Old dog, new house

doogle deegan

I have shi tzu terrior cross, so he is quite small. He has a habit of finding away out of the garden no matter what we try. The problem is that we will soon be moving to a house in the country on 2 acres. The garden is surrounded by hedge and we are worried that he will end up getting out and not comming back. I am cosidering an electric collar, but i feel that this could be cruel because he is so small and also quite old (12). Could anyone advise me on this option or suggest any other solution to the problem.
Thanks
Sarah

slumped

The electric collar is the best bet.

What else can you do?

Let him run free (risk getting out and getting lost) :eek:
Lock him up in the house (cruel)
Tie him up outside (crueler) :mad:
Give him away (you don't want that) :eek:
Put him down (NOT an option)

S

GG66

can't teach an old dog new tricks they say....but if you do get a collar for your dog remember to train him to the boundaries first before you turn the collar on. These can be marked out with flags. Then the collar should act as a reminder and a deterrent not to cross the boundary.. he should get used of the idea

The other thing is to try and get one that has rechargeable battery option

Sigma Force

The elec. collars are a training tool you can't just stick them on a dogs neck and expect them not to escape, if used correctly some people say they work very well.
It will however not stop other dogs coming in and some dogs can slip through or if the battery goes. The collar has to be taken off for a time daily other wise they end up with a horrid rash around their necks.
Another option would be a Cill Dara run that is placed on concrete, price wise it's no different to the price of those collers.
Terriers and their crosses are great escape artists esp. with digging, with the coller on your dog might realise if he digs further away he can dig right under.
One of my dogs is small and she's a terror for finding her way out of the smallest gaps and we have a large area too so I sympathise totally.
We have fenced off the most part and just have heighten the gates they also have a porch and large cill dara run.
Here's the site http://www.rentafence.ie/rentafence1/Main/Dog_Runs.htm I swear by them.

The other thing is to make sure poochy has a collar and tag on when you move so if he does a Houdini on you if found someone can get hold of you here's a handy website and delivery is usually fast.Microchip is also handy in case tag falls off.
http://www.gotags.com/

Hope this helps

doogle deegan

Thanks for all of your suggestions. Our dog already has a collar and tag with his name and also contact number. We did talk to the vet a few years ago about microchipping him. The vet felt that it would be of no benifit because the microchip scanners were not widely used.
As regards the Cill Dara run, we would like him to have full run of the garden. He generally stays in the house a lot so having to remove the collar for a few hours a day wont be a problem, the collar will only be on him when he goes out.

Arcadian

Just bear in mind that such a collar won't protect your dog should a larger, aggressive dog enter your property.