Are you frustrated with your dog’s habit of jumping the fence and running out in the middle of the night? If this sounds like you, then I want to give you some positive news.
You can finally stop your dog from jumping a fence like this forever and get him trained by you.
In this article I will first give you some reasons as to
- Why Does A Dog Jump On A Fence?
- How To Keep A Dog From Jumping A Fence?
Table of Contents
Why Does A Dog Jump On A Fence?
There are many reasons as to why your dog likes to jump over a fence.
Following are the common causes:
- Your dog had seen a target (could be a person or an animal) over the other side of the fence that compel him to give chase.
- Your dog is looking for a mate. This is most likely the case when your dog is not yet spay or neutered.
- Your dog is suffering from separate anxiety disorder. He is attempting to escape from the yard to look for his pack member.
- Your dog is getting curious about what is happening on the other side of the fence after hearing some noise.
- Your dog is feeling lonely and has nothing to keep him occupied in the yard.
- Your dog is feeling nervous and afraid to be in the yard. He is making an attempt to escape from the place.
How To Keep A Dog From Jumping A Fence?
You can prevent your dog from attempting to jump over a fence by ensuring that his physical, social and behavioral needs are well taken care of.
- Physical – Is he getting adequate physical exercise daily to ease his boredness?
- Social – Is he getting sufficient attention from you?
- Behavioral – Is he suffering from any emotional disorder such as separate anxiety?
By getting to know the cause that leads to your dog jumping behavior, you would be able to adopt the right approaches to make your dog do away with his undesirable action.
Ease His Separation Anxiety
It is a very common problem. Separation anxiety is where your dog, when left alone, becomes panic-stricken. This is more to happen during the first few weeks when he is being adopted from the shelter.
While your dog is trying to adapt to his new home (unfamiliar surrounding, faces and scent), he will naturally feel a sense of loss and anxiety as he is now away from his pack member.
You would need to spend more time with him to build up his trust and bond so that he gets really comfortable to be with you in a new environment. That will help to calm him down and refrain him from attempting to escape from the yard by jumping over the fence.
Plan For His Exercise
There is a saying that “A tired dog is a good dog.” Plan adequate physical activities to keep him busy and help him to release his energy, and he will be an obedient dog.
When a dog is tired, he will not be in the mood to do anything except to get a good rest. That would stop him from jumping a fence.
I would suggest planning for a fifteen-minute brisk walk with your dog daily as that would not only keep him physically active and would also get him to be socialized with his surroundings.
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Establish Yourself As Pack Leader
Your dog might be attempting to escape from your yard because he is feeling nervous, afraid and wants to look for a direction.
To break this habit, you would need to establish yourself as his pack leader. Every pack has a leader that the members of the pack respect and follow.
Work on making him acknowledge you as his Alpha dog, and he would be following your guidance and direction faithfully. And of course, he wouldn’t be attempting to escape once he had found his pack leader (which is YOU!).
Neutering or Spaying Your Dog
A dog that is not yet neuter or spay may have the tendency to escape from your yard just to look for a mate. It is recommended by veterinarians that neuter or spay can only be done when a dog is at least 6 months old.
Setup Invisible Fences for Dogs
Invisible fences are a very effective way to keep your dog in the yard and keep him out of trouble. Your dog will get a mild shock if he tries to pass the “boundaries” that you had set up for him so it acts like a mild deterrent. Your dog will learn that going beyond that boundaries is a “bad” experience.
Use of Shock Collars
Some dog owners find great success in using electronic dog collars to train their dogs not to jump over fences. You can use it to train your dog to stay away from certain areas such as fences.
The e-collar that goes around your dog’s neck looks much like an ordinary collar, except there is a small box that receives a signal.
When the dog approaches the boundary, a small shock is sent through the dog’s neck, and while it does nothing more than a mild shock (no injury to him), it’s enough to scare the dog into not wanting to go near the fences.
Conceal The View From The Fence
If your dog isn’t able to see through the fence, there wouldn’t be things that are going to catch his eye. Of course, this is what I consider as a “partial” solution as your dog could still be attracted to the sounds generated from what is behind the fence.
Make His Stay In The Yard Enjoyable
At times, boredom is what makes your dog attempt to leave the place. You can certainly do your bit by making sure that there is something to keep him busy while he is in the yard.
I like to play this game with my dog whenever he is in the backyard. I will hide his favorite treats in the yard and make him look for it. This will not only keep him busy and also make him tired.
In fact, my dog finds this game to be very rewarding as he gets to have his treat once he finds it, and he gets to train on his smelling skill.
The other alternative will be to prepare some chewing toys for your dog when he is alone in the yard. Chewing action will help a dog to release his stress and anxiety. By letting your dog chew on the toys, you are keeping him busy, and he will abort the intention to leave the yard.
Regardless which approach you use, the key point is to make your dog preoccupied with something that he can set his mind on to keep him remain in the yard.
Cat Netting Your Fence
You can place a cat net at an angle along your fence to deter your dog from successfully jumping over the fence.
Double Fence
To avoid your dog from getting a good running start to be able to jump high enough to go past the fence, you can set up another mini fence (about 3 feet) in front of the main fence. This should curb him from attempting to jump over the fence.
Planting of Trees in Front of Fence
How about getting some plants and have them grow up in front of the fence to act as a barrier? Of course, your dog might “destroy” the plants before they are fully grown.
Get Rid Of Things That Help Him
Dogs are an extremely intelligent breed, and they are able to figure out ways to help him jump a fence. Do not be surprised if you see that your dog is making his attempt to jump over a fence with the help of a dustbin or lawn mower.
So make sure that you keep things away from the fence to avoid your dog using it as his “stepping stones”.
Have Your Dog Trained on “RECALL” command
This will be useful when your dog is attempting to jump over a fence. You can execute this command to have him stop jumping and come back to you.
This will help him to learn the boundaries and be aware that he is not supposed to jump at the fence.
To make his command a success, you would have to make use of a high value treat. The idea is to let him associate a delicious treat from you when he looks for you. This is usually what is known as positive reinforcement.
Your treat will have to be very luring to make him abort the intention to jump over the fence and come to you.
You should only start this command training when your dog is at least 7 weeks old as it is only when he reaches this age, he could then possibly understand and learn the command.
Get to know what your dog really loves and use that as a treat. Does he prefer meat, cheese or peanut butter?
Remember to reward your dog instantly when he reacts to your “recall” command so that he will associate that action with a treat and will love to repeat the action again.
Crating Your Dog
Another option is to keep your dog in the crate while you carry out your obedience training on him. This will certainly reduce the likelihood that he makes a successful attempt to escape from the yard.
Remember to make the crate, a pleasant environment for him to be in. Keep the crate cozy with a warm blanket, plenty of his favorite toys and food.
Once he is used to his crate and view it as his den, he will not be tempered to leave the home.
Now you are armed with the knowledge to stop your dog from jumping a fence, it’s time to put them to use. Let me know which approaches work BEST for your dog in the comment below.