new dogs digging out--how do I keep them in?

[Ottakee]

We adopted 2 dogs last week. Both 4-6 year old female (spayed last week). They were rescues and came as outdoor dogs. One is a Australian shepherd mix and the other is a lab/border collie mix (yes, I should have known).

 

We have 5 1/2 acres with horses, chickens, etc. When we are outside they stick around. When we are gone though we have been putting them in a large dog run (about 20x40) with their houses. Well, twice yesterday they dug out under the fence and ran away. Don't know where they went but the came back.

 

How do I keep them in a fence while we are gone?

[Jean in Newcastle]

What we did (you may have to get more drastic than this. We put flat concrete tiles (rectangular about 1 foot x 6 in..) right by the chain link (slightly under put mostly in the perimeter of the fence.

[Scarlett]

We adopted 2 dogs last week. Both 4-6 year old female (spayed last week). They were rescues and came as outdoor dogs. One is a Australian shepherd mix and the other is a lab/border collie mix (yes, I should have known).

 

We have 5 1/2 acres with horses, chickens, etc. When we are outside they stick around. When we are gone though we have been putting them in a large dog run (about 20x40) with their houses. Well, twice yesterday they dug out under the fence and ran away. Don't know where they went but the came back.

 

How do I keep them in a fence while we are gone?

 

I have a Brittany that I've never been able to keep from digging out. She comes back....but I hate that she gets out. I worry that she will bother the neighbors or get hit by a car. I bought an invisible fence that I plan to have installed someday...but for now I"ve given up and she stays in the house most of the time. That is where she wants to be anyway. If we have to be gone longer than I think she can hold her bladder I have to stake her in the back yard.

[KathyBC]

You could try burying more fence wire along the perimeter.

[SonshineLearner]

If you play with them a ton, and you're gone less than 6 hrs at a time, I'd kennel them in a really cool spot. My dog is inside, and seriously..he's great in a kennel. For a dog, Kennels = security. My dog sleeps all night in his...(in the house) and when we're gone...he's in there. We bought an outdoor kennel for him and it just didn't work...crying and such... Put him in a kennel and he just curls up and sleeps.

Carrie:-)

[Scarlett]

If you play with them a ton, and you're gone less than 6 hrs at a time, I'd kennel them in a really cool spot. My dog is inside, and seriously..he's great in a kennel. For a dog, Kennels = security. My dog sleeps all night in his...(in the house) and when we're gone...he's in there. We bought an outdoor kennel for him and it just didn't work...crying and such... Put him in a kennel and he just curls up and sleeps.

Carrie:-)

 

This is true. My dog loves hers too. She is 5 1/2 now and does well in the house out of the kennel even when we are gone, but when she was a pup she stayed in the kennel if we were gone. And if she is staked outside she cries and cries until the neighbor comes over and loves on her.

[Samiam]

We had a problem with digging too. We filled in the holes for the most way, then topped it with a layer of chicken wire (which is super cheap), adn then finished filling it with dirt. They can only dig to the point of the chicken wire, and then they must stop. It only takes a few times, before they learn there's no point in digging. Once they learn that, we just add a new layer of topsoil, throw down some grass sees, and pretty grass grew right over it.

[MIch elle]

You've got 2 working dogs that NEED work!