Hi all! I'm a new husky owner and will be getting my puppy in a few weeks and am just wanting to be organised with a few things
I'm in a rental house at the moment which has a small fence around the property and from what I've researched huskys can jump up to 6ft? Was wondering if anyone out there has another way of containing them without the worry of a runaway and also has the freedom to run around the yard still if that makes any sense ! Thanks !

Specifically how high is the fence?

A Husky puppy will not be able to jump over a small fence for the first year of life unless it's chicken wire.

Yes, an adult who is very frustrated and with enough time to problem solve may be able to leap a 6 foot fence. That is like problem # 312 on your list. Relax

If it's enclosed solid you're fine.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the advice !

We lived in a rental with a 4' high chain link fence for the first 2 years of our husky's life. We never had any issues with him going over it. If you are really concerned about the possibility, the solution is simple. Never leave him/her out there unattended, especially for longer periods of time. If you're not out there with the dog, it'll be bored anyways. It's not like they just run around the yard by themselves for the heck of it (most of the time anyways...) so there's not a lot of reason to leave it out there by itself anyways.

I second Sara and Jeff. We have a 4 ft chain link around the back yard - about 3/4 acre. There is a 6-10' border of brushy stuff and some planted stuff in front of 2 sides of the fence, a rose border and house on the 3rd side and a row of hemlock, a shed and an 8ft privacy fence on the 4th side. There are areas where the chain link has, maybe a 10" gap at the bottom. My 2 yr old husky and his 10 mo old "nephew" who visits frequently could easily dig under or go over the fence. They have never shown any inclination to do either. And that was before I put in efence around 4-ish acres. That being said, both dogs are tethered if we leave the property. I started by only letting Ami off leash in the back yard when I was out with him. Then graduated to being out alone with me watching carefully out the window.


I hope this helps.

I just wanted to add that my one year old husky still hasn't figured out that he can jump a 4 ft fence and he has been around them a ton at my work. As long as you can keep watch on him he will be find especially while he is very young.

I know with Paw Paw, if he wanted to, he could jump any of the fences that have surrounded our yards in VA, OR and ID. The big thing is that he DIDN'T. He has the ability but not the desire. I have always kept him well exercised (5-mile bikejoring rides as a minimum) and work on his training daily. I think the same mindset goes with digging habits. I've noticed if the dogs are underexercised (either physically or mentally or both) they will display these negative habits and behaviors. As long as I keep them stimulated each day, they behave and don't destroy things. Of course, I had to wait until Paw Paw was a little older to increase his exercise amounts to where they are now. We actually just got home from an 8.3-miler where they pull the entire time; I don't pedal unless they absolutely need help (up hills, deep mud, etc.). Dogs are happy!...humans are happy!

Playing with the Big Dogs wrote:

I just wanted to add that my one year old husky still hasn't figured out that he can jump a 4 ft fence and he has been around them a ton at my work. As long as you can keep watch on him he will be find especially while he is very young.

Same with ours. She has never shown a desire to jump even over the two-foot-high baby gates in our house. We had a six-foot vinyl fence built around our back yard because we knew the risk with a Husky, but truth be told it could've been a four-foot chain link and she'd probably be fine ... that coupled with the fact that whenever she's outside we're always out with her, and overall she's a pretty submissive dog, especially to humans.

It definitely depends on the dog's disposition and the amount of training and work you do with them, especially from a very young age. Training begins as soon as the puppy comes home and is an ongoing process. But, Jeff is right -- the first year or so of the puppy's life it will be unable to jump very high anyway. I've seen dogs climb chain-link fences, but as others have said, as long as you keep the dog engaged (read: not bored), well-exercised and are always watching when they are outdoors, there's no need to worry.

Wanted to add: the same goes for our Beowulf, as he has very long legs and is a lot taller than Paw Paw. He could jump any of these fences, but both huskies know it is not allowed and I would not be happy if they ever did such a thing. It's sorta like raising children, if you teach them right from wrong, most of the time they're going to do what is right. If you don't teach them much of anything, how will they know what they're doing is wrong!? Training, training, and more training, especially with Sibes! They're too smart for their own good.

Also wanted to add: we have kept the dogs and cats separate with baby gates that are probably 2.5' high, and they've never jumped/climbed over one of them either. Goes back to the same thing: they know they are not allowed so they don't challenge the fence, because doing so would be to challenge me and they know who is in charge.

Thank you everyone for the advice ! I think my puppy will be just fine with my 4ft fence then

We had a 6 ft fence when my sibe was younger and he could jump to the top but never tried to go over. Now that he's a senior dog I feel comfortable enough to have a 4 ft fence. We've had a 4 ft fence for the past 6 months and he's not once tried to jump it.

Our first husky, Kesler, was a baby when we moved in to our house. We have a large property with 4 foot wire fence around it. Kesler has never attempted to jump out (the closest he comes is putting his front paws on the fence). When we adopted Sinatra at over a year old, he has managed to escape a few times by climbing the fence. We ended up supplementing our fence with an e-fence and never leave the dogs out without supervision.

So long story short, in my opinion, it is great when you have the pup grow up with the fence, it seems to make escape attempts less likely (just my opinion). And as others have said, don't leave the pup unattended in the yard. I am paranoid now because of the few escapes we had, so I watch them like a hawk outside, even when it is -36C

Good luck with the pup!

I thought I posted to this, but I must not have hit send. Loki now jumps our four foot fence. He didn't until our neighbor started feeding his cat outside off the side door in plain view. I really don't think he would have even given it a thought of jumping until there was food laying out available, 10 feet away from him. Just something to consider, if there is something on the other side of the fence, the temptation may be too much to resist. Now I just make sure he is supervised outside (he won't jump if I'm watching him).

I don't think they can clear a six foot fence, but they can jump, hang and scramble over.
Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z741IKepV9c
You combat this with a roller (PVC pipe that spins on a dowel) at the top.