Hello Everyone

First post and was hoping for some assistance with containment.

I have a 2 year old Siberian husky named Shelby. I live on a 1 acre sized piece of property. The 1/2 acre backyard is fenced all the way around with a 6 foot wooden stockade fence.

My husky repeatedly digs underneath the fence and escapes. She has escaped 10 times in the last 18 months. I walk the perimeter of the fence every morning and check for new digging and when I find new digging, I close the hole with a firewood log, which works fine. But sometimes its not enough. I let the dog out to use the bathroom and with 10 minutes she is gone. She is walked for at least an hour a day, plays with my kids and is generally pretty tired at the end of the day.

My question is what do others do for containment? Does a buried electric or invisible fence work? Any other ideas?

I am really at a loss on how to stop this and I am very concerned she will get squished by a car if this doesn't stop.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

I am not an expert on this because my outdoor space is chain link fence set in concrete.
My boy climbed so the top had to be covered.
That's another whole topic.

I have heard that chicken wire, attached to the fence and then buried prevents them from digging out.
Perhaps others with experience will chime in.

I would not recommend an electric fence for a husky.
They are very determined and pain averse.

I'd attach chicken wire to the bottom of the fence, and just lay it on the ground. I would think 2ft would be OK, and the dog won't know to move back and tunnel under. I don't have a big yard, so I buried a couple space clay tiles along 20ft of fence. The other sides of the yard are all block wall/concrete. Dogs haven't figured out they just have to move back a foot to dig.

I use invisible fence, the wired kind, exclusively with great success. You could put a loop around the bottom of your fence. She would need to be trained to the fence, meaning, when she hears the beep, retreat.

Another option, which I inadvertently found works extremely well, is good old electric fence. I put up a bear fence for my bees, dogs...and cat, had to test it. They now won't go within 10 feet of that fence. Now. Mine is a powerful 2 joules charger meant for a bear and packs a wallop...I know personally. With electric fence. You do have to keep the wires away from vegetation or anything that will ground it so there's some maintenance.

We alternate between chicken wire run along the ground beside the bottom of the fence and concrete runs under the fence but I will be adding the electric wire to the fence in time as we've had issues with gates popping open before and with fence panels coming loose in bad winds that we don't always catch.

LittleHouse wrote:

I'd attach chicken wire to the bottom of the fence, and just lay it on the ground. I would think 2ft would be OK, and the dog won't know to move back and tunnel under. I don't have a big yard, so I buried a couple space clay tiles along 20ft of fence.  The other sides of the yard are all block wall/concrete. Dogs haven't figured out they just have to move back a foot to dig.

I did not think of the chicken wire.  Thats a great (and inexpensive) solution.  I don't know about just laying it on the ground however.  I don't need my kids falling into it.  Maybe digging a smallish hole and burying the bottom end down about 12 inches?

An electric fence would likely be effective, but wouldn't want my kids or the neighborhood kids to inadvertently touch it and get smacked. Esp because we have a pool in the summer.

You can hold the chicken wire against the ground with lawn staples. The grass will likely fill in over it within a month.

https://www.amleo.com/anchor-pin-for-netting-and-landscape-fabric/p/VP-6AP/

We had problems with Misty when we first got her because she can leap over our 6-foot wooden privacy fence! We also have a half acre yard. After doing some research and chatting with folks here, we settled on combining the privacy fence with an invisible fence. Depending on how you do it, you can attach the invisible fence wire to the wooden fence instead of burying it, except where you have fence gates. We went with a store-bought fence and did it ourselves -- SportDog SDF-100A. This Website has some useful information and tips on various types of invisible fences and how they're installed: https://www.dogfencediy.com/

Good luck!

The only thing I would add to Faye's post of the pet safe yard max had a rechargeable battery and a nice soft woven nylon web collar with sturdy quick release buckle. We've had it almost 4 years now, the dogs play rough, including hauling on each other's collars and I've not had tho replace, charged lasts a good 3 months.

Misty Mia Husky wrote:

We had problems with Misty when we first got her because she can leap over our 6-foot wooden privacy fence!  We also have a half acre yard.  After doing some research and chatting with folks here, we settled on combining the privacy fence with an invisible fence.  Depending on how you do it, you can attach the invisible fence wire to the wooden fence instead of burying it, except where you have fence gates.  We went with a store-bought fence and did it ourselves -- SportDog SDF-100A. This Website has some useful information and tips on various types of invisible fences and how they're installed:

Good luck!

Thanks!  And this fence has stopped the digging?

Well, Misty still digs -- Just not close to the fence!