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Posted by Vickie

I know it's nice on the movies & all, but you may just have to keep them in some type of fence or something if you have houses that their wandering to. We thought our one dog would not stray, and he doesn't IF we are out with him. Otherwise he'll run off.
I have to say by having neighbors who used to let all their dogs run free, it annoyed me. Their dogs would come down here, pee on everything, poop in my front yard, dig in the flower bed, chase my cat, etc. Then they would want to jump & lick all over us when we would leave --I'm not saying your dogs do this, but they are dogs. It has caused some trouble with us & them. They have no dogs right now, but from experience they will let the next one run. --Also they have had 2 dogs get hit by cars.
I think it would be neat to have an old hound/farm type dog sitting on the porch to only bark when trouble arrises, but from my personal experience, it doesn't work that way.
I'm curious what others have to say about this. (Maybe I'm wrong) I'll check back later to see.

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Posted by ibuwolf

After Vikki's comment I have to add that I have no intention of training the dogs to stay in the yard when we're not outside with them b/c I don't leave them outside without us. They're more or less indoor dogs. They want to be inside with us. We just want them to stay in the yard when we take them outside with us. So, question is can I reasonably expect them to stay in the yard with me? I had a neighbor like Vikki's also, drove me up a wall - especially as it was a city community with a leash law. We got to the point where we'd take a shovel and fling their dog's poop from our yard to theirs because they thought it was funny. I will put up a fence before I'll let my dogs do that!

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Posted by ibuwolf

Sorry, I meant Vickie! Not Vikki. :( I wondered but would have lost the text to go back and look so I'm apologizing after the fact rather than trying to fix it!
Sorry!
Jenn (who hates it when someone reads my name with two "n's" and then writes it with one!

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Posted by Katherine

I would look into that Invisible Fencing. Install it in the area you want the dogs to be able to run around and potty in, then only put those collars that come with the Invisible Fence on when they are going outside. Instead of a leash, you just put that collar on (I think it has a transmitter thingy in it or something) and your dogs should stay where you want them to.
No other ideas here. We've always had to have a fenced area for our dogs.

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Posted by Kim

We have used a radio fence with 2 of our dogs (to keep them in the dog run since they liked to climb out). With one it worked great, the second one liked being shocked so much we had to give up because he burned the fur off of his neck while getting his jollies. The problem with it is that once they've gotten past the fence they can't get back over the line unless they want to be shocked again.

I think it may take a few years for older dogs to get used to a completely new place and it's boundaries, if they ever do. It's also impossible to say if they used to take off on their prior owners once in awhile. Even the best trained dog may run if something interests them and they decide to chase it. If it was me, I'd build them a large dog run so they could be outside to play and run without the chance they will run off. We've fenced in about 1/4 of an acre for our dogs.

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Posted by kay m

I'll second the need for the dogs to be restrained in the country. We brought an older dog to our property, and we could not let him loose in the yard with us, or he would run off. Our current dog will stay close...but we trained him to when he was tiny, by making him WANT to follow us and be close. You don't mention how old the dogs are...that will have an impact on the ability to change their names, too. The oldest one we've changed was about 7 months. And the issues in the country are much more serious than just dirtying someone's flower bed. We've had issues with dogs allowed to run loose around here that have chased valuable horses, risking leg injuries. As a dog owner, you run the risk of having animal control called on you or worse, having your dog shot (and sometimes rightfully so!) if it endangers someone else's animals. I'd second the idea of a large run or perhaps one of those cable runs you can string between a couple of trees.

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Posted by ibuwolf

The other three neighbors I have all have dogs that stay by them when they're out. I know that at least one of those dogs was a stray that they adopted. Maybe I'm just being stubborn. The thing is that these two don't want to be outside unless we're out there and they've been so good at coming when called. And, they did come home right away - just after I'd already put everyone in the car to go look for them. I've got a friend on a ranch who's dogs just hang out by the house (I don't want mine to be outside when I'm inside - I'm just saying that I know it's done). These two are 2 and 4 - it is the older one that seems more inclined to want to run - *if* he can get the younger one to go along. Most of the time the younger one just wants to stand by my side though. What I'm really hoping for is that with time they'll just stay. We had a neighbor who's dogs would stay when ever they were home - the only time they ran was if our friends weren't home and we swear it was b/c those dogs were out looking for our neighbors. There aren't any horses around here (well, within 5 or 6 houses any direction). I will look into the electric fence - we had a dog that was great with one (my husband's before we got married) and then mine was lousy with it - she didn't seem to mind the shock.
Thanks for the info! Keep the opinions coming!

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