Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!

Yes, for smaller critters you would need the lower wires. I guess he was just fencing to keep out the deer.

The raccoons eat from the cat food on my back deck that I put out for the stray cats. My daughter throws her wilted produce and stale bread, etc. over the fence into the woods behind. I think that the possums get some of that. There are lots of pecan and oak trees back there, so I think that's maybe why we never have trouble with the squirrels or chipmunks.

Karen

no electric fences for me...I have grandkids I wouldn't want to get in it. My 8 yr.old spents the summers w/ me and she never looks where she's going just goes full tilt.


I don't mind the look of the fence and I'll use it for plant support...tomatoes,climbing beans,gourds and I want to try some of the red vining/climbing spinach.

P

bigred,

Yep, no electric fence with kids around. We don't have small children here, just the dumb dogs! The electric wire on the top of the four-foot wire fence was a last resort. We couldn't keep him in the yard with anything we tried, including the electric wire/dog collar method. He just sailed right over the top, kept going out in the road and stopping traffic, which was dangerous for him and the auto drivers. I have the five-foot dog wire around my veggie garden to keep them out of there, and I don't mind that either. As you say, you can use it as growing support for vining plants.

I don't like it around my flower beds, though. It looks as if they are in maximum security. Only need to add concertina wire on the top to complete the look. LOL. The little decorative 2' fences didn't work. So, I got Critter Ridder yesterday to try.

Karen

my dogs have their on little section of the yard,fenced in right outside my computer room door. Very seldom allow them out in the yard. Two reasons...I don't want them in the flowerbeds and they run after every dog they see and I'm getting too old to be running after 4 crazy boston terrors. They love people ...hate other dogs and will jump any size dog.


Amazingly,I have very little damage to flowerbeds from wild critters.

I haven't had any problems with wild critters, only with the dogs. We have 1.8 acres and about 3/4ths of an acre is inside the fence around the two houses. This is where the dogs run. We live in the boonies, so feel the need for the dogs to have this access for our protection but at the same time don't want them running loose and getting onto the road.

Until we adopted a golden lab/basset hound, we didn't need the electric fence. It was either put up the electric wire or tie him up. I just cannot stand to have a dog tied. I've hit the fence a couple of times, and the shock is really not that bad but it's enough to deter him which is what we have to have.

Sounds to me as if you have your dog containment figured out very well. They have a place to run and exercise, and they really don't need the whole neighborhood even if they think they do.

Karen

A lab/basset mix? I would surely like to see a picture of your pup.

I walk my dogs on leashes when it's not so hot but now I'm a little skittest about walking them every since a big english boxer(about 80#)came out of nowhere without a sound and tried to hurt my smallest female(less than 10#) That's the bad part about living in a small rural community. I try to do the right thing by my dogs and my neighbors and be a responsible pet owner when it's seems like very few others do and just turn their dogs out.


P

Not only irresponsible pet owners, but we also have wild dogs (used to belong to someone probably) running in the woods out back.

Here is a photo of Buddy. Check the basset legs. I had a dalmatian/basset years ago. Sweetest dog ever!

Karen

Oh he's adorable and look at those ears too.

I just have plain ole black and white boston terrors.

P

Lots of people won't take a basset mix. They want a purebred. But in fact, the mix usually inherits the best of both breeds. Bassets slobber so -- but basset mixes don't. Bassets do get bored and will dig out to go find a party. When my daughter lived on the Kanehoe Marine Corps base and had a purebred basset, she could always count on coming home to find a note from the MPs that they had Max in custody. When she would go pick him up, he always had chocolate breath. LOL.

Personally, I think the Boston terriers are adorable. They were a very popular breed in the 50s when I was growing up.

Karen

I love all my furbabies but they do get into a lot of mischief and can be over excited about every little thing. I'm trying to do the Cesar Milan thing on them....it's only half working ....LOL


here's my terrors....

They are soooo cute! I love the Bostons! Hey, half-working is pretty good progress, IMO. I honestly don't have the patience to train a dog, so I have cats. Mostly they just eat and sleep. One of them will get into potted plants, so I don't have any plants inside. My daughter has five dogs, though. Buddy is her latest rescue.

Karen

I love all of them but they can be royal pain and I will never have 4 dogs in the house ever again.This pack is mom,dad,sister and brother.

I think I'd have better control of the them if I could get the two-legged animals in this house under control.

I understand about that. We've had a couple of second-hand dogs that were very well trained -- but the two-legged critters have undone all that. Dogs will teach each other stuff, too. I didn't realize that until my daughter got a terrier-mix called Teddy. Teddy has taught all the other dogs to "beg". It's funny to see them do it as they don't always get it quite right.

Here's Teddy in his camo sweatshirt. He thinks he's so cool. BTW: for dog sweaters my daughter buys infant sweaters and sweatshirts at the thrift store for $0.50-1.00 each and rolls up the sleeves. No $20 dog sweaters here.


Karen

I wished I had more patients with mine. I get frustrated w/ them at times so training is hard when they pick up on it.

bigred,

There truly is a lot to training dogs. My daughter does it very well, though I don't. She tells me that the important thing is that YOU have to be the "dog in charge" as dogs recognize a pecking order and know is "top dog." For me, this is difficult to do.

Karen

sounds like she watches the Dog Whisper