Dog Proofing Backyard

[Eeyores Butterfly]

My new house has a nice backyard with a chain link fence. Initially I walked the fence looking for gaps and thought it was Matthias proof. Then when I had the dogs out for the first time I walked the perimeter with Matthias on his leash and noticed some gaps I hadn't seen before. Places where the fence has been bent slightly. They're not big, but just big enough for my little Houdini doggy. I went ahead and dropped the leash and let him run and he seemed fine. All of a sudden, I look over and he is in my neighbor's yard! So he will not be let off his leash anytime soon.

There are probably three or four of these gaps just big enough for him to get out of. He is a dachshund/jack russell mix, about the size of a standard dachshund. Lowe's suggested stakes to stake it to the ground in those places. I do plan on trying those, but was wondering if anybody else had some other suggestions in case that doesn't work? I am hoping to fix it without spending tons of money.

 

[LindaR]

Well, initially when you have a dog AND are having chainlink fence installed, you want to have several inches of the fencing buried in the ground. It is about impossible to NOT have gaps when the fencing is running along at ground level.

SO, what you can do NOW is attach some boards along the areas where there are gaps. I did this when I got my toy poodle (because she was so small she could fit thru the smallest gap). I don't know the measurements of the boards but, for example you get a long board (4-5 feet) that is as wide as you can find it (8 inches?). Turn it on its side, and as I said, bury a few inches in the ground and the rest should overlap the gap at the bottom. Am I making sense? Kinda hard to express!

 

[stsomewhere]

I used cement blocks to cover my gaps. That way the dogs could not dig under the fence.