dogs digging

Question
I have two dogs. I think it is just the one digging though. He will dig by the fence and get out. It seems to be the same spot everyday. The other day will get out too. The one that digs stays pretty much right by the house when he gets out. How ever the other dog will run off. I am not shure why they are doing it. We looked at electrical fences but they are really expencive. Almost 400$. We have had them tied up before but they just either ate through it or pulled on it so much that they will end up with sores around their neck. I don't know what else to do besides maybe finding a new home for them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Answer
There are several solutions to this problem, Melissa. One would be the electric fence, but as you said, it can be expensive.

Another solution is to get an 'invisible' fence to use in conjunction with your physical fence. What you do with this is, rather than burying the wire, you staple it to the fence 6-12 inches above the ground, and set the boundary so that the dogs cannot get within, say, 3 feet of the fence. It's going to be incredibly hard for your dog to dig out from three feet back, because even if he DOES start digging, he'll have to go 3 feet down and 3 feet out the other side of the fence to avoid the static correction. I doubt that's going to happen! *laugh*  You'll want to cover the wire that you've stapled to the fence with some sort of conduit or something to protect it from the sunlight (UV rays can break down the insulation on the wire) and also from mowing, weed-eating, being chewed by wildlife, etc.

You can buy invisible fence systems from most larger pet store chains, as well as from Lowe's, Home Depot, and Tractor Supply Co., as well as online. I would not recommend a Petsafe or Radio Fence brand system, because I've tried almost all of their products and have not been impressed. Something always seems to go wrong with them. If you go to http://www.yahoo.com and do a search for "invisible fence" you should come up with lots of websites. Compare prices, and go to your local stores to compare their prices to the online ones. The Pet Street Mall (http://www.petstreetmall.com) usually has very competitive pricing. I'd start there.


Another solution is to get some chicken wire or other similar type welded wire with small openings. Cut it so that it's around 3 feet wide, and staple one end to the fence, and let the rest of the almost 3 feet lie on the top of the ground, with some kind of stake or anchor to hold the other end down (so the dogs can't lift it up to dig). The dogs will not be able to dig through this, but you may have difficulties mowing over it.