[cdavies]

we just ordered 4 foot post and rail fence with wire. approx. 1/2- 3/4 acre of our property. i am now concerned if the height is too low? he appears to have no interest at present on leaving the yard and pretty much sits and eat sticks.
what kind of fencing do any of you guys have?

 

[Spike's Mom]

Right now we have a 6 foot wood fence along 3 sides of our property and temporarily put up that 4 foot mesh fence that hangs on the metal spikes. We are thinking of doing a 4 ft split rail and attaching the green mesh to that. I don't think he will be able to jump over a 4 foot fence - at least I hope not

 

[Apollo's Mom]

Mine would definitely clear that in a heartbeat! He climbed the baby gate I had up at 12 weeks. He easily clears the back of the couch from the floor up and that's about 3 and a half feet. It's scary, but he is quite tall at the withers he's right about the max height for breed standard, so I think he will be taller than that. He's only 8 months old now. I would be amazed if he didn't get any taller! Also he is field bred, so he has a much leaner, lithe body. I think it depends on your pup!

 

[GulfCoast]

It depends on your dog. Mine has come over a 6 foot wooden privacy fence when she heard my wife scream when she fell. It changed my view of just what level of athlete these dogs really are when you get down to it.

 

[Samson]

Four foot high is definitely not enough to stop a determined Lab !

 

[mandaz000]

Mine is about 4 foot, which i know she could jump it if she wanted to. Knock on wood, she doesn't seem to have any desire to jump it. However, I always go outside with her so I don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[Spike's Mom]

Mine would definitely clear that in a heartbeat! He climbed the baby gate I had up at 12 weeks. He easily clears the back of the couch from the floor up and that's about 3 and a half feet. It's scary, but he is quite tall at the withers he's right about the max height for breed standard, so I think he will be taller than that. He's only 8 months old now. I would be amazed if he didn't get any taller! Also he is field bred, so he has a much leaner, lithe body. I think it depends on your pup!

We had a lab like that - we would tell him to "bloop" and he would jump over the couch back to front. It was crazy

 

[BigBrownDog]

I have 6' vinyl solid fencing on 3 sides and a 4' cyclone fence embedded in a 6' hedge on the final side. They've never tried to elope.

 

[hmhershey]

The yellow lab that I had as a kid could escape out of everything. We had an old chicken run that we used for the dogs when we would leave (no chickens for years were in there). When we got home she would be out. Finally we set up a video tape because we couldn't figure out how she was doing it. She climbed an 8 foot fence with 2 strings of hotwire around the bottom. We finally took down all fences and never had a problem with them leaving, although they did have 10 acres to play on.

 

[javasmom]

4 foot wouldn't work for us...Moka can clear the back of the couch in one leap...she also jumped a 4 foot fence after her surgery for her broken leg when she saw me coming (she was not out alone..she was in the fenced garden area with Brian).
I think, if the Lab wants out enough, clearing a 4 foot fence would be a piece of cake.
I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my 2 in a yard with only a 4 foot tall fence.

 

[Garth]

Four foot high is definitely not enough to stop a determined Lab !

Nor is it enough to stop someone getting over the top to steal the dog. I've always built fences that not only keep the dogs in (read safe) but also keep undesirables out. Every fence I've built has always been 1.8M (6') which is just the right height to do the job. This is my one:

 

[Tanya]

4ft will only stop a lab that does not WANT to leave (or that you are there to correct if they think about it). For some dogs sure that will work, they are not really wanting to leave the yard (especially if you are out with them). Or you can use it as a perimeter and work on training the dog to respect boundaries.

But if your dog (current or future) has any interest in leaving the yard, that fence will not stop them.

 

[deidra]

Tank would clear that! We have an 8ft fence and tank will climb up it and gets out. I would get a higher fence as i would also not be comftrable with them in a 4ft fence.

 

[dukedog]

My old dog would clear that easily without a touch. He used to stand at the bottom of a five foot and i would toss the ball over and he would leap straight up and tip over on his back legs to get over. If they want to, they will.

 

[zoesmom]

what you see here is about 3 feet 9 inches.

our retaining wall and fencing around the property varies:

with the lowest being just over 3'. None of the dogs have tried to escape.

heck Zoe won't even jump over a 20" barrier from the hall to our living room. She is very boundary oriented, though.

 

[xxxyler19]

what you see here is about 3 feet 9 inches.

our retaining wall and fencing around the property varies:

with the lowest being just over 3'. None of the dogs have tried to escape.

heck Zoe won't even jump over a 20" fence barrier from the hall to our living room. She is very boundary oriented, though.

I really think that it depends on your dog. A determined dog will scale any fence. I have a large fenced back yard that has a 4 foot chain link fence - my 2 standards have never attempted to go over it. We didn't really want to have to put up a fence, but Ellie has "selective hearing" and her off-leash recall isn't reliable at all. But if she knows there is a fence around the area she is in, she is 100%, go figure.... even in a huge pasture, she will come, because she went through a fence to get in there.

Anyway, back to the original question, my 2 girls have never challenged the 4 foot fence around our yard. They just enjoy being able to run and play in the yard. They also enjoy watching all of the activity on the other side of the fence, we are in the country, and there is always a squirrel, bird, fox, or something to watch. Again, they haven't ever tried to jump the fence to get to the other critters. I would think that if your dog is introduced to the fenced-in area as a pup, they wouldn't try to jump it later.

 

[seankeg]

we just ordered 4 foot post and rail fence with wire. approx. 1/2- 3/4 acre of our property. i am now concerned if the height is too low? he appears to have no interest at present on leaving the yard and pretty much sits and eat sticks.
what kind of fencing do any of you guys have?

Hey, I very similar experience I had with one of my dogs, he never showed intentions of leaving the yard and at first I thought "well, it's because he's still a pupper but eventually he'll start wrecking havoc" but no, he never did and the fence that I had first installed was more than enough. By the height that you mentioned I'd say you are golden.