We’ve got 4 1/2 acres and a young rambunctiousness husky. She’s very good for a husky as in she doesn’t totally take off. We keep her on a 30ft least and keep supervised so she sticks around and occasionally we have to grab it when her prey drive takes over. Anyway, I don’t think I need to convince anyone that fencing is a good idea but looking for thoughts/ideas. The back half of the property is a good candidate for cattle fencing. It’s not super visible and there are no roads that way, and in general all the dogs are not that interested. So I thought I would get T posts and 6 ft welded mesh which is pretty affordable even at 1500ft. The front of the house is where the action is (squirrel/birds/cars) so needs to be quite robust and is visible so I’d like to keep it attractive. It will be about 1000ft. Anyone have any good DIY options that wont embarrass us in front of the neighbors and won’t cost more than my house?
You can add Sport Dog to it, then it would only have to be a decent visual barrier. It can be zip-tied on to the fence instead of buried.
We do have a Halo collar which I need to start training her with but I’m a little concerned when the reptile brain takes over that she might blast right through it. Combining that with a small visual barrier might do the trick though. She’s a smart girl she’s just got that super strong prey drive
Oof, I feel you on the cost of fencing. I have about 250’ of road frontage on a decently busy road and put up a 3’6" picket fence (natural cedar). Looks fantastic but was expensive. Then I put a hedge of lilacs along the road side of the fence. That was about 10 years ago and they’ve grown in so well that there’s little to see on the far side. Maybe some combination of fencing and plantings?
I think this is a very reasonable and good thing to worry might happen. A barrier will keep her safe even when her brain does not, and it will keep other dogs from coming in.
Fence pricing/styles appears to be a very region specific thing. Can you give a very general part of the world that you are in?
Had one and nothing could keep it in …nothing
I used underground fence in combo with a short fence really successfully when I had a fence jumper in suburbia & a home owners association that wouldn’t let me build something more substantial. It’s a great solution to back up a physical fence that might not quite be enough.
I’m in the PNW. Lumber prices appear to be coming down a bit although are still shocking.
I hear ya, she’s not our first one. But we have 2 things going for us. First we have found the secret to having your husky not be such a runner is so much running! I’m a distance runner and we take her mountain biking often as we did with old dog. Second, she’s (I think) half German shepherd. So she has a stronger desire to stick around her people.
had one of those also, it was said to have been 3/4 GSD and 1/4 wolf… and I really did not question that as he was pretty big at about 150# and had eyes that could burn through you…but was the most loyal, best of friends for our kids…they would harness him, then hook him to their wagon which they then drove around the pasture with his tail wagging.
He was a rescue, the people who had him he would not let them get near a mare who had foaled… he was going to protect the mare and foal. Owners called me saying you once said that you would take That Dog if ever needed…well come and get him. Drove over there, asked dog to get into truck it hopped in laid down taking up the complete seat, pushed his butt over then drove home. Unloaded him, walked the fence lines and that was it, everything inside that fence was his to protect and he did. (we have had three pure bred GSDs before so sort of knew them) …and even got other after GSD afterwards…still have her.
The rescue told us this one was a malamut mix but everyone agrees she’s a husky GSD. They found her on the street so no history. She’s turning out to be a really excellent dog though. I suspect she may be a really special one once she mellows a little bit. I’ve never had such a long legged dog as a running partner and it’s great because my running speed is her casual trot speed. The heat is the limiting factor right now but come fall she’ll love running 10+ miles with me
I like this idea, I suspect this would be pretty effective with her.
My neighbours have huskies and they use cattle fencing with 4x4 posts and a wood board across the top and it looks quite nice. Inside the fence they have one strand of regular electric wire that keeps the dogs off the fence. They’ve never had any escapes. For dogs with a strong hunting or prey drive I would not trust underground fencing. I have beagles and all the reading I did said they will always blast through underground fencing because they forget it’s there in the moment of excitement. I have seen that both of my beagles respect the horse elect fencing and it stops them in their tracks.
We just had T posts with 4x4 livestock fencing put in. We have that on 3 sides with post and board with no climb in the front. We live in a deed restricted subdivision on 2 acres. We were not allowed chainlink (I would not have that anyway). Everyone else in the neighborhood has underground fencing with a collar.
I don’t have a husky, but a ridgeback that loves to chase squirrels, chipmonks and birds.
We have bear, deer, bobcats and all sorts of critters. and the dogs on the E-collars run right throught their fencing to chase the deer.
I think this is the route we’re going to go. It’s certainly not cheap but I do have a lead on a great deal on 4x4 posts that should make it hurt a little less. Do you know if they installed it themselves? I’ve watched some YouTube videos and seems pretty straight forward for a reasonably handy couple. Time consuming sure, but not too tricky
They had the posts installed and they hung the fencing themselves. I’ve done it before and it’s not very hard. I can’t remember how we adjusted the tension so the fencing didn’t look slack, but it was easy with some specific tool. I’m sure Google has the answer. Good luck!
