Fences

[Guest Houndie]

For those of you with yards and fences, how tall is your fence? Do you think your greys are adequately enclosed with a 4 foot fence, 5 foot fence, or does it need to be 6? We are new grey owners, and trying to comply with our home association covenants, but make sure our pup is secure. Thanks for your input!

[winnie]

We have a 5' scalloped spaced picket fence. We haven't had any problems with it.

 

[Guest KennelMom]

Most are fine with 4. Some can probably jump 6 if properly motivated. I've had one scale our 6+ foot tall indoor chainlink kennels.

Edited March 29, 2010 by KennelMom

[JAJ2010]

Rainy can be contained with a 3 1/2 foot fence at my Parents house, but Sunshine is a jumper. We plan to get a 7ft fence when we buy a house. But I tend to be very paranoid.... we could probably get away with a 6ft one, and DH had to talk me down from a 8ft one.

[Walliered]

I also have a neighborhood association and 5' is all that is allowed. So, that is what I had installed and so for he has not even acted like he wanted to jump it.

[TheFullHouse]

Ours is 6 ft. and I've had a couple think they could jump it. I'm sure if ours was 4 ft. they could scale it with no problem. I feel safer with a 6ft. fence.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Ask the group you are adopting from about your hound. They should have a pretty good idea if your soon-to-be hound is a climber or not. Of course this is not 100%, but they will know if the houndie is a houdini.

 

Chad

Edited March 29, 2010 by Greyt_dog_lover

[Guest twhitehouse]

5 foot here and they girls haven't even jumped up on it or acted as if they would ever jump it.

 

It really depends on the hound though. My group currently has a dog that can jump over 6 feet at a stand still.

[Guest longdoglady]

I thought my 6 foot fence was escape proof until I just managed to grab Anna's back legs as she disappeared UNDER the fence. She had found the small gap behind a bush, I had no idea a greyhound could squash down so flat, she turned herself into a bear skin rug

[Guest Houndie]

Thanks for the input. So far, he does not seem like a big leaper, but he is probably just settling in. Five foot is the maximum height we are allowed, though our neighbors on the corner have a 6 foot fence, which is allowed for corner houses. So, we have one side that is 6 foot, and are trying to decide whether to put up a 5 foot fence in front of our other neighbor's 4 foot fence. Probably won't make for neighborly relations, but if we need it higher for dog safety (and our piece of mind), I think our neighbors will understand.

 

In answer to the suggestion to contact our adoption group, we did not get this pup from a rescue group. He was left at the animal shelter by someone who could no longer care for him. He does not have tattoos, but we have had several tracks close the past couple of years, and he could have been a pup there. The vet believes he is about 2-3 years old. He has been a great dog so far, except for some fear/aggression issues. We are committed to working with him, to get through these issues, and have been in touch with a Regap group in a nearby town. I probably need to start another thread on that issue (aggression), though, so as not to get too far off topic.

[Guest burgerandfrey]

For those of you with yards and fences, how tall is your fence? Do you think your greys are adequately enclosed with a 4 foot fence, 5 foot fence, or does it need to be 6? We are new grey owners, and trying to comply with our home association covenants, but make sure our pup is secure. Thanks for your input!

 

The rescue we adopted our current greys from recommends 4 feet as the minimum. I think the previous rescue we adopted from recommended the same. Our fence is just 4 feet:

 

Not the best photo, but it does show the dogs next to the fence to give you an idea of the height. On rare occasions, when a neighbor approaches the fence, our boy Zeke will put his paws up on the top of the fence. I've never seen Lola do that though, and she's the one who could probably jump it the easiest if she wanted to. Fortunately I don't think she knows that it's in her realm of capability. Some greys can be high jumpers though, and some rescues will recognize the ones who are early enough to place them into homes with taller fences.

 

No matter how tall you build your fence, make sure you get gates that are easy to close and keep closed. Ask your fence builder to make the gate open into the yard instead of out to the street, so that it can't be pushed open from the inside. Get closures that allow you to lock the gate. You don't have to use an actual lock if security is not a concern... we just put a small carabiner clip through the hole so someone has to remove it before they can open the gate. We use the following carabiner from REI: http://www.rei.com/product/696196

 

You can find something similar at any hardware or outdoors store. We always keep our side gate closed with one of these, and we put one on the front gate when the dogs are running in and out of the house. I have nieces who live down the street and like to visit, and the slight hassle of the clip reminds them to make sure they securely close the gate each time they open it. Plus, the nice red color tells us from across the yard that the gate is securely closed. Another useful option might be a hinge that uses a spring to force the gate shut. We thought about getting one, but fortunately our gate tends to swing shut by itself anyway.

 

Your dog will probably spend a lot of time exploring the fence when it is new, but after a few days he will probably settle in and stop looking for vulnerabilities. Unlike the terriers we had growing up... those dogs would just dig under fences. Fortunately I've never seen one of our greyhounds dig!

 

Sean

[Guest LindsaySF]

I have a 4 foot fence and the Greys and fosters have been fine with it. It depends on the dog.

 

My fence is green welded wire, I think it helps that it gives a little so the dogs don't feel very secure if they put their paws on it. They might feel more confident trying to climb a wooden fence with horizontal bars to put their feet on.

[Guest Hoolyghans]

We already had a 4ft fence when we got our Greys.

It's been fine but when it comes time to replace it I would go 5 or 6 feet just to be on the safe side.

 

Abba has never even thought about how high it is. As far as she's concerned, it's a fence and she belongs inside it.

Spike is a bit taller and I've seen him easily put his feet up on the top rail to get petted by the neighbors. He's never put two and two together to figure out if he can reach the top he could go over the top.

 

 

I agree with coming up with some type of extra security for the gate. On ours we have a circle of chain attached to the gate that we loop over the post. If the latch somehow doesn't catch (or gets bumped by nosy dogs) the gate can't swing open.

[Guest KungPaoKat]

We have a 6-ft and Monroe doesn't seem to care at all about jumping. We do have the gates latched, with an extra safety latch up near the top that our kids cannot reach, so they can't accidentally {or on purpose LOL} open the gate or leave it not-quite-latched.

[cello]

Keep in mind that most of the girl hounds routinely jump into their upper crates. Floor of the upper crate has to be close to 3.5 feet off the ground, so the girls do have experience jumping!

[Sighthounds4me]

When we bought the house we are currently in, the fence was there, for the most part. We had to add one side, and we did that in 5', but the existing fence was 4'. We have had no problem with that.

 

BUT, if I were installing a fence where one did not already exist, I'd go higher. At least 5'. Better to be safe than sorry! As we replace sections, we will go with 5'. (We want to do privacy fencing across the front - the section facing the road.)

[Guest Sunset123]

I have a fence that's mostly 6ft, with a section of 5 and a section of 4. My girl HAS jumped over it (my sister-in-law left her alone outside and she freaked). I will never leave her alone outside. As long as I'm out there she doesn't try to escape.

[Guest Tokolos]

We have a 4-foot fence, and Sprinkles has been fine so far. If he weren't fine or turns into a jumper, we'd have to move because our borough won't allow fences over 4 feet.

[Guest kydie]

I have 4 footers, at home, and at the cabin, where 3 1/2 acres are fenced in with welded steel fencing, and none of mine have ever attemped to jump them

[Guest Houndie]

Thanks so much for the replies, and especially the reminders about gate latches. Our kids are off to college now, BUT, we do have a property easement in our backyard, and I wouldn't want the cable guy or phone person opening a gate and letting the pup out. I think a lock is probably in order in this instance. It was also helpful to see the pictures of your fences, with the dogs beside them. A picture sure helps to lend perspective! Thanks!

[Guest Kareie]

I'm a firm believer in the old cliche that good fences make good neighbours. Whether it's to keep what's supposed to be in your yard in, or to keep out what doesn't belong. Higher is better, but like others have posted, if there is a policy or bylaw that supercedes it, then go with that. I don't live where I can have a fenced yard or have a greyhound, but I certainly agree with the idea of erring on the side of caution.

[Guest jcsperson]

Younger females tend to be the best leapers. In the kennel they normally occupy the upper crates and have to be taught to jump into them. They get very accomplished at it and they can startle you with how easily they do it.

 

Forget all those "world records" you've seen on TV. A determined female can jump a six-foot fence if she really wanted to, maybe higher. Once they are out of racing trim and have a little age on them, they tend to be less motivated to jump.

 

We have five-foot fences all around, but we've had only males and a retired brood, so we haven't had a Greyhound that fits the profile yet.

[winnie]

Just to add to my original post #2... we have 3 female greys. One of our greys didn't come off the track until she was almost 6 y/o. Not one of our females has shown any interest in attempting to jump our 5' fence. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I tend to think most greyhounds aren't big fence jumpers. I just didn't want some of the comments scare you into thinking that females are more inclined to jump fences than males. That hasn't been our experience at least.

[Maddiesmom]

I have a 5 foot scalloped picket fence with one gate that I have a padlock on it The fenced area is in the backyard I have the key to the lock and will only leave it unlock if the Scotts lawn fertilizer guys are coming (they call before they come) or if I am cutting the grass. Otherwise it is locked and I am always outside with Maddie as she eats dirt, grass, and we now have a mean dog that that lives next door to us who charges the fence (that is another story) so I am now walking her on a leash in MY OWN backyard til we go to court as they built their fence on MY property without MY permission

Edited March 30, 2010 by Maddiesmom

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

We have a four foot and Jayne has stood against it to get pet by neighbors, then she tried to climb under it to get closer to the people rather than trying to leap over.