The Dog Yard
Maintenance -- A clean
environment is a must for two reasons, health and smell. Pick the lot --
go out with a shovel and get poop out of the yard. Disease and parasites
live in poop, remove the risk. Also smell and mess live in poop, remove
the unpleasantness. Bag it, compost it, bury it -- just remove it.
Then hose off and bleach/lime/disinfect the kennels or yards. Smell goes a
long way towards indicating cleanliness.
Construction -- The
two main problems with dog yards are mud and escapes. There are lots of
ways to keep the dog yard free of mud.
| |
Expense |
Easy to Hose |
Easy to Disinfect |
Pluses |
Minuses |
| Concrete |
High |
yes |
yes |
toughens
pads, permanent |
falls
can injury because of hardness |
| Gravel |
Medium |
no |
no |
comes
in lots of sizes, packs down well |
must
renew, dogs eat, |
| Woodchip |
Medium |
no |
no |
cuts
down on mud unless they dig through the chips |
must
renew, dogs eat, mildew & molds |
| Concrete
tile or brick |
High |
yes |
yes |
haven't
used this, seems like a lot of work to install |
labor
intensive to install |
| Dirt
or Grass |
None |
no |
no |
You
already have it |
Mud |
We have dirt/grass
and are buying gravel as often as we can to fill in the muddy areas around
the gates and perimeter paths. We have more labor than budget, so it's
a good answer for us. We are on a slope so we terraced with landscape
timbers and cross ties at the bottom of our fences and the gravel that
doesn't get stomped into the ground tends to wash downhill and pile up
at the fences (like dams). Which we like, because it will help level
the lots eventually and we are in the East Tennessee foothills (if you
grabbed hold of one end of our place and stretched, we'd have 10 acres
instead of 6 because it all stands on end). Gravel toughs the dogs' pads,
which we also like for the sled team. Did I mention we have 6 acres, figure
up what concrete would cost? (Thanks to the Terri
Williams Memorial Fund, the rescue kennels are now paved with concrete block
over gravel.) Fences -- Escapes will
drive you nuts. Once you get a dog that discovers he can escape, and lead
the rest of the pack out the hole like water out a dam, that dog seems
to decide it is his mission in life to meet you on the front porch. Or
down by the mailbox. There are lots of ways to fence in a dog. (WE
DO NOT RECOMMEND TYING OUT DOGS. This practice makes the dog aggressive
and protective and offers the dog no protection from strays, kids, or thieves.)
You can mix and match fencing and posts, but these are several types of
fencing rated by difficulty to install, expense, sturdiness, and escape
proof (under and over and through).
| |
Installation |
Expense |
Sturdiness |
Escape proof |
| Chain
link mesh on chain link posts concreted into the ground |
Professional |
Yes. |
If mess
is stretched tight and posts concreted, it's the most sturdy |
Dogs
will go under unless stapled, over because it's sturdy, especially in corners |
| Standalone
chain link panels |
Hour's
project |
Highest
per sq. foot. |
Yes. |
Yes
because of bars on bottom. No because rigid corners. Can be moved by determined
35# female Siberian Husky. |
| Welded
wire mesh on concreted wooden posts |
Weekend
project |
Not
very |
Depends
if you stretch the wire with a come-along or stretcher |
If you
use something along the bottom to prevent nosing out or chewing out, like
landscape timbers, 1x4's, or hot-wire. |
| Field
fencing on driven-in metal posts |
Weekend
project |
Less
than above because no concrete, except maybe gates |
Depends
if you stretch the wire with a come-along or stretcher. |
Same
as above AND, metal posts can be dug up by a determined dog. |
| Any
kind of wire mesh stapled to trees |
Weekend
project |
No posts
and follows natural terrain. |
Difficult
in woods |
Difficult
to keep a dog from going under the mesh |
| Hot
wire or polypropylene tape with stainless steel filaments interwoven |
Weekend
project |
Cheap. |
Flimsy
-- a startled dog will run right through it. |
Flimsy
-- a startled dog will run right through it. |
| Invisible
fencing* |
Professional
or Weekend project |
Pricey
to Cheap |
Useless
to a determined dog, they just run through the pain and refuse to come
home. |
Requires
extensive training and does not keep out strays, thieves, or children. |
| Tie
out cables |
Afternoon's
project |
Cheap |
A determined
dog can break cables and hardware |
Does
not keep out strays or children or thieves, encourages aggression in dogs. |
*I know of three people
who use Invisible Fencing successfully. All three use it in combination with
a physical barrier.
Sleddog Rescue has
several of these options.
 | Primary isolation lot
-- 6' welded mesh stapled to trees with lumber stapled to bottom, woods'
dirt. |
| Primary rescue lot --
5' welded mesh on concreted landscape timbers posts, hotwired on top, not always turned on, dirt, grass, and some gravel.
(Now concrete block paver stones) |
| Play lot
-- 4' field fencing with hot wire across the top. (Wire
purchased to make it 6 foot.) |
| Gates have 4-guage hog panels cut to fit so the dog who grabs and tears --
grabs something unbreakable. |
|
