Fencing Options?

VonVix

So, we are closing in our new house and now we have to think about how to secure the garden efficiently for our dogs. The little guys I'm not so concerned about, they have good recall and aren't as... athletic, I suppose you could say.

However, I have a tall (28" at the shoulder), very active, fairly prey-drivey (loves to chase) German Shepherd that I want to ensure is happy and secure.

The garden has 6ft nearly 7ft fairly dense hedging on two sides, with chicken wire all along the property next door's side of the boundary, the other side has 4ft hedging with fencing on the other side of it that isn't really dog-proof and has seen better days.

What kind of fencing would you guys recommend (without needing planning permission)? Are there also visual barrier of some sort I could put up? Also, recommended fence height for a large breed dog? Noting he isn't going to be left unattended when in the garden as he is a house dog, I'm also not concerned about digging. The entire garden area is a half an acre space.

Bells21

We went with concrete kick boards and posts and then wooden fencing. What I would change now though is going for what the landscape place called 'hit and miss' fence. Basically that means that there's no visual through the fence even through a small gap. As for height, ours are 4ft high and the GSD next door stands quite comfortably with his front paws up on this.
The concrete posts mean that you can slot the fencing in and out too if it becomes damaged etc so functional in the long run too.

dashoonage

I have a mixture. 7ft block walls on one side. 7ft shielded chain link on the back and the same as Bells with the concrete kick board and wodden fence on the other. 9 years of huskie ownership and no escapes. If going for the chain link go for shielded. its worth the premium, mines up 9 years now and has withstood the weather.

i live in sheep country....hence the 7ft fence.

Choc Chip

I found fencing an area as big as you've described REALLY expensive. Also, as I'm down the country, tradesmen.ie couldnt get me a quote and the bigger fencing contractors weren't interested in doing a wee job. Ended up having a 5.5ft wooden post fence put up by my neighbour on one side, and wire fencing extended higher and secured to the ground on the others.

The wire fencing is behind some immature hedging -can be hard to see damage.

The wooden fencing is good but as they can see through, they can get overexcited about things on the other side.

I've a gsd x and I wouldnt leave her out - she'd easily clear 5.5ft if she really wanted to. She's an older lady now so likely less athletic than your's - you might need to go higher...

At 1/2 an acre it'll probably depend on your location (available tradespeople) and budget. Good luck ( I'm also commenting to see if you get a better solution that we came up with).

VonVix

Thanks guys, I'll be in Kildare so it will be not too hard to access for me to get someone to do the job.

Thinking about it I'm not sure if I should go for anything that's completely wooden or wall-like, we want to retain the green-ness of the garden where possible, maybe using a windbreaker across a fairly simple high fence, thoughts/suggestions?

Bells21

VonVix wrote:

Thinking about it I'm not sure if I should go for anything that's completely wooden or wall-like, we want to retain the green-ness of the garden where possible, maybe using a windbreaker across a fairly simple high fence, thoughts/suggestions?

That or prehaps a brushwood screen in front of the fence if you want to keep it natural?

borderlinemeath

We have 2 sides of our site secured with mesh fencing that we got from irishfencing.com. Similar places do it but I wanted a gate as well as supply and fit so went with these guys. We have existing chain link fencing buried into the ground along with some mature hedges so this was placed right up beside it. There's concrete under the gate but we didn't bother putting any under the fencing as the existing chain link is buried and gives the bottom security from burrowing out. It's really natural looking and you can't even see it unless you walk up to it, it looks like we just have hedges apart from the gate.



It was expensive, but it was a once off purchase rather than cheap wooden panels that rot over time and need replacing. The gate actually bumped up the price by about 20% though.

Glass fused light

The weak point of any hedge will be the base where it will develop gaps which are push points for the dogs and if they can get their head in the body push through and make a hole. As wildlife will use these to the scent trail makes them attrative to follow.
The type of fence will depend on how motivated the dog is to be elsewhere. If he is an intact male and agile he will be able to run and climb just about any fence which allows a grip or foothold so an inward lip should be considered. The chicken wire will be no good if the dog can figure out how to break it. Any link fence will move and allow the dog to work its nose and head will eventualy allow the dog to push its shoulders through. If its a mesh have the horizontal bars facing the hedge.
The best solution would be to install a pen and kennel in a smaller area as a secure lock space