Gracie Again, newest challenge

bethh

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Hey All,

I got a call from my husband this morning. Our front door ring doorbell went off and guess who was wandering the front yard but Gracie. I was in a panic because I wasn't home. I was on the way back from dropping our grandson off at daycare. I was in a panic but all I could do was pray that she was okay and wouldn't go in the road which is very busy. I was also worried about the rest of the dogs, house dogs that were out for some exercise and potty time. I got home and thank God she was in the yard on the side in the pumpkins. I went over calling her name. When she heard it, she was happy as a lark and came running to me. I brought her in and investigated all the gates. Nothing was open. I can only assume that she jumped the fence.

Help, what is the best suggestion for this? An invisible fence, electric fence (not too excited about that option because of the grandkids), ??? Please let me know y'all's ideas. We almost have the creek problem fixed but she can't be loose on the chicken side yet alone because sometimes she wants to play with them and she will chase them, not very often but I wouldn't trust that for an extended period of time unsupervised.

I saw where someone recommended a book Livestock Protection Dogs: Selection, Care, and Training. Is it worth the money? Around $35 on amazon. I'll pay it in a heartbeat if its good. Can't wait to hear your suggestions!!
 

BrendaMNgri

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@bethh That very dated book won't solve your problems. It's not a bad book per se, I own it, in fact it stands up better than the two recently
published LGD books that came out last year that are heavy on breed descriptions and history (not what you need.)
Your issue is fencing, and why the dog is escaping. It's not breed selection, breed history, etc. and that is what most other LGD books cover.
My book won't be out till October, and I go into escape issues, fencing, etc in great detail in entire chapters.
But that's then, this is now. You don't need to read books right now, you need to make choices. Wise ones.

I said it before (and apparently scared off the poster, too, lol): stop negative forecasting about grandkids and hot fence.
They will learn - fast. You need to fence your place well enough to keep an LGD inside, or accept the inevitable (roaming dog, lost dog, dead dog.)
Premier 1 Supplies has a stellar variety of fence options, in all price ranges. Go to their website.
Invisible fences won't work with LGDs. And they let predators in.

Time to pay the piper, and get your fencing fixed - serious fencing, not "maybe/kinda" stuff. OK? Do it. No procrastinating, Grasshopper..... ;)
 

Wehner Homestead

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As someone with young kids, I’d lean toward the electric fencing, particularly around the top since you think she jumped. The kids will learn quickly to give the hot wire an appropriate amount of space. My kids actually learned by seeing different farm animals get “bit.”
 

Donna R. Raybon

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Children only touch a hot stove once. All of us kids learned real quick to avoid touching any wire hanging on insulators. Much like the livestock we got bit and left it alone! Yes, really little kids, like toddler is at risk, but it is unlikely they would be unsupervised near a fence.

Unless we have severe drought conditions single wire hot electric fencing works here in East TN. Where it is chronically dry you have to use a setup with both hot and ground wire animal touches at same time. If she is jumping and not in contact with ground she won't get bit unless she hits ground and hot wire.

Best way I found to break a dog to fence is RUB bacon grease on foil and hang on fence. Dog sniffs and gets popped. Especially on heavy haired breeds like GP you want them to learn about fence with nose.
 

Baymule

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An electric fence is not the bad boogey monster that you are imagining it to be. It pulses, so when touched, it pulses off, leaving dog, child or whatever touched the reflex action to jump away. Your kids won't be electrocuted, nor will anything else. I have heard of more than one man telling how his father told him to go pee on that fence. Mean? yep. I am a jokester, but would never do that. Explain to the kids what it is, what happens if they touch it and hopefully they will obey, if not, then it is a fine time to admonish them and tell them that they should listen to you.

We have a hot wire around our back yard. When I need to put our two GP's up, it is the only fence that will hold them. Gracie needs to learn to stay put and trust me on this one, a hot wire will teach her that. Our male GP, Trip jumped outside the fence one time. I took him around the outer fence for weeks, reading him the riot act and he has never jumped out, off the property again. That does not stop him from jumping in and out of pastures, I don't even fuss about that. But when we have times that I need to know that they will stay put, into the back yard they go.

We have 3 grand daughters, age almost 2 years, 3 and 11 years old. None have ever grabbed the hot wire. If they do, I will comfort them, but will most likely laugh at them and tell them not to do that anymore (as if they would have to be told not to touch it again). Mean 'ol Mamaw…..

I am glad that Gracie was ok, unhurt and that she ran to you. She is just doing what those dogs do. Your job is to keep her and the other animals on your farm safe. If it means a hot wire, then it means a hot wire. If you are afraid for the grand kids, when they are outside playing, turn it off until they realize that they are not to touch it. My dogs won't approach the fence, even when it is off.
 

Latestarter

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Many will tell you that their animals can "tell" when the fence isn't energized. I tend to believe that since animals do have abilities that we lost or never had. Also, it's a good point that if the animal isn't touching the physical ground when in contact with the hot wire, it isn't going to BE hot... They need to have that ground connection to get zapped. So if Gracie is actually clearing/jumping the fence, a hot wire won't matter. You'll need to ensure that the fence is high enough that she can't clear it, and that there are both hot and ground wires where she will be forced to contact both in an escape attempt. I've been zapped a couple of times in my life and have suffered no long term negative effects. I have learned that I don't need further reinforcement on the issue... Your grands will learn just like all before them. You gotta do what you gotta do to protect your animals. If you de-energize when the grands are there, I'm sure Gracie will be more interested in playing with them than escaping in any case. Just remember to re-energize before the grands leave. ;)
 

Donna R. Raybon

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The pulsing of fence can be heard, animals have much keener hearing than us older humans. Once animal figures out they can through electric fence impossible to break them from escaping. Keep fence HOT !!!! Yeah, you can get by for a few hours....my experience has been:
Dog, a week
Pig, a day or two
Cow, beef two weeks, Jersey a week
Goat, 4 or 5 days.

That is if all happy, well fed,etc. So not too devoted to wanting out.
 

mystang89

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stop negative forecasting about grandkids and hot fence.
They will learn - fast.

This. I have 8 children ranging from 6mo to 11 years. Almost all have touched or fence including myself and wife. We are all still here. Some have touched it more than once but not on purpose. He is still here, learned what he did wrong and still smiles about it. Life's about learning. Don't stop the children from learning nor put them in a bubble.

I had the exact same problem as you did. I purchased and installed the electric fence and I now no longer have that problem. Good luck!
 

BrendaMNgri

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I'm SO glad to see from the several posts above that I am not the only one who recognizes that hot fence will not kill a child or maim them for life - coddling and over-protecting them however, well, that's another story....;)
 

bethh

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I’m back again with Gracie getting out. We installed hot wire fencing and it had been going well. All of a sudden, she is determined to get out. We went out today and purchased and installed 6foot no climb fence. We only had time to install in the area where she had been escaping. She was back over there for an hour maybe when again she was out. We will continue to try and figure this out. I’m so worried she is going to get hit. She is so exhausted from all the running so here she is...
 

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