Post by pizzaandtulips on Jul 2, 2024 17:08:56 GMT -5
We recently adopted a puppy, mostly golden retriever. We need to fence in our yard. If you have larger breed dog and a fenced in yard, how tall is your fence? Our yard is partially fenced due to the neighbors' fences. One side is a 6 foot wooden fence, the other side is a 4 foot aluminum fence. Husband and I disagree on the size we should get for the remaining sides. What are your experiences?
We had a fence and a golden at our old house and it was 4’. Our dog was completely fine and never even jumped up on it. IMO it is completely dog dependent - is your dog a jumper? I volunteered at a shelter and saw multiple dogs (mainly boxers) jump the 6’ fence with no problem. Seriously like Tigger. Other dogs (smart ones like malnois, shepherds and bullies) would climb them. Goldies are USUALLY pretty low key though.
Post by starburst604 on Jul 2, 2024 17:19:47 GMT -5
In our old house yard/we had a 5 foot fence for our two, who are a lab and a golden. I didn’t quite trust the lab with the 4 foot fence. Our golden thinks his back legs are just for looks, he probably wouldn’t have tried to jump a 2 foot fence lol.
ETA: i think we also had to have a 5 ft fence bc we were going to put in a pool.
We have a 7ft fence but a 6ft would be fine for our dog. We're more concerned about her digging under the fence- well, at least in her younger, more spry days.
I had two Great Danes and a rott/shepard mix and we put in a 6 foot fence at our old house. But we had them with a 4ft chain linked fence and no one tried to jump it. It may be dog dependent? We have an 8ft fence now (came with house) and my dogs are both under 25lbs, lol. They still bark at every crevice, so hope that’s not the reason you’re asking!
FWIW we have an electric fence here and our 80 lb dog (lab/golden/shepherd/heeler/collie) does great with it. He will stop at the line perfectly - won’t chase animals or his toys. I’ve seen him face off mere feet from foxes screaming in his face, and deer routinely derp inches from him and he won’t cross.
It's so dependent on the individual dog. I'd do 6' because you won't regret going higher than you need, but you could regret going too low. My mid sized three legged (rear amputee) dog can almost jump my 6' fence. My similarly sized four legged dog will not jump anything she perceives as a barrier - even if it's just 18" high.
I’d go with 6. We had 4 at our last house and it was sufficient for containing our dogs, but deer could easily jump in, which freaked out our dogs and made me have to build an additional enclosure around my vegetable garden. And if you or any of your neighbors have a dog who’s a high jumper, 4 might not be enough.
We went with 6 at our current house because everyone else on our street who has a fence has 6, and I like the added privacy.
Post by InBetweenDays on Jul 2, 2024 18:04:16 GMT -5
We have a more modern horizontal board fence and since we're on a bit of a hill it is sort of stair-stepped (so it's level for a run, and then drops down and is level for a run, etc.). I'd say the max height is around 4.5', and the minimum height around 4'. Our 80lb dog has never tried to jump it, but as others have said that is very dog dependent.
(although we have dog sat a dog that was a runner and while he never jumped our fence, he did bust through the slats of our old fence).
Does your puppy jump? Is it a runner? We fully expected to have to finish the fence around our yard when we got a dog, but it turns out she just will. not. leave. We say it's because she's a rescue who has experienced being stray before, and she'll be damned if she's going back to that.
We have a standard poodle. I think she could jump it but she has never tried. Neither has any golden we've ever had.
But growing up there was a golden a block away who would regularly jump the 5-6 foot tall privacy fence and go on adventures.
Personally I'd go 4 foot since that's sufficient for 95% of dogs.
ETA: digging under is more of a risk from what I've seen. Most outgrow digging pretty quick.
When do they outgrow digging? Ours is three and he still digs massive ankle-breaking holes randomly throughout the yard. He’s not stressed or anything - he loves it out there and it appears as if he’s actually trying to get at something.
I didn’t have a big dog so no business weighing in but just coming to say my neighbor’s dog used to sometimes dig a hole so that my dog could squeeze through and they could play together. 😂 She was too big to fit, but could make a small hole for him pretty quick.
I do think it just depends on your dog … my dog could probably have squeezed through the fence but never really tried after puppyhood.
Post by EvieEthelGarland on Jul 2, 2024 18:56:10 GMT -5
I'm going to need a pic to be sure
If your puppy is a show line golden, you could probably get away with a 3 foot split rail. Working line? At least 6 feet. Since she's a puppy, and you're building one anyway, do 6 feet.
We have a mostly 6’ wood picket fence with a section that is 3.5-4’ open rail with metal grid. Our mutt may have jumped the lower part, but we also saw he had gone under the older version of the wire grid it because he left his collar behind. Most of his escaping was kids leaving the gate open.
Many rescues in CO require 6’ fenced yard to adopt.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Jul 2, 2024 19:31:51 GMT -5
I wish our HOA allowed a taller fence. Ours can only be 4 feet and our boy dog has jumped it a few times. When we let him out now, we keep him on a lead to prevent him from going on a jaunt around the neighborhood. (He’s a pittie mix. Our girl dog is a hound mix and although she is big too, she either can’t jump it or doesn’t want to.)
We've had 4' in the past, and are putting in a 4' fence at our current house this summer. We've had a few goldens over the years (two currently) and have never had one jump it.
ETA: I think we are limited to 5' on the street facing side and 4' on the rest of the perimeter by town regs.
Post by pizzaandtulips on Jul 2, 2024 20:37:13 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! My husband got a quote for a 4 foot fence and then the more I thought about it, I think we need 6ft. Fences are much more expensive than i thought they'd be and I know I'd cry if after spending all that money, she just easily jumped it. True, she could jump the 4 feet on the neighbor side but I can't do much about that. She's only 3 months so no idea how big she will get or how much of a jumper she will be. As for privacy, we are looking at a metal fence vs wood, so doesn't really give us privacy regardless of height
We've had 4' in the past, and are putting in a 4' fence at our current house this summer. We've had a few goldens over the years (two currently) and have never had one jump it.
ETA: I think we are limited to 5' on the street facing side and 4' on the rest of the perimeter by town regs.
Ah, something I hadn't thought about. Part of it will be street facing so that might be an issue.
We have a 6' fence on 3 sides and a 4' fence on one side. That 4' fence is along the back and runs through the entire street. We liked the look of it and like chatting with the neighbors behind us so we left it, but did a 6' ft privacy on the other three sides. We have a black lab mix who was very energetic in her youth but has never tried jumping the 4' foot fence. We got the privacy fence for, well privacy lol because everyone's yards are very close together and we used to have some very annoying neighbors on one side.
We have a 6' fence and a very energetic 1 year old golden girl. She hasn't made any attempts to jump the fence despite dogs on two sides that bark all the time. She will occasionally put her paws up and stand against the fence, but she isn't tall enough to see over. If it were 4' she could see over and I'd be more worried about her attempting to jump to get at whatever was enticing her.
I think if one side is 4 foot already then there’s no point spending more for a 6 foot fence. A dog who wants to get out will just go to the section where they can get out.
Do you need the privacy of a 6 foot fence, or want it for any reason? I’d buy for that reason.
I have a 4 foot fence and my dog could probably get out if he really tried but like others, he never tries to jump it. He has tried to dig his way out as a younger lad.
I’d buy the 4 foot and reinforce with an electric fence if you get a jumper. I think it would be much cheaper.
We put in a 4’ aluminum fence when we did our pool, but I had no plans to do a fence for our dogs. We had one who never stayed outside by herself and our current dog is trained to recall back to us. (Well we have to check for deer, she will chase them into the woods and then come back to “tell” us.)