How High Should a Fence Be?

N

NHAnimator

Forums Regular
Sorry if this has been asked, but I did not find any posts on the forum addressing this.

We are fencing in our entire backyard. We want the fence to be as low as possible (for the openness) while still keeping Jake in safely.

Could I get some feedback from people who have either had success or failure and what the type/height of your fence is?

Thanks in advance,
NHAnimator
 
Honestly, I think it depends on the dog. Lexi is capable of jumping over 3', but I know she would never, ever consider jumping a 3' fence.
 
corbinam said:
Honestly, I think it depends on the dog. Lexi is capable of jumping over 3', but I know she would never, ever consider jumping a 3' fence.
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It does truly depend on the dog. I have a 40” high wood picket and this works well for my girls. The vertical pickets are not climbable as some dogs will climb chain link to boost them over the top. I’ve read some being able to jump 40” (or more). Also consider patio furniture, planter boxes, etc., being close to the fence. Shelties are very resourceful and will use these as platforms to get a leap at the fence if they really want to go. I would say 36” at a minimum if Jake is a homebody and not a jumper, 40” is one of the standard heights for wood picket types, and if I were to use chain link I would go with the 48” high (pretty standard).

I have a friend at Austin sheltie Rescue that has just recently reported her Skipper used a planter box and was able to get over her 6 foot high privacy fence!! Incredible. We’ve been call him Super Skipper (big S on his chest) ever since. Leaping tall buildings in a single bound!! Haa haa.
 
We have a 4 foot fence. I wouldn't trust a 3 foot fence with a sheltie that's determined to get after the mailman or some lady walking her dog :lol:
 
We have 3-foot green farm fencing around our pen and haven't had a problem. But our dogs aren't jumpers. Personally I'd feel more comfortable with 4 feet, because not all dogs are lazy!

We tried an experiment two years ago and ran 2-ft chicken wire through our front woods, which are very thick with foliage during the spring/summer but not in the winter. The dogs sailed over that like it wasn't there. Lesson learned. Now we're doing farm fencing there too.
 
We have a 30 inch fence. But I doubt even if Shadow COULD leap over it that he would try! He's very passive.

mlamont is right on about keeping climbable items like planters away from it. Good advice. Our Shelties are smart little buggers, aren't they?
 
I have a 4 ft fence. My Mt Goat/Kangaroo Diva could clear it if she wanted to but she hasn't tried nor has any of the others. She once clear a 36 in baby gate with ease. But I don't leave my guys out by themselves.
 
As the others have said, it depends on the dog.

A 6" fence would contain April, that'd just be too much work to jump over. Chelsea on the other hand, would have needed a MUCH higher one. She was an athlete, an incredibly gracefull jumper. If a fence was in the way, and she couldn't jump it, she'd dig under it.

Good luck,
 
At my old house I had a three foot fence. It was in the back yard and it was fine. At the new house, I have a four foot chain link (I wish it was solid wood) and it seems to work fine, except we are a corner lot, which means lots of barking at everything that goes down the street.

Just watch patio furniture, deck railings etc. I caught Emma walking along the deck railing at the other house. A jump the wrong way and she would be out.

As has been said, it depends on the dog and the situation around the yard.
 
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