Dog Jumps Against Fence

Hi everyone.

I have a 3 year old Brittany that is a fantastic dog...except. She keeps jumping against the fence and causing damage to it. Her motivation is catching squealers running along the fence tops. Her plan is to build up a head of steam and throw her 40 lbs against the pickets. The idea is that she can somehow get the critter to fall into her clutches. There are two problems with this.

1) It will never work.
2) It's slowly tearing down my NEW fence.

I've thought about putting up a chain-link fence as a first barrier to the wood one I share with my neighbours but that would look awful. I've also thought about panting some sort of barrier plant like roses or evergreen bushes.

Please help.

I wonder if she'd avoid stepping on a rocky border, something like this:


If she'd still jump on it you'll have a problem though as she might harm her paw pads. So maybe try a stretch of it before committing to doing the whole fence line.

You might also be able to put something along the top of the fence to keep squirrels off. Not sure what though, I'm sure google will have some ideas.

Thanks for the idea. Unfortunately, she has no issues with walking on just about anything. I take her to the off leash park and she runs over cactus...really, cactus. When she's "birdie" I think everything else, including her own physical safety, becomes an afterthought.

It's odd, but I had an acquaintance buy fox urine and put drops of it just outside the fence and around the trees to stop squirrels from getting into her yard. I don't know how often she had to do it, it was just something she mentioned once. Her dog could actually catch and kill them and she was tired of her dog eating squirrel for dinner.

I'd say your best bet would be either training her to leave the squirrels alone (maybe with something like the "Look At That" method?) or putting some barrier on top to stop the squirrels from getting up there.

I don't tend to be a fan of electric collars but in this case I might honestly try an invisible fence (instead of chain link) to keep her away. It doesn't sound like she's a very timid or soft dog so I think using an invisible fence on the lowest setting might work well.

Otherwise, you can train her to ignore squirrels, or what I would try is to teach her a different behavior (if she sees a squirrel, spin in a circle, run to a target, pick up an object, stand on her hind legs, or even just sit)...but that means for a while you need to go outside with her every single time, possibly have her on a long line or leash if she's not responsive to you calling her off the fence, and have her be reliable enough in whatever behavior you use that she'll perform it even with the squirrel distraction, at least for treats or another reward.

I was going to suggest hot wire, or hot tape. Put it along the fence, so if she touches it she gets a zap. Same principle as an invisible fence, but a bit sterner. And she wouldn't have to wear a collar.

Probably cheaper and easier to put up, too. I don't even know if that stuff is legal here (I'm guessing not) so I'd never think of that!

Even if you are going to train her, some deterrent will help save your fence in the mean time

I might give the shock collar a shot. I hate to do it though. I have one already that I use for recall if she runs too far off at the off leash park. It has a vibrate setting so that's all I have to use. She really doesn't require any pressure, just a little shake to snap here out of the doggy ADD.

Ugh...I've been trying the shock collar method and I just hate doing it. She's a really good dog (other than the fence thing) and has a gentle disposition. Maybe the hot wire or invisible fence Idea would work best. More for me than her.

Any other suggestions?

If you do have the ability to spend a few weeks going out with her each time/keeping her on a leash if you're not actively training, you could forgo the shock collar.

Have you tried any other deterrents for the squirrels? Urine or even some sort of scarecrow type predator statue?