Access to fenced yard while away?

[Tayda_Lenny]

For those of you who have fenced in yards, do you let your B's run outside when no one is home? My new house has a 6 ft wooden privacy fence AND in case they somehow got behind that, there is a 5 foot chain link fence like a foot behind in all around the yard. If they got in between the two fences, they'd just walk around the yard between the fences and eventually end up back in the yard where the two fences end. Kind of like a pinball machine return. lol.

So, it seems pretty B-safe. I'm still weary of letting them loose back there when I'm not home.

But it seems like it would be so much FUN for them if they could have their run of the yard and bask in the sun when I'm not home…. there is a shady area where they can escape the sun and I could put plenty of water out for them... I'm just nervous...

[LeeL]

We let ours out all day with a dog door into the laundry room and also they have a room with cot sytyle beds in the garage with a dog door so they can go in and out.

In the old house, we had a 6 foot wood privacy fence that was smooth inside so no real worries there. In the new place, we were only allowed to install a vinyl picket fence that was 44 inches (3 feet 8 inches) high. Unfortunately, we were lied to originally about this (they said we could have a 6 foot privacy and there was one all along the road installed by the builder) and did not find out until it was too late when we got a revised copy of the covenants which said houses can only have the 4 foot privacy.

Anyway, after we were going to pull out, they offered us a decent sum of money off the house and we paid about $2500 to have holly bushes installed all around the backyard so that the dogs could not get a running start and jump the fence. Also, we did get them to let us put in a 5 foot section on the back where it rolled off and we could not find a 44 inch fence panel so we went with 48 inch.

At any rate, no problems, but ours have never been climbers. We took some time off and my wife worked from home so one or both of us were there with them for about 2 weeks all day after the move. I admit I was worried sick about it and had an electric fence system ready to go and even had an outlet put in a weird but conveinent place behind the back of the garage to power it, in case it was an issue.

So far no problems at all and they definitely cannot get to the fence with any kind of speed to get over it, but they do run in between some of the bushes and up and down the fence line. They actually get quite the game of hide and seek going. Before the houses behind us were done, we had driven behind ther eand looked at them laying on the deck and they go in and out all day when we are home and they do love it.

Here is a picture that I have. I was not meaning to show the fence (someone decided the table was a good spot to sit ), but you can see it and the bushes in the background. The bushes have grown probably 6 or 8 inches sine this was taken.

[sharronhurlbut]

I have a doggie door and a 5 ft fenced yard.
I think if you dog has a doggie companion, the animal will stay in..
I think dogs tend to want to get out, when they are single and see something/someone on the other side of the fence.
I have had no issues with b's climbing over, even when we were in our old house and only had a 4 ft chain link fence.
I think a doggie door is a great thing for most dogs..

[tanza]

I have a doggy door with a 10ft (in some places 12ft) privacy fence. Mine have access to it all day (and night)… we have never had a problem... of course we have the gates padlocked so no one has access to get in....

[Rivermoon]

We have a doggie door and an 8 foot wall and chain link gate. The dogs, like Pat's go in out all day and night as they please. My fence is padlocked too, please remember to do that. I learned the hard way when some workers walked in while I was out once and maced Dakota after he went after them.

[snorky998]

We have a dog door and a chain link fenced yard . The only problem we ever had was when the older of the two B's decided on ONE occasion the yard waste bin was the perfect spring board to launch over the fence after a feral cat. (Moved the bin about 1 foot, and simply took off the lid. Still get good mulch for the fall/spring, but no longer have a 'senji that thinks it's an olympic spring board for the vault:D )

We also padlock all the gates.

I get paranoid when strangers to the neighborhood start to ask too many questions:o How rare are they? How much did you pay? etc… Then I never let them out alone at all. Creepy

[tanza]

When people ask me what I paid or what they are worth, I tell them not much at all…gggg
Of course we are lucky to be on a very quiet downtown street, set back pretty far from the street and our PGE electric meter is "not" on the backyard side of the fence... that is what really gets to be a problem...

[MacPack]

We have 4 ft. chain link and the dogs have a dog door. We are fortunate that ours are not escapers, they are older couch potatoes but even as youngsters they never tried to escape. Ours have outdoor access 24/7, whether we are here or not, which is nice if we get tied up and are away from home all day. I agree with Sharron, in my experience, single dogs are more likely to go looking for adventure!

Anne in Tampa