Dog Keeps Jumping Fence.

[black angel]

Does anyone know how in Scottish law who is responsible for keeping our dog in the garden?
It may seem a stupid question but our family is split down the middle.

The fence to our neighbours garden is flimsy, around 3 foot tall and isnt very sturdy. This is to the right of us.
The fence is owned by them and poorly maintained. On our side we have a line of trees cut into a hedge.
The problem is, our dog can jump over the fence and run around the garden. The neighbours dont seem bothered about it but I am as the dog isnt that friendly and if their back gate isnt shut then she has access to the road.
I think its up to us to put a dog proof fence on our side of the property to stop her and my son agrees. My hubby and daughter think its up to the fence owners to make their fence sturdy and tall enough not to allow her to jump through.
Ive tried to see it as the left side neighbours dog jumping over the wall that we own and what would we do. I would expect them to put a fence up to stop their dog but hubby says he would put a fence there to stop it getting through.

I dont know whose right. It would cost a lot of money to raise a tall solid fence there as its around 50 feet long maybe more and ive thought about an electric fence just this side of the hedge.

I really dont want to tie her up but she does need to get out into the garden

 

[pica_nuttalli]

if it's your dog, then it's your responsibility to keep it under control. think of it this way: is it your responsibility to keep the dog on a leash or is it the responsibility of the other person on the sidewalk to not let the dog jump on them?

should anything unfortunate happen involving your dog and a cat, child or dog-hater (not to assert that your dog is dangerous), then it would probably be seen as your responsibility to have ensured that she could not escape the garden. i imagine that you would be held liable for any damages and not your neighbors with the flimsy fence. of course, this is a US perspective and things could be very different in Scotland

if you are concerned about the cost of installing a dog-proof fence, then there are other possible solutions. while chain-link fences aren't especially pretty, they are cheaper and require significantly less maintenance than a wooden fence. you could also just fence off a portion of the yard for the dog to run around in. and finally, you could install a "dog run" as we call them here in the SE US. its a long piece of cable strung between two poles/trees and what is essentially a very long leash is attached to the cable via a pulley. if you need to just put the dog out in the yard to be unsupervised for a few moments, attaching her to the dog run will allow her to run around but seriously limits the area to which she has access. however, a dog run is not an appropriate place to leave a dog for an entire day or over-night.

 

[black angel]

I agree with what you say in the first paragraph 100%, shes our dog and up to us to control. If we leave her unattended in our garden then she should stay in our garden.

Making a part of our garden just for her is what we are trying to do so she doesnt get near the fence but keeping her in it is really hard as shes not the type of dog to be to told what to do.

Im thinking of an electric fence to keep her from going near it but a simpler way may be a collar that emits a noise or spray that we can control.

Thanks for replying Pica and will talk to hubby again to get it through to him its up to us and not the neighbours

 

[chardonnay1000]

i used to have a large dog which kept running away, i put a large pole in the ground and got him a massive long chain about 50 metres. He didnt mind at all as he could still wander round the garden and I could relax knowing he hadnt took himself for a walk!

 

[littlelegs]

Have you tried asking the neighbours to go halves with you to buy a new fence?

That might help. Do you own your own house or is it council/ha? if so then the council/ha may foot the bill.

 

[black angel]

Its our own and the neighbours are selling theirs soon so they wont get a new fence, she told me when i asked if they were going to replace it.
Maybe have to get a stake and tie her up to stop her roaming but it wont be too long as theres too much to get tangled up in.

 

[juliehainsworth]

I had a smilar problem with my dog jumping over the fence into the neighbours garden we just made the fence higher using chicken wire so far it has worked although he's now found a way to get into my other neighbours garden near the plum tree so we need to fix that soon. Keep telling my dad to get it sorted but it just seems to be falling on deaf ears at the moment. The neighbours behind us wanted to get rid of the fence and replace it with conifers but they are scared of dogs, we told them if they took down the fence it was their responsibility to ensure that the dog didnt go into the property, needless to say they changed their mind and put up a six foot fence.

 

[black angel]

Adding the chicken wite to it might work for us as hubby can get into their garden to put it on. Thanks for that idea and will talk to hubby about it as we have enough chicken wire and stakes to do it.

 

[morgan]

The law in England is that it is up to you to fence your property so dogs can't get IN. We are in a rural area so whether it is different in a town I don't know. Tying your dog up seems the best option and perhaps let him go free when you are around. I sympathise, I had a dog who wasn't very "people friendly" i.e she bit! She was a Scottish Terrier and very protective of us.

 

[OohFeeshy]

See if you can get into contact with the buyers, they might be more willing to put up a fence, especially if they have children/other pets/similar. A basic mesh barrier should be fine, or even trellis- I'd guess after a few failed tries of jumping over she may stop trying. Plus the new neighbors may not like a large solid fence- they can really block out the light.

 

[vic]

May be the answer to your problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http/radiofence.com/dog_fences_wireless.htm

 

[black angel]

Hubby said no to anything giving electric shocks and we are in the Uk, but thanks for letting me see what is available over there. Maybe i can get something similar, buy it, set it up and hubby wont notice until he next cuts the hedge next year

The house isnt on the market yet and wont be until next year as they are building their own house.

The thought of young children moving in scares me as she hates children more than cats. If there was a large wooden fence put up then the dark side would be on our side as the sun shines from their side.

We will have to sit and work something out and get something built in the spring.

In the meantime if anyone has any other suggestions then please let me know.

Thanks to everyone for the input so far

 

[juliehainsworth]

If a high fence is what you want you could get one that is solid 3/4 of the way up and then has like a trelis along the top to allow the light to come through ok it wont let much more light in but it would be better than none. Just another option to consider, also my friend in Wales was saying that they're no longer allowed a 6ft fence they can only have a 4ft wall if/when the current fence fails but they are allowed railings up to make it higher as they have 3 german shepherds not sure if that rule is only for council properties or for all?

 

[KathyM]

I'm glad to see you've decided not to go for an electric/RC fence. They're very dangerous, as dogs tend to be hyped up when they get out, then once they've done whatever they want to do, find they can't get back in. Also if the collars fail (or are forgotten) it frequently ends in tears.

I think the only option is a tall (6ft) fence and proper supervision, maybe some clicker training so when you see he's about to go, he can be called back with confidence.

Chaining is also a bad idea - sounds like the perfect answer, but can psychologically damage the dog, and inure them physically too.

You're right though, it is your responsibility - and I've got to say your neighbours sound very understanding (overly so) as in the UK it is a crime to have a dog out of control off your property. If your dog is known to hate children, you'd think your faily would be being more responsible about making sure she's safely enclosed - maybe if a tall fence isn't possible, an enclosed large dog run would be the best option for while she's outside. Reeber, she doesn't have to bite for you to be porsecuted for having a dangerous dog - the "victim" just has to feel threatened for your dog to be deemed "dangerous", and that can and often does lead to prosecution and even euthanasia.

 

[black angel]

Well, i like the idea of the trellis over the top as its not too expensive so will see about that. For now we have set up a chicken wire fence topped with stakes so she cant bend the wire down and jump it and that seems to be fine for the short term. Its at the house end of the garden so she is restricted to about a quarter of it.
Now when she goes out we watch her, it was just nice before when we could open the door and let her roam around the garden without worrying what she was doing.

Our neighbours have dogs of their own so they understand what she is like. A dog run is out as she would bark all the time.
Shes a pointer so shes bred to seek things out and shes only doing what nature gave her, but all points have been taken on board and thank you for those.