How to stop a dog from digging underneath a fence?

[Lucia_C]

I have a an escaping dog! We have a sloping block and fence line sloping downwards. There are little gaps where he has started digging underneath an escaping into the neighbours backyard, even without the gaps he'd definitely dig. We recently bought the house and knew this was needing to be done but he has discovered how to escape faster than we thought. He is walked twice a day, given toys and bones (which actually encourages the digging) and he has a brother, who is not interested in exploring or digging ever!

I've been researching using chicken wire and maybe getting the fence extended dug deep into the ground as well as large rocks but would like other ideas, suggestions and photos if anyone else has had this same issue. Looking for cost effective and labour effective suggestions if possible (ie. rocks might not be possible, I'm not very strong and with lockdowns getting friends to help isn't an option) 

[TedBear]

If you can source some cement slabs, I have found that placing them along fences and under gates is an effective way of putting dogs off digging there.

Their instinct is to dig at the barrier (not before it), which the slabs prevent. 

Downside is that they are heavy, but then so are rocks. You can probably get some free through Gumtree.

(Maybe a nearby owner will deliver them if you offer a fee for that.)

If you have a trenching shovel and don't mind some digging, you could even insert the slabs vertically at the fence if you don't want them showing. In that case you could buy smaller ones than the standard 600x600s.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Lucia_C. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your questions about dog proofing your fence.

I'm a great fan of @TedBear's idea and agree that if the slabs were placed in front of the fence, your dog is unlikely to try to dig that far out from it. 

As a similar idea, perhaps laying a sheet of trench mesh on the ground in front of the fence would deter the digging. It could be held in place with tent pegs whilst allowing the grass to grow through it. The trench mesh is 200mm wide, and even that far away from the fence, your dog is likely not going to try to dig down and across to the fence. As @TedBear mentioned, they really want to dig hard up against the fence and straight under it.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[Prof]

If I had that problem I would probably buy some treated posts from Bunnings and lay them along the width of the fence..

Generally dogs are confused by the round logs..They don't know how to approach them...whether to go over them or under them and in most cases just walk away..

Hope that helps...

[Lucia_C]

Thank you @TedBear I appreciate the above, I'll definitely have a look and definitely link digging them into the ground would be best 

[Lucia_C]

@Prof Oh I didn't think about round logs, I'll definitely have a look at what bunnings has, appreciate your reply

[Lucia_C]

Thanks @MitchellMc I might combine these with a few other options too 

[Prawns]

I used the tent pegs and chicken wire idea successfully for my staffy pup. What also helped - was everytime he dug somewhere - i went and found one of his poos and dropped that where he was digging before backfilling it (they smell the poo and hopefully wont dig there again for a couple weeks)  Ive also heard of sprinkling cayenne pepper around bad problem areas

[Lucia_C]

Thanks @Prawns yes cayenne pepper mixed with white vinegar works a treat for my dog, unfortunately he is gross and loves to eat poo. We used our cayenne pepper and vinegar mix to spray on poo to get him to stop eating it, which has worked almost to completely deter him away from eating it. Didn't think of spraying it along the fence line, great idea! thank you