!

ETA: If you do want to try the shock collar on her - which only really works if you think you can catch her in the act - this is the one I got. I didn’t need anything fancy or for super large yards. This works just fine. I love that there’s a beep and a vibe setting too. They’re all useful. Be sure to read online about proper shock collar training before just diving in!

7

Reported for being my favorite spam ever.

8

Yes indeed…I am bugged, but content upon making my content bugged…or something.

:smiley:

9

ZipperJJ, it might be worth filling condoms with water and laying them along the top of the fence (if it’s a brick one) or stapling ready-to-burst water-filled balloons along the fence if it’s timber. Or setting up plastic buckets of water than can be pulled over where he climbs. Something to give him a watery shock surprise. It certainly always worked for my escaping, washing-off-the-line-pulling, crater-digging fabulous critters.

10

Growing up, we had a lab mix that would climb over a 5’ chain link fence. My dad installed an electrified wire around the inside of the fence at the top. The first day, Dreyfus was curious and reached up to investigate. He touched it with his nose and got quite a surprise. He then walked the entire fence line looking at the wire. After that, he never tried to climb the fence again. After a couple of weeks, we turned the electricity off but left the wire up. Problem solved.

11

I’d do e collar recall training, because you really have two problems. Three, if you count not including pics in your post. :slight_smile:

Dog jumps the fence, and then doesn’t stop and come back immediately when called. Both can be fixed pretty easily with an email collar, and it’s going to be cheaper than making your fence taller.

12

Depends on the dog - my dogs rarely check their email. :wink:

Now for a serious answer: fortifying the fence is a good idea, but fence training and working on obedience (so she comes when you call, EVERY time) are important for long term success. For now, she only goes in the yard on a leash. Lead her around the perimeter and correct her every time she turns toward the fence.

13

I’m really not a fan of e-collars/invisible fences. I will expand on why if anyone cares, but the short story is I believe they cause (or have the potential to cause) more problems than they solve.

Best option is replacing your fence with a taller one, ideally a privacy fence. Pricey solution, I know. I’ve had clients use something like this when privacy fencing wasn’t an option and it works well. Have also seen people buy the privacy panels and use metal ties to secure it to the chain link. Less work than replacing.

Work on your recall and make coming to you FUN. When a dog jumps the fence and we start chasing them we’re either playing a game that the dog now knows how to start or we’re scaring the shit out of them (“oh boy, dad looks mad, better not let him catch me!”).

Please don’t use a staked tie out unless you are out there to supervise, dogs can easily wind themselves up in those and choke, or jump the fence if it’s close enough and then strangle.

ETA: your short term solution might be to have her drag a long line in the yard so you can step on it if she attempts to jump the fence.

14

My neighbors had to replace their four foot fence with a six foot fence. Then they added a decorative top to the six foot fence to make it an eight foot fence. Then they got the invisible fence so the dog didn’t dig under the fence. :slight_smile:

That dog was a social butterfly until they built the proper containment. I could bet it would be at my front door three times a week seeing if my dog could come out and play - but more often it went to another neighbors to visit their dog. It just really wanted other dogs. Its possible that a second dog would have cured its fence jumping.

15

I would love to extend the fence, it would be a great solution. However, as I mentioned in the OP, I have a solid brick wall, which means there is nothing to attach an extension to, without drilling holes in the top of the wall and putting in posts. And the second problem is that I’m broke and it’s a looong wall, so it would be costly to add to.

I like the idea of having her better trained, but I’m frustrated about doing it. I only got her 3 weeks ago, so we are still getting to know each other. I’ve taught her ‘sit’ and ‘down’ but both were so painful because she looked so scared. Sometimes she doesn’t even want the treat because she’s so intimidated by me giving her orders. I’m a middle aged woman, not some scary hulking beast!

Ideas about how to get her more obedient without freaking her out?

16

Check the voice you use with her, Palo Verde. Your discomfort and anxiety in your dealings with her is probably coming through. If you’re not sure, she’s doubly so. There may be little consistency in the words, or tone or pitch or volume. Speak more quietly to her so that she has to be more focussed. Spend no more than 15 minutes at a time on the task. Have no response other than repeating the command and make no eye contact when she doesn’t complete it properly. Be absolutely exuberant when she succeeds. Use tiny treats if you must, but always reward with lots of physical affection.

Never use her name when she’s being reprimanded - state the case and do the ‘No!s’ but reserve calling her by name to be never associated with being in trouble. You risk her running away, when she needs to be coming to you.

She’s a dog who wants to be taught how to fit in with your family so that she can. Have the time, the patience and be observant enough of her to understand her behaviours, know what you need to modify, and have a nice time doing that. You really can get a dog to do anything when that mutual trust is there.

17

Have we met? :smiley:

My dog was a social butterfly until we went to electric/shock collar/invisible fence. This was after the 7 foot fence, and the buried reinforced wood barrier to prevent to digging. It didn’t matter. He’d climb, break, dig (even deeper), etc. he made friends all over our side of town, was shot at by the farmer across the lake for trying to meet the bull etc. it was a matter of time until he was hit by a car or worse. We could not put him in the yard for even a few minutes.

The invisible fence was the ONLY thing that worked. I attached it to the existing fence and around the front of the house, so he could come in the back door without getting shocked.

We took a few weeks of leash only in the backyard until we got the system, and then while we trained him. Follow the instructions that come with it.

Good luck.

18

I watched my dog escape twice this morning. He did come back each time but still…no.

Not sure what you’re getting at with your suggestions for me, 6ImpossibleThings. I’ve got two 100’ runs of chain-link fence so there’s no exact point where he is escaping. He has 200’ to figure it out. Unless I get two remote-controlled Super Soakers that can shoot 100’ I am out of luck on any sort of watery scare tactic :slight_smile:

Anyway, I’ve decided on the “dog-proof” fence I linked to in my last post. Watching him do the escape, there’s no way he can do it if there’s an extra 18" of mesh fencing in his face. And he’s not aggressive enough to jump up and pull the fencing down. And I have just enough money to buy the 200’ of fence extension so that’s what it will be for me. Just gonna have to deal with the somewhat unsightliness of it but I’d rather have a safe dog than a beautiful fence.

Fingers crossed that this is my final solution.

Palo Verde have you considered classes? Classes help teach you how to teach your dog. Both of mine have been in 3 classes (8 weeks at a time) since I got them about a year ago. A teacher will help you with specific little problems, too. We spend most of our time walking in circles on a leash, by the way. Do you do much of that? Being awesome on a leash together leads to a lot more.

19

They have harness-like devices that attach to the dog’s collar, run under the chest and to the dog’s rear legs. When they try to jump, it pulls their heads down, and prevents them from jumping. They learn pretty quick, I’ve heard.

Cheaper than rebuilding walls and fences.

20

Interesting, Gatopescado. I’d never heard of itLooks like it gets pretty bad reviews on Amazon, though. But for $12 it might be worth a try…hmm…

ETA: Other models get better reviews. But still they all seem like a pain to put on. My dog barely lets me put a collar on him :frowning: I think I feel safer with a new taller fence but maybe it’d work for the OP.

21

Minnesota, but I have a feeling your dog might have a near relation who lives across the street from me. :slight_smile:

Other than the Great Escape tendencies, the dog is really well behaved and well trained.