Best choice for temporary fence material?
I'm ready to pronounce this plastic,
temporary fence experiment a success.
The put up and take down
procedure is easy and quick.
We've been using this type
of material for a few years now. I remember first getting it during
the 2008 election. There's no sign of U.V. damage yet. I'd guess it
might be another 10 years before we start seeing signs of drying and
cracking. I'll let you know in 2022 if it's still the cat's meow of the
temporary fence world.
One downside to this material
is the chewability factor. It takes Lucy about a minute to bite her way
through if she really wants to, and thinks nobody is looking. She's
usually a good dog, but has a serious bad girl streak to her when it
comes to kitchen scraps meant for the flock.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Everyone has their own theories on dog training, but one method that has worked very well with our Saint Bernard is to catch him in the act of doing something bad and correct him immediately (and I mean like that very second) with a loud "Aaaat!" or "No!" but not using his name. If he stops, he gets an immediate chest rub or treat if he's within reach (or a "Good boy!" if he's not within reach). We also only use his name in praise for being good, never in scolding. He used to chew up our stuff everyday, but this has really worked (to get him to know that only his toys are for chewing, the cat is not to be chased, to leave the old dog alone, to not jump, etc). Maybe throw some scraps to the chickens, get out of sight of the dog, wait for her to test the fence, and try a shrill "AAAAT!" A little off-subject, but just thought I'd mention it...
~ Mitsy
Lucy is extremely trainable, but she doesn't seem to be able to extrapolate from one situation to another. For example, she used to break into the barn to tear up our garbage, but I caught her in the act a few times and taught her not to do that. Then, a week or so later, I saw more garbage bags torn up --- what had happened?! Lucy had gone in the other door, figuring my "no" only meant don't go in the door I'd told her about before.
The trouble with our pastures is that there's a lot of fencing, which means she could break in all over. Given her absence of extrapolative skills, I suspect we'd have to catch her in the act along each section of the fence to get through to her. Mark's zapped her a few times with a K-9 electric fence, which does teach her quite well about select areas, but we've never cared enough to go to the trouble of running that all the way around.
What we might do is eventually put up cattle panels all the way around. That way she couldn't break in....
Dogs can be real sticklers for the rules sometimes, and in the worst way, amiright?
Sounds like her guarding skills and unwavering companionship more than make up for a couple naughty habits, though. I'd be so lost without our pets, even though they drive me nuts sometimes!
~ Mitsy
Mitsy --- Yup, she's not to be reasoned with. Good thing she's so cute...
Danny --- Metal mesh fencing covered with plastic? That sounds interesting. If you check back, I'd love to hear more about it --- where you got it, what the brand is.
eagergridlessbeaver --- I think it's exactly the same as the orange variety, except for color. I know what you mean about dogs eating the chicken feed. Lucy's pretty good about that, as long as you don't put it in front of her nose....
Eliza --- Yup, that's exactly what we used it for. Very handy for that use!
I bought mine at Home Depot and they list it as YARDGARD 4 ft. x 50 ft.Green Vinyl Welded Wire. I'd post a link, but they use dynamic web links so they expire really fast and won't work. As I said, it's more expensive than the fencing you've used, but there's no way to chew through it. And if I start having problems with animals crawling under, I could also bury the fencing into the ground.
Ultimately, I may actually end up using the wireless dog fence to keep my dog out of the garden. It would restrict her ability to roam the yard as much, but money is getting tight lately and I'm planting a larger garden and I can't afford more fencing right now. But I also wonder if restricting her from the garden will defeat her ability to keep other garden pests out of the garden.
Here's my conclusion so far. If I had the money, I would definitely buy more of this fencing and fence my whole garden. It's easier to string up than the plastic fencing because it doesn't stretch. I found that the stretch in the plastic fencing left me areas the dog could squeeze under due to uneven ground and that she could chew through in no time at all. But I'm in a tight place for money right now, so I may have to at least try limiting her range to more of the front yard via her wireless shock collar and see what results I get with that.
I'm sure you'll keep posting up your new results, I'll keep commenting as my experience grows as well.
Sorry to bring back a comment thread from the dead, but I had two things occur to me while reading this. First was, what if you gave Lucy some of the dog-safe scraps, at least once in a while so she knew she was getting her fair share and the "treats" wouldn't be so enticing when they were out of her area. And second, maybe she has a nutrient deficiency of some sort, so the craving for these scraps overrides normal rules and behavior. If that's the case, the first idea might still work, or maybe switching to a more natural homemade dog food (assuming you're feeding "normal" dogfood.
Just a thought, David