Jumping Fences

[Kathy Rosenow]

Does anyone have trouble with their doodles jumping over fences? Our golden doodle Murray is an excellent dog, although still a little more rambunctious than we had hoped for a 2 1/2 year old, and in his excitement, he jumps our fence and escapes. Thankfully, this only happens if he sees a neighbor dog he wants to go play with, but that's still a huge problem. His springiness and leaping abilities are pretty astounding. Is this a doodle thing? We are at our wit's end over how to prevent this. Any ideas? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jumping fences isn't a doodle thing. It's a dog thing, lol.

For now, I'd say Murray shouldn't be left alone in the yard unsupervised. Dogs left alone in the yard for any length of time get into trouble, usually out of boredom. Some dig, some jump fences, some eat things they shouldn't.

How much real exercise does he get? Leash walks, playing fetch, real full-out running? Are you doing any training work or other activities? Dogs left alone in a yard usually don't play by themselves or exercise. Does he participate in any dog sports? It sounds like Murray would be a good candidate for agility classes, or maybe fly-ball. 

One thing you could do to prevent him from jumping the fence, if budget permits, is to plant some large, tall evergreens along it. He might be able to clear the fence, but I doubt he could also clear a hedge of 8 ft tall, 4 ft deep arbor vitae bushes. I did this along the street side of my yard for privacy, but it also worked great when I was fostering an escape artist like Murray, lol. 

[Kathy Rosenow]

Yeah. I didn't word my question very well. :) I just wondered if doodles are typically jumpers in general - not necessarily just fence-jumpers. Thanks for replying. 

He is very rarely in the yard alone because my husband and I are parents to 22 children (4 biological and 18 adopted). 19 of these kids still live at home and although 6 of them are in wheelchairs, the others are not and do give him lots of play exercise every day. And even our children in wheelchairs love to play fetch with him. He's so great with our kids. He also plays with our other dogs, too. 

Murray (just like all of our dogs) is mostly an inside dog and is only outside to go potty or to play with the kids. While we have had a dog in the past who would dig out under the fence, Murray is our first jumper. We're having a much harder time solving this problem. Thanks so much for taking time to jot a note back. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Poodles are big time jumpers, and apparently Murray inherited that, lol. Not all doodles do. Training will keep them from jumping on people, kitchen counters, etc., but I'm not sure about jumping fences. 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Whaaaaat ... I'm exhausted reading your post.  22 children.    What a special couple you are.  I've only had one jumper and he was a labradoodle that we fostered.  We put up a taller 4' baby gate and he could stand flat footed and leap over it.  I never let him off leash in the back yard so I'm not sure if he could or would have jumped our fence or not.  You could possibly try adding an invisible fence on the inside of your fence and have him wear an invisible fence collar.

[Kathy Rosenow]

Yes, he's an amazing jumper. We have seen him stand beside our golden and leap sideways over him from a flat-footed, standing-still position. Impressive and entertaining. Not so much, though, when it's over the fence. :) Thanks so much for this suggestion of the invisible fencing. We'll look into that. 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We have a 6' wooden slat fence that we took lattice panels, layed it sideways and fastened a the top.  Was decorative but made the fence about 7 feet tall

[Kathy Rosenow]

This is also a good idea. We have a split rail fence, so I'm not sure how to do this but Scott and I will look into this option, as well. Any chance you have a photo of your fence with the lattice attached? Thanks so much for taking time to reply. 

[Emily]

Our neighbors golden retriever constantly jumped up against our shared vinyl fence. He would jump over too! He would repeatedly bash into it, onto it, against it trying to see over. It was really bad! He would jump 60x an hour against the fence. We went over there to talk with them because we were concerned he would destroy our shared fence or knock it down. It is sad because they never ever let him inside, ever.  Anyway, they went to the feed store and bought the thin electric wire that horse  pastures use. They installed it in an hour and it has multiple settings. He hasn't jumped over the fence since the installation and he doesn't jump onto the fence.  He does jump up and down about 20 feet back from the fence to peek over to see my dogs.  I thought I would just share that. Also, our friends dog jumped onto their chicken coop and them over their vinyl fence. They installed the same horse cattle wire and the dog doesn't escape anymore. One time, their lab was gone for a week! He came home severely wounded so they were glad they found something that worked for them.  The lab is in indoor dog with tons of affection, just loved to escape and play in the neighborhood.

[Kathy Rosenow]

Thank you so much for that info. Based on the little bit of checking we've done, I think this is the most affordable solution, but we weren't sure how it would work, so it's good to have this information. Our biggest concern with this solution is that we still have 19 children at home and some of those are younger and/or have special needs. Also, our oldest daughter and her husband have also adopted special needs children and spend about 4 days a week here at our place. We have worried about the kids coming into contact with the wire. I assume it would shock them, too. right? We will certainly keep looking into this to find out if there is any way that we could make it safe for the kids while making it work for the dog. Thank you for taking time to chime in. 

[Emily]

Our neighbor has five children, all under the age of 8 and they play in the backyard daily. I never even thought about any risks.I wonder what they think of it. The wire is so thin, it's almost unnoticeable. I probably could snap a picture for you and even ask them about it. They placed the wire near the top of the fence. I know the children can't reach it but it is also adjustable with voltage. I'm not even sure the kids know it is there. When I visited my friends horse stable, I got zapped by their wire because I didn't see it! Hahaha. It just felt like a big static zip. It reminded me of when I was little & living in Cleveland. In the winter we would wear feet pajamas and slide our feet across the carpet purposefully and then touch each other to shock our siblings. Great fun! 

[Kathy Rosenow]

YES! I would love to hear their thoughts on this. Thank you for offering that. And any photos, too! Thanks!

What a funny story from your childhood. :) We are in Cincinnati, so not as much snow or cold as Cleveland. I would love a little more -- especially after this yucky wet and warm winter we had this year. Blech! 

[Kathy Rosenow]