How do you train a dog to not jump a fence?

[vettechick99]

We have a lab puppy who is about 6m old (found him as a youngster on the side of the road). Very sweet dog; smart and trainable. But also tall and energic. We are having an issue with him not staying in our fenced-in yard. It's a large yard, over an acre, so it's not like he's hurting for space. He just wants to go visit whoever he sees across the way - normally our neighbor who is getting annoyed with us.

I know how to train a dog that I'm next to, but that's not when he jumps. He only does it when we are inside or have left the house. I would say that he is lonely, but he'll do it when our Basset is with him too. He just wants to get out and explore and visit.

I don't punish him when he comes back because I don't want him to associate coming home with being disciplined. I'm just at a loss for the right tactics to use. It'll be a looooong time before he's older and content to just stay home. Labs are puppies forever.

Thanks for any helpful tips!

 

[Christine]

Okay this was about 30 years ago. My neighbor had a chocolate lab puppy that jumped the fence all the time. She used to raise dogs when she lived in Australia and a popular tactic at that time was to put some sort of belt around the dogs collar area and attach a log to it. Yes, I said LOG. I went over one day and the dog was walking around with a log (piece of firewood) on her neck. It was bizarre but it worked.

I would probably; however, use some of the training methods having to do with behavior modification, rewards, etc. Oh, and I would never have the dog alone in the yard.

 

[Wishing on a star]

How high is the fence???
He must be a a talented jumper!

We too have a Lab. (full blooded, cost $$$)
I don't have a real answer to your dilemma, but I can say that our lab, who is otherwise a pretty good dog, but his one completely and totally fatal flaw is his drive to 'roam'. Luckily he was quickly brought under control by an invisible fence w/collar. But, if allowed, he would take off running and roaming, like Cujo, foaming at the mouth, peeing everywhere, tracking.....

He is getting a bit older now... getting a little of a premature, early, white beard.
While he is better, I still say he would LOVE take off and roam.

Has yours been 'fixed'.
I think that could possibly help.

I hate to think about the cost of an invisible fence, when you already have a fenced yard...

I think that drive to roam, and track, and explore, (look for female dogs), etc. can be very very strong.

 

[vettechick99]

Okay this was about 30 years ago. My neighbor had a chocolate lab puppy that jumped the fence all the time. She used to raise dogs when she lived in Australia and a popular tactic at that time was to put some sort of belt around the dogs collar area and attach a log to it. Yes, I said LOG. I went over one day and the dog was walking around with a log (piece of firewood) on her neck. It was bizarre but it worked.

I would probably; however, use some of the training methods having to do with behavior modification, rewards, etc. Oh, and I would never have the dog alone in the yard.

That is funny! I can imagine him dragging a log around.

Right now he has a large pen he stays for when we can't be out there. Normally I'd go out there and let him out in the morning: if he knew I was nearby, he'd stick around by the door or under the deck where it's cool. But lately he's jumping to visit the neighbor so he's spending more time in his pen.

How high is the fence???
He must be a a talented jumper!

We too have a Lab. (full blooded, cost $$$)
I don't have a real answer to your dilemma, but I can say that our lab, who is otherwise a pretty good dog, but his one completely and totally fatal flaw is his drive to 'roam'. Luckily he was quickly brought under control by an invisible fence w/collar. But, if allowed, he would take of running and roaming, like Cujo, foaming at the mouth, peeing everywhere, tracking.....

He is getting a bit older now... getting a little of a premature, early, white beard.
While he is better, I still say he would LOVE take off and roam.

Has yours been 'fixed'.
I think that could possibly help.

I hate to think about the cost of an invisible fence, when you already have a fenced yard...

I think that drive to roam, and track, and explore, (look for female dogs), etc. can be very very strong.

It's a 4ft tall fence. He is a very good jumper! He basically climbs it. And yes, he was fixed during our April trip to Disney because he kept running off. Didn't help. He didn't even act like the surgery hurt!

 

[terri01p]

 

[sunnyday123]

Your fence is 4 foot tall? Get a 6 foot tall one! Seriously, that's a hard one to break. That's my only suggestion.

And you're right, labs are puppies forever. They never slow down, they just need more frequent naps.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

The only way is to supervise him and crate him inside when you aren't around. Dogs instincts are to roam and explore and really a four foot tall fence isn't that tall. Making the fence taller probably isn't a option. If you and your family haven't been to Obedience Training with him yet, I would highly recommend it. He needs to know the recall command 100%. Also, it is great that when he does get out and comes back or you catch him, that you praise him. Dogs only have about a five second memory so they have no idea what they are getting punished for. Lastly, make sure he is getting enough exercise - at least two 30 minute walks a day. If they get enough exercise they won't be tempted to escape. I have had to hire a dog walker in the past when my schedule got too out of control to ensure that my dogs got enough exercise. If you do leave your dogs out regularly, please make sure that they are tested for Heartworm and are on preventative treatment. I worry so much about that for any dogs outside because we are constantly treating dogs at the Humane Society. Good Luck!

 

[meliss8599]

What I did was I put him in a situtation everyday that the conditions were right for him to want to jump and I watched and whenever he looked like he was going for it, I would step out and tell him to " no jump" and whenever he backed away from the fence I gave him a lot of praise ,this took me about 4 solid months but he's 4 now and will not even think about jumping the fence.

This. Catching the dog in the act is HUGE. Unfortunately it's very time consuming and tests your patience but it's how I trained our chocolate lab.

 

[SaraJayne]

We have a lab puppy who is about 6m old (found him as a youngster on the side of the road). Very sweet dog; smart and trainable. But also tall and energic. We are having an issue with him not staying in our fenced-in yard. It's a large yard, over an acre, so it's not like he's hurting for space. He just wants to go visit whoever he sees across the way - normally our neighbor who is getting annoyed with us.

I know how to train a dog that I'm next to, but that's not when he jumps. He only does it when we are inside or have left the house. I would say that he is lonely, but he'll do it when our Basset is with him too. He just wants to get out and explore and visit.

I don't punish him when he comes back because I don't want him to associate coming home with being disciplined. I'm just at a loss for the right tactics to use. It'll be a looooong time before he's older and content to just stay home. Labs are puppies forever.

Thanks for any helpful tips!

Why is he outside unspervised? You should never leave your dog outside if you are not home.

 

[kristilew]

Opposite problem here, our dogs dug under fences constantly. If you have the wooden privacy type fence, the easiest fix is electric fence. You don't have to bury it. Just weave it through the top of the fence, then loop it around and weave it through the bottom. I think the wires have to be about 3 ft. apart. Works great, very little effort on your part. You can set it to keep him anywhere from 6 inches to 4 ft away from your fence. The roll of wire, collar, and base unit should cost you about $150 - $200 total from Lowe's or Home Depot.

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Since you don't want to fence the whole yard with a taller fence, I would put up an electric wire around the inside/top of the fence. After your dog gets shocked a couple of times trying to escape, he'll learn to stay away from the fence. Then you can turn off the electricity to it and he probably won't realize it's off, but will continue to respect the fence. You can probably buy a pet fence charger and all the wire needed for under $100, and it'll be well worth the money. The electric fence will scare him more than it'll hurt him. I have used electric fences many times to keep my dogs, horses, cattle, etc. fenced in where they're supposed to stay. They work great and are not dangerous to your animals. I've touched the wire several times myself and it scares you more than it hurt you.

 

[formill]

We have the invisible fence for our border collie- we have 1 1/4 acres- we did not bury all the wire it just runs through the trees which surround property and we did bury it across the driveway.....it works great- was not expensive-training was easy.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What are you doing with him to help him release all his pent up energy?

http://www.cesarsway.com/tips/basics/exercise-challenge-your-dog-physically

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/labradorretrievers.html

http://www.dailypuppy.com/articles/...or-puppy/dbab9ac2-65aa-e00c-5f72-0385d10b11df

http://www.ehow.com/how_4697977_exercise-labrador-retriever.html

 

[HsvTeacher]

We had a boxer that was a fence jumper. He would jump over and then run to the front door. My DH ended up using cattle fencing to put a lip on the fence that blocked him. It only took a couple of times of bumping into the lip for him to stop.

 

[disneygirl_wdw]

We have a lab/jack russell mix and she jumps and climbs trees. Several times she has jumped our fence. We asked our trainer and she recommended coyote roller. Its a roller that attaches to your fence to prevent jumping. Basically when they try to jump their front paws roll back down. I haven't had a chance to try it yet. If you do a search on the internet you will find it. It seems promising.

 

[terri01p]

 

[mamamary]

Our previous Lab jumped our fence (4 ft.) a few times. We had gotten him from the pound when he was 1 1/2 and he did not come with very good manners One time we thought we lost him forever - we were so upset. We got an electric fence. After working with him for a week he learned he didn't want to get too close to the fence. I would say after maybe a year we never even used it anymore (and during that year it's not like he kept going over and getting shocked we just had him wear the collar just in case). He just knew not to go over there. It was slightly pricey because we have a big yard but the piece of mind was so worth it. He wasn't the type to just go to the front door - he would have took off after the nearest rabbit, squirrel, etc.

 

[MerMom60_94]

Your fence is 4 foot tall? Get a 6 foot tall one! Seriously, that's a hard one to break. That's my only suggestion.

And you're right, labs are puppies forever. They never slow down, they just need more frequent naps.

Believe it or not, that still may not do the trick. I have a Brittany who used to climb up and over our 6 foot stockade fence when she was young. My DH bought an electric collar that had a remote. When he saw her take off he would press the remote and she would get a little shock. She learned to associate the shock with taking off and it seemed to do the trick.

 

[walden]

He sounds bored and looking for adventure. Is he getting enough exercise and stimulation?

You asked for training advice. You need to be out there constantly with him watching to see whether he is contemplating a jump, calling him to you instantly, and rewarding with food and/or a big happy party with lots of praise. However, as you know he can leap the fence that would not be a safe enough solution if you intend to leave him unsupervised out there. (I'm a person who always supervises in the yard.)

So, if you want to be sure he is safe, you also need to modify the fence by making it higher, using something like the method described here http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/clova.html.

I'm very much not a fan of electric fences. IMO they are an aversive method, you still need to do training and, most importantly, if a dog does get out (and some do still hurdle a fence inspite of the shock) they can get repeated shocks as they try to get back home. Not good.

 

[vettechick99]

Thanks for the advice. I think the only way we can keep him in is to put an electric wire on the fence and do some training exercises with him. Like I said, he's very trainable - it's just hard to do when you aren't immediately there when he misbehaves. He's not very predictable. He went several weeks without jumping, and then started doing it again.

Does anyone have experience with the anti-jump harness?

He definitely needs more stimulation but it's more than I can give him right now. I'm 8.5m pregnant and it's too hot for me to be outside during the day (it's consistently 100+ daily here during the summer). Shoot, it's too hot for him! His pen is nice and cool, and once he's out in the yard, he runs straight to the deck so he can lay under it.

He also can not come inside. Our Bassett is very protectice and she would fight him every minute of the day. She's fine with him outside - finally. It took her several months of exerting her power to get him to see her as Alpha. Plus we have a small house, a 3YO, a baby coming, and an older cat that would literally have a heart attack.

He does get plenty of love and exercise when DH gets home. He goes out to work in the yard about 5pm and they pal around until about 9pm or later. DH also puts him in the truck and they ride around together. Things will only get better in the Fall and Winter. But I'd like him to have more running space until then.