# Dog digging out



## 24to1 (Apr 2, 2014)

I have to LGDs. A Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian Pyrenees mix. The Anatolian mix is the older of the 2 at about 3 years of age. Yesterday he decided to start digging under the fence. On 5 different occasions he got out. He doesn't go far but I cant have him doing this. BTW he is fixed so its not "nature" calling him. Other than run a hot wire around his pasture, any ideas as to how to stop him from doing this?

Thanks

Ron


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## M5farm (Jan 14, 2014)

Hot wire or Shock collar to correct it is about the only option .


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

Watch him ,catch him at it ,show your displeasure.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I had the same problem with all of my Great Pyrenees. Neither shock collars nor hot wire worked at all. Too much hair.
Luckily our place is surrounded by National Forest and federal lands and it wasn’t at all a problem for them to roam farther. After they were two years old they settled into their own boundaries which may or may not have correlated to our land boundaries.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

Not all electric fence chargers are the same. If you get one, choose one with a very high voltage so that they feel it. Something rated for sheep, llamas etc.

Edit: I found this site that has a good summary: https://www.stafix.com/en-us/helpful-information/animal-voltage-requirements


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

dyrne said:


> Not all electric fence chargers are the same. If you get one, choose one with a very high voltage so that they feel it. Something rated for sheep, llamas etc.


Ours was but they didn’t care.


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## 24to1 (Apr 2, 2014)

Was hoping to avoid running electric but Im kinda at a loss......


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

24to1 said:


> Was hoping to avoid running electric but Im kinda at a loss......


There are some nice wireless invisible fences available these days that let you setup a base station in your house. They work well if you want the dog within a radius of the house. Unfortunately our farmhouse is near the property line and not in the middle of the farm so they weren't an option for us.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I second the shock collar.
I bet in one or two weekends you can stop all the digging.
You may have to shave a spot on his neck so the terminals will touch skin though.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I can tell you what I've done. My Bulgarian Karakachan decided she was to venture past the parameter fencing. She would stay all of 5-10 minutes and then yell to get back in thru the gate, prancing quite proudly when she came back inside...often dragging a rather large deer bone. The only problem with this was I would literally have to walk across uneaven turrain of two acres to open the gate for her. So I purchased 100 ft of 1" fowl netting 4' wide, cut it down the middle creating 200 ft of this netting (now 2' wide) and I *wired* it at the bottom of the fencing areas where a canine could get thru, laying it flat on the ground and adding some very large rocks as well. I did this because I don't like the idea of using electricity of any kind on any animal. Yes it took some work; but I'm quite pleased with the outcome.


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

Cheap easy fix. Used it on hounds for years.

Scoop their poop put it in the holes when they start showing up. New hole shows put poop in it. Old hole gets filled back up with dirt and poop on top of the hole. 
They don't like getting their own poop on themselves. 
If you can do so with out having the cops called urinate on the fence where they're digging also..Assert dominance with the other treatments. 

If they poop where you don't want them to.... sprinkle dry dog food around the area you don't want poop, every day or two....Scoop the poop and place a pile where you want poop... they don't like having poop where they have food. 


Works most of the time...


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

Have to shave the neck to use shock collars.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Depends on how you placed the hot wire where it matters. You would have to keep the bottom closely trimmed so the wires won't short out and also make sure the battery's what's it called? The ground metal rod has to be long enough to go deep in the ground for the solar battery to work well.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

Forget the hot wire. To keep my dogs from digging out I put about 2 ft of cattle panel on the inside of the fence, along the bottom. Attach it to the fence. An animal will dig at the fence line, not start 2 ft back. Regular fence wire is not strong enough and they will tear through it. After a while they will quit digging.

I do the same on the chicken pen to keep ***** and possums from digging in.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

a friend used the invisable fence wire, and shock collar with a buzz warning option, but never bothered burying it just tieing it along the far from dog proof cow fence . once the dog figures out its boundrys and the penality for crossing the line they will stop excapeing . so use a collar that will give a warning buzz then a good shock even if you have to clip the long hair,then after the first training shocks are over and hair grows back the buzz reminder will work despite hair . it worked for him .


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

24to1 said:


> I have to LGDs. A Great Pyrenees and an Anatolian Pyrenees mix. The Anatolian mix is the older of the 2 at about 3 years of age. Yesterday he decided to start digging under the fence. On 5 different occasions he got out. He doesn't go far but I cant have him doing this. BTW he is fixed so its not "nature" calling him. Other than run a hot wire around his pasture, any ideas as to how to stop him from doing this?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Ron


A dog that digs out of a kennel fence instinctively starts digging right at the fence when their nose hits it.

When I dig inspect my chain link outer kennel fence and original kennel fence inside the newer one, if digging has started, when I refill the hole, I first cut a piece of 2 by 4 inch small game wire to fit the bottom width of the fence dig spot but about 2 and a half feet longer as an inside footer barrier.

With the dogs in the house so they don't see, I go to the fence and dig the hole about a foot deeper and attach the galvanized game wire to the chain link and bottom tension wire by twist wrapping it and push it into the hole I have dug and bend it at a 90 degree angle towards the inside of the pen.

As I cover the L shaped footer fence with dirt, I also bury a poop pile in it to keep the dogs avoiding the spot while the poop is fresh.

If for some reason the dogs go to the fence in a footer protected area, as they dig, they are actually standing on two feet of fence wire buried a foot or so under them and cannot dig out and I refill the hole on my next kennel fence walk as I exercise them with their little red wagon sized chase tires.

In the 21 years I have been here , the 30 by 30 foot canopy top over a 10 foot wide original game wire fence has about 35 feet of fence line wire footed and the outer 50 by 50 foot chain link fence only has about 25 feet of footer wire panels in place.

The inner and outer pens in addition to providing shade and 2500 feet of overall kennel space also provides 900 feet of in kennel separation area and a 20 foot wide endless dog run track with no electric fencing or shock collars needed.


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## Springwood (Mar 8, 2017)

Saw something called a Yoke in Shepherd magazine for LGD's to keep them from going under fences...It's so simple yet ingenious. Use a light material such as PVC pipe. Take 3 pieces each about 2-3 foot long. Attach them together in a triangle shape in the center large enough to place on the dog like a collar. The length leaves excess that hangs out enough to prevent the dog from going under a fence even if there's a hole under the fence.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

Springwood said:


> View attachment 65852
> 
> Saw something called a Yoke in Shepherd magazine for LGD's to keep them from going under fences...It's so simple yet ingenious. Use a light material such as PVC pipe. Take 3 pieces each about 2-3 foot long. Attach them together in a triangle shape in the center large enough to place on the dog like a collar. The length leaves excess that hangs out enough to prevent the dog from going under a fence even if there's a hole under the fence.


That's very interesting thanks for posting this. My problem dog can slip most collars so it would have to have some kind of harness also.. looks like the dog in the pic would be similar though.

Edit: the women in my family shouted this down. I still kind of like it but apparently this is awful and very cruel...


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## Springwood (Mar 8, 2017)

I think it's significantly less cruel than electric shock or any of the other ideas posted that shock the dog. Much cheaper too, and it's training your dog. Where as the electricity goes down on your fences and Whoops!!!! there goes the dog. I wish we had seen this when we were having trouble with our LGD going under the fence. Instead we had to tie her up inside the pasture. Kind of makes your LGD useless cause how can they chase off predators when they're tied up? After about 6 months of being tied up she stopped going under the fence but had I seen this yoke idea I would have constructed one without hesitation. It's now in my bag of trick and you can bet I'll use it if I'm ever faced with another dog slipping under fences.


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