Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I have 2 RRs and I love them dearly. One of them is an angel but the other one is a handful. We recently moved out to acreage land hoping it will be better for our dogs with the large space. Well, Zahra has been jumping over our 4 foot fence to our neighbour's yard for the last couple of days. We've resecured the fence and even increased the height of the fence in areas where we thought she was jumping over. This morning, our neighbour threatened to do something to our dogs if she sees one of them on her property again. I was so upset! Do any of you have a suggestion on what I can do? We talked about an electric wire on the fence, but that will only work if she doesn't leap over it. We live on 2.6 acres and it already cost us a fortune with the current fence we installed. Besides watching their every move, I don't know what else to do? I am so upset. Thanks for reading.

Joanne

That's too bad, neighbors really suck sometimes. And what a terrible person to threaten a dog who doesn't realize that what it's doing upsets her. It's just being a dog!!!
You might want to tether the dog for now, you can get up to a 30 foot line with the ones I've seen at petsmart. But make sure you place it in a secure spot where she can't get tangled up in anything. It's either that or keep her in a crate. I know it's not much fun for the dog, but only until she learns to control herself or you find a way to make the fence even more secure, or keep her from going over it. They also have "invisible" fences that use shock collars. I've never seen one work, some people are against them, but some think they're very useful. Personally, I don't have an opinion on them as I don't know much about them. You can give her freedom outside when you are there to supervise her.
There are other things that can happen to your dog besides the neighbor if she jumped the fence and got away. And I would also inform your neighbor that there are animal protection laws and if she "does something" to your dog she will be crimanally procecuted.
Good Luck!
DestanyF

Thanks for your replies. I will definitely look up animal protection laws so I can throw that back at our neighbour. Our dog is jumping the fence because she sees our neighbour's cat in the yard. Sometimes that cat comes into our yard too!
Today, we drove all over the lower mainland looking for the electric fence kit. Apparently it is a popular time for it so everyone was sold out. We finally found a store an hour away that carried them. We are going to install it tomorrow. I was very against it at first, but I'd rather have our dog feel a slight shock than be poisoned by our neighbour. I just talked to our other neighbour who used to have a dog but someone poisoned her. Jeez, I wonder who would have done that? Wish me luck with this electric wire fence. Thanks for reading everyone. I definitely feel better after sharing this problem with others.

Joanne

FD,

This may sound severe, but I think sometimes you have to take drastic steps like this to keep peace with the neighbors and also and most importantly keep your dog safe. This idea was suggested to me from someone that knows jumping dogs.

"Buy two or three strands of electric tape - it's yellow and is used for horses mostly - can be purchased at Tractor Supply or any farm & ranch type store. It's an electric fence, but instead of a thin wire, this is a piece of nylon material that varies from a 1/4" wide to an inch in width. Run those three strands across the top of the fence down the entire length that borders the neighbor's land. The idea is that no matter how high the dog jumps she WILL hit that hot fence and get a shock. It should only take about a week or so and they will be able to turn the whole thing off. The visibility of the tape instead of the wire will act as a continuing deterrent for the dog."

Good luck and let me know what dicision you make.
Cheryl

Hi Cheryl,

Thank you so much for your suggestion. I guess we were thinking along the same lines. It is important to keep good relations with neighbours since I will be living here for awhile. I was up last night tossing and turning with what to do about Zahra and finally decided on purchasing an electric fence kit. We will finish installing it tomorrow so we can test it out. Maybe it will even keep the neighbour's cat out of our yard. I can't believe the amount of worry that our dogs cause us. I love them so much that just the thought of someone harming them makes me sick with worry. Can you tell our dogs are spoiled? Jeez, we sold our house in the city and bought acreage out in the country just for the two of them! Must be puppy love.

Joanne

Joanne,

Your welcome. My dogs are pampered also. We bought 10 acres and house, at the time I had horses, which we fence a very large yard and not to mention I bought a van just so they could ride along more often. I had two RR one is gone now to the Bridge, but I still have my wonderful girl Cricket and her best friend Lacey, Border Terrier.

Humm without having critters I might be as rich as Bill Gates. LOL

Cheryl,
Love them while they are here because they are never here long enough.

Joanne,
How did the Electric fence work? Did you get the invisible kind or the kind Cheryl mentioned? I don't have a fence jumper at this point in time but I might in the future.
I hope all is working out.

Jaime