Hi there! I am new to the forum. We have a beautiful 14 week old black lab who currently goes outside to potty on lead and enjoys playtime outside on a 30-foot long line attached to his harness. His recall is great for now (following guidelines in The Happy Puppy book) although he is still in the stage where he (mostly) happily follows us around. I just purchased a copy of Total Recall so looking forward to exploring that and really getting his recall rock solid. Thinking long term, does anyone have recommendations for how we might begin to train our pup to learn the boundaries of our property without having to eventually install either a physical or electrical fencing system? I'd love for him to eventually lose the harness and long line. Are flags helpful in establishing boundaries? Other visual cues? Walking the perimeter to leave a scent track? I'm not sure where to begin (except working on recall for now). Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Hi LabSam, Is there a reason you are not wanting to put up a physical fence? Once he has learned recall he might learn to stay near your home, do you have any other outside factors that could distract him? - other dogs not on leads/running up to your property - kids who see a cute puppy and run over to him I would be inclined to put a fence up to provide a safe environment where he can explore and play without 'outsiders' potentially causing him unease.
Hi Christina2807, Thanks so much for your response. We do have lots of outside factors that could distract him...every surrounding neighbor has one or two dogs (all but two of the seven have broken their invisible fences in last year); wildlife including squirrels and chipmunks as well as deer, fox, and coyotes. Lots of kids but all very respectful. I would love to put up a physical fence but our yard is not particularly conducive to it (sloped, backs to hill and wooded lot that is very wet). I received a few quotes over last two weeks but there could be issues structurally due to our land. Although the best and most ideal choice, it would be a big investment for it to not work out. Was just curious and hopeful that others might have ideas or share how their pups enjoy outside time in the yard off lead if physical fence is not an option. But perhaps I will speak with a few more contractors. Thank you!
Oh that sounds like quite a challenge! I wouldn't know where to begin with that as I know my girl would be off if our garden wasn't secure, especially thinking about when hormones come into play. Could you PART fence your garden as a safe space for him until he's older?
Personally, it’s not a risk I would take. Whist you could have the best trained dog in the world, there are too many variable situations as you have listed that make it too risky to their well being. I would look at building a large kennel and run, then you would not have to worry.
Thank you Edp and SianMJ for your responses. I think you reinforced the answer I already knew when I wrote the question. Going to dig a little deeper into fencing options and get a few more opinions about placement and structural soundness. Thank you!
I don't know how big your yard is, but you might consider fencing a small part of it, (perhaps 50x50 or so) for your pup, and only let him have the run of the whole property when you are with him. At our home, we have a fenced back yard and a dog door. At our cabin we can't have a fence because of the snow depth but we just let them out and go with them.
We had a "Radio Fence" with our first lab, and after our experience I think they are a really bad idea. Ginger had good recall, but would break the boundary occasionally and go on "Walk About"
We had a similar situation when we got Bella ten years ago - we lived in a rental on a country property, with no options for fencing. Bella would “storm the door” any time someone came in/out - she just wanted to go find some friends. (Everybody Bella met in her life was her new best friend - she loved everyone.) Anyway, we learned early on that we were going to have to hold her collar before we opened a door, and hook her up at the back door when she needed to go out for a pee. When she got out, her recall went right out the door with her and there was no calling her back. We finally moved to a home with a large fenced yard, but even then, if by some chance she got out, she’d go “visiting”. She passed away at age 10 this past summer, and there was never a day in her life that we could trust her not to take off, given the opportunity. Now we have Molly, and again we live where there’s no fence. Molly is 18 weeks old and very polite at the door (I think it’s one advantage to getting a puppy in wintertime where it snows - she just doesn’t want to go out), but she’s also got good recall. The couple times she has gotten out off lead, she’s run to the car (she loves the car), but she comes right back when we call. Even so, because we could never trust Bella not to run, I won’t risk it with Molly either. So I mention all this just to say they’re all different. You need time to see how yours will react to being off lead, and then maybe unsupervised off lead. I like the idea of building a dog run - big enough for some exercise, but manageable considering your property limitations. Then try off leash when you’re in the yard with your puppy, and practice recall until you’re confident he will always come back immediately. I know there are dogs who are free to wander their property and nobody worries they will get into trouble or not come back - my brother has an Anatolian Shepherd mix like that. He even knows which of their country neighbors will give him a treat, and then he goes home again. I would love it if we could eventually train Molly to do that!
I had a chocolate lab and first year I had him I was off work so I spent a lot of time with him Training him all day. After he was 3 I could walk him leash free and he wouldn’t leave property unless being told it was ok. Same with his meals If he was alone in house he wouldn’t eat anything unless it was in his dish. We had a party last week and my daughter put pizza crusts on floor on a paper plate and he wouldn’t eat it till it was in his dish. With a great deal of time dogs can be trained to be an awesome well behaved dog. Sadly it was the last get together as he had to be put to sleep due to cancer at the age of 10
I have had the invisible dogtra fence at both of my places the first place was just 1/4 acre. My current place is over 2.5 acres. It is worth it. My younger lab is a very well trained dog, but I figure it only takes once for them to be distracted and something to happen. I recommend this system because the guy who trained my dogs does K-9 dogs and has some of the most disciplined dogs I have ever seen and he had this system on his property. Better safe than sorry.
Thank you for all these great responses. We found someone who will build a physical fence around a portion of our property this spring. Sammy is now almost 7 mos and so far has a good recall, but the physical fence will give us the best peace of mind in knowing he will stay in the yard and the deer, foxes, and neighborhood dogs who seem to be breaking their electric fences lately will be kept out. Looking forward to off leash fun with our good boy in a few months.
I have read your postings on Fence vs No-Fence... I am glad you are getting a fence....there are too many temptations and dangers outside, and dogs are smart but they certainly have human reasoning...a squirrel, etc. could cause him to take off......I have a six month old lab and a large back yard, the first house I have ever had with no fenced-in back yard. After much deliberation, and a lot of working overtime $$, I have realized that the only way my six month old lab and I will have any sanity at all is if he has a large but SAFE area to run in....he wants to run open-throttle and I just can't keep up with him on a leash around the neighborhood. I have bitten the bullet and given a very reputable fence company a 50% deposit on the fence ( nothing fancy, coated chain link, the perimeter of my property ) and we will have it hopefully within a month. I can't wait. I know part of my dogs total manaical hyper-behavior is due to the fact that he is a young, strong , growing dog and has a desperate amount of pent up energy and no where to run. In my case, I would not leave him out there unattended, but I work from home, so I can sit on my back porch with one eye on the laptop and one eye on him...plus throw the ball and play chase....it will be good for both of us. I will report back when I get the fence put in.....I am counting the days! I think a lot of our behavior problems and hyperactivity is due to not being able to run like he wants to.
This is Therese Madigan again....( see directly above re: the fence ) I would appreciate any comments about my dogs hyper-activity and the lack of having a fence....I think there is a def correlation between his hyper behavior and not being able to run open-throttle in a fenced in yard to let off steam....Our fence builders should be here to install the fence in about four weeks ( they are very busy, with all the post covid quarantine adoption dogs, I guess !) and I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about labs and needing to run and hyperactivity and fences, etc. Thanks so much. ( please see my posting directly above)
Hello, this age and onwards they really need to have a good off lead run around to be able to settle and focus. However they are unlikely to do much of this at home. Home becomes boring, same smells etc. They really need a walk in a different environment to simulate them physically and mentally to wear them out. Safe space at home will certainly help but they need a good zoom about on a walk as well.
Cooper loves to run, more than any dog I have had. Even at 6 she will make mad dashes across our back yard several times a day.
