Secure gardens only?

I think what they mean is if you have a garden it has to be secure not that a garden is a must have, I think most rescues will rehome to people living in apartments (obviously taking into account the needs of individual dogs).

If you have a garden and let your dog into it, guaranteed you will not keep him on a lead while he is there or watch him 24/7. It's nice to be able to leave the back door open in the summer and let the dog in and out as he wishes. You can't do that with an unsecured garden, no garden at all would be better than that. Still, if you do have a garden, it's easy enough to make it safe cheaply with a roll of sheep wire.

They don't check whether you have a garden or what size it is, they check to make sure a dog couldn't escape from it. We got one of ours from a rescue and we only have a tiny yard.

So you can rescue a dog while living in an apartment with no problems I'd imagine as long as your outdoor space was secure.

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

If you have a garden and let your dog into it, guaranteed you will not keep him on a lead while he is there or watch him 24/7.

Not guaranteed. My three dogs go out for a quick pee on flexis. They also get two off lead walks every day. Many people assume that leaving a dog in a garden is a substitute for proper walks which it isn't.

If you are a responsible owner your living conditions are irrelevant.

Seems like a shame.

We've an acre and a half that our terrier never stirs off of. We're looking into getting a second dog so I'll know to avoid any place that stipulates that.

My neighbours terrier never strayed for 8 years. He then strayed, crossed a road & was killed.

There are so many dogs looking for homes but this doesnt mean we should start just homing dogs to anyone who applies regardless of the type of home they can provide. In my experience having a garden is not a pre requisite for homing a dog but if there is a garden in the home it must be secure. This guideline wasn't just picked from thin air or based on an ideal it is based on experience. I have 2 dogs of my own and 1 foster dog at the min and honestly I don't think I could have these dogs if I did not have a secure garden or if I lived in an apartment. They are awake since 7 this morning and have been playin in the garden since then. My own two are big and active and need the garden as a place they let of some steam and play. Of course they will be walked today and everyday but to me nothing beats sitting in the kitchen with cup of coffee watching them run rings around each other in the garden! They can't play that way in the house or I'd have no furniture left!!

There is nothing worse that assuming that you dog is safe & discovering that it is not. A friend of mine had a spaniel that climbed up onto a bunk bed then out of a velux window. He slid down the roof & crashed onto a garden table which broke his fall. They came home & thought that they had been burgled. The claw marks on the roof gave the game away !.

Hellrazer wrote: »

I agree especially if you are rehoming a dog that could be PTS.

Some rescues have in my personal opinion (and not a mod one before anyone starts) some strange rules with regards to rehoming dogs.Home visits,secure gardens,company during the day etc.

Surely the main issue is stopping dogs being PTS and not worrying whether the dog has company during the day.

I disagree. What is the point of nurturing, feeding, vaccinating, worming, defleaing and neutering a dog that's had a crap life, and possibly spending up to a thousand euro on orthopaedic surgery on dogs that have already been in RTAs, only for it to be killed on the road, stolen or wandering off from its new home? Bear in mind most dogs in pounds and shelters are there precisely because their previous owners didn't have a secure garden to keep them safe, and they strayed.

The point of a secure garden is to ensure the dog can go out for that morning piddle, or sit out on a sunny afternoon, without you having to watch him like a hawk. Most people do not have the patience or commitment to put a lead on the dog to bring him outside to go to the toilet. Few people have the luxury of monitoring their dog all day, and it's not right to leave the dog loose in an unenclosed area while you're gone to work.

The garden can be the size of a postage stamp - space is not the issue as a large garden is no substitute for a walk anyways; dogs won't utilise the garden space unless you're out there interacting with them. Plenty of people that have their house sited on a very large plot simply fence in either side of the house and the back of the house to create a secure, smaller area that's accessed through the back door or a gate at the side of the house.

To be honest the secure garden issue is not much of a problem for most people, as people mostly live in suburban semi-d's. The big problem is when someone is living on a large site in the countryside and haven't already fenced the place in for the safety of their kids.

Our rescue insists on a secure garden, and genuinely most people have no problem with it, not when we explain it's for the dog's safety and to abide by the law. We have a no-kill policy so we're happy to wait for the right home to come along. It doesn't usually take long. When you go to huge efforts to rescue these dogs, naturally you want to find the best possible home, within reason. If you take the view that the dog having any home is good enough, well then you're just in the business of recycling dogs. That's not what rescue's about.

As for the poundies, sometimes euthanasia (which literally means a "good death) is better than the dog being constantly recycled through the pound system because it's left to wander by a succession of irresponsible owners. There simply aren't enough good homes out there for all the pound dogs.

It's unlikely you'd find a dog who wouldn't jump it in time. Even a Jack Russell would clear it. What some people have done is to put Coillte post and rail inside the stone wall, and tack on fencing wire. I used the green plastic coated chain link stuff, so it doesn't look bad. If you were really concerned about how it looks, you could plant a cheap evergreen hedge between the wall and the fence.

Alternatively, could you just put in a fence at either side of the house, so you're enclosing just the back area of the house? I know it'd cost a few hundred euro, but it's an investment for the lifetime of the dog, if you think of it that way. If he got the belt of a car you'd be paying at least that to reset broken bones!

But that's the very thing - our dogs don't have to wait for months for their new home. And we're lucky to have great facilities for them, lots of interaction, plenty of exercise space, and some lovely volunteers who come to walk them. For a lot of these dogs, it's more stability and comfort than they've ever known before.

We don't have a relationship with the local pound and don't take in poundies. So there isn't the pressure on us that a dog is holding up a space while another needy dog is on the PTS list. I would venture to say that we intervene faster than the dog warden and pick up most of the waifs and strays in our area. We're better known than the pound, have longer opening hours, and answer the phone 24/7. The ones we're not diverting from the pound are the ones that have been seized by the warden or surrendered by their owners. I appreciate the point you're making, though. I still stand firm though - I don't think we should lower our standards to push more dogs through the system.

The only dogs that have to wait months with us to be rehomed are the greyhounds and lurchers - and that's not because no one wants them - not because there's no one offering them homes with secure gardens. But of all the breeds, greys probably cope best with kennel life, as it's similar to the life they've come from.

Discodog I honestly believe you are in a very small minority of dog owners who are willing to make great efforts to keep your dogs safe in the absence of a secure garden. I think you're lucky in your chosen breed also, as your guys are probably pretty docile and laid back once they get their daily walks. I also doubt it's the kind of home where they're just left sitting on the front doorstep for the round of the day, with no one home.

Of course we're not idealogues, we try to be pragmatic, but really with all the RTAs we deal with, the needless injuries and the enormous cost of treating them, a secure garden really is top priority. It's not the only rehoming criteria obviously, but it is a deal-breaker with us. We just won't take the chance. I'd like to think that in some small way we are creating a cultural change here, and that the idea that they should be kept safe from straying and theft is sinking in with people who hadn't thought about it until they applied to us for a dog.

Here's a question to anyone who's argued on-thread that it should be ok to rehome a dog to someone with no way of keeping them on the property. If you had to rehome your own dog, would you give them to such a home? It's a point to ponder and would appreciate any replies.

Discodog wrote: »

Well mine never leave my property except when they go for a walk. Personally I would never trust the security of any garden - an awful lot of dogs go missing or get killed by escaping from secure gardens. I once had a walled garden & one of my dogs got out because a gate latch failed to close. There is a danger of complacency if one assumes that the garden is secure.

Lol i have an 9ft brick wall surrounding my back garden and the gate is permanently padlocked(not even sure where key is ) and only gives a 2in clearence at the bottom for opening. Saying that we are due to move into our new place next month and one of the delays is having the 0.8c tree lined garden secured because i'd never forgive myself if anything happened to one of them. We used to have a dog that would jump out of bedroom windows to escape!!