Fences

[Fudgie]

For those of you with fenced yards, what kind do you have, how big of an area and did you put it in yourself or hire it done? I am needing to do something so Fudgie can have more freedom to run. Anything your would have done different and/or did you do anything extra that someone should be aware of? Thanks for any advice

[Hagar]

The size of my fenced back yard is approximately 50x50 feet. I have a PVC plastic picket style fence six feet tall. I really like the maintenance free aspect of the plastic, but is is a fairly expensive choice.

It was installed before I got Renny, and, the bottom rail was between four and six inches off the ground and a small dog could wiggle under in a lot of spots. I used plastic downspout cut to fit under the bottom of the fence and made some metal "U" shaped brackets to secure them to the ground and fence. The downspout is a perfect match to the fencing. In a couple of spots, I had to stack two pieces of the downspout to properly fill the gaps.

Looking back on the installation, I would have had the bottom of the fence a lot lower to the ground, but other measures might be needed if your Cairn is a "digger". Renny isn't, so I haven't had any problems in that respect.

I did have it done by a contractor, but the Vinyl/PVC fencing is readily available at home improvement centers for those able to do their own installation.

When Renny was a young puppy, he could get between the pickets and try to wiggle through to the neighbors yard. It was hilarious to watch him try to get through. He could get his head, shoulders, and tummy through, but his chubby little butt would slow him down enough that I could grab him. Now as an adult, his muzzle won't fit between the pickets.

Hope this helps. Hagar

[Napi'smom]

We are putting up a fence, we are doing it ourselves. We chose the wood kind called shadow box, my property is around 80x80x80 so it is a LOT of work, we started on memorial Day and still working on it. Main reason to put it up is the dogs, I happend to live in Rockland County NY and the county lives up to it sname, but if you have no rocks renting a auger should make your life easy, we chose wood becuase of the cost I would have love the vynil one but with my property size it would have been about triple the cost of wood which I thought was a bit much.

[chrissysb]

I just want to prepare you with some sticker shock -> We have a 1/2 acre with a chain link fence on 1/4 of it. We were told that for basic chain link fencing -> It would be about $8,000. I almost fell over.

[Napi'smom]

that is the reason we chose to do it ourselves, Lowe's quoted us $13,000 for a vynil fence on 1/4 acre. Wood was about $10,000.

We spent about $3,000 on materials and labor is on us.

[Tracy A.]

Wow- am I glad I never called around for quotes on the fence. Our back yard is 100x190- I think the quote would have given me a heart attack! we've been putting in a wooden privacy fence replacing an older chainlink/split rail with chickenwire fence. Because Mett & Bratt are great at digging/hunting, we are putting in two levels of retaining wall stones all the way around the fence line. These will be filled with dirt and I am going to use this space for a veggie garden and in the shadded areas flowers. We figured that it would add another layer of protection to the fence line and it would be a great use of the space by adding the raised beds.

At 12 weeks old Mett & Bratt staged an escape from the yard right infront of me to play with the nextdoor neighboors Rottweiler. They haven't been off leash in the back yard since that day.... We hope that we'll have the fence finished this year- it's slow going as we have lots of brush to clear out from the fence line. We did buy a gas post hole digger. It's been a big help.

[Brody'sMom]

I have a cedar split rail fence with mesh to keep the Cairns in. Ours is pretty big at least 50X80 I'd say and it was around $7000 installed. This is one of the cheaper types of fences and it looks great in my country setting. If you live in a rocky area (I also live in Rockland County - Hi Napi) beware of quotes where you pay extra for "hard holes." A hard hole occurs when they have to put a post where there is a big rock. We chose a contractor whose price included all hard holes and were told almost all of our holes were hard holes. If we had chosen the contractor where we paid $50 or $70 per hard hole, we would not have been able to complete the fence due to the unexpected cost!

Here is a picture of my fence (along with Brody and Mia in Christmas attire!)

[shergry]

Looks great. Bet they feel like it is their homeland....cairns - the rocky terrain. Very nice set up, with all that room they should feel very lucky to have such clean dwellings.

[Mollyrocker]

I fenced in a large section of our yard (2 sides are 4' picket and 2 sides that face the woods are wire fence) myself. I dug the holes for the posts myself which was very hard work since I had many rocks to contend with. For the wire fence I pounded in the metal posts. It cost me around $2000 in materials. There is no way we could have afforded to hire a fencing company to do the work.

When Cricket came along, I had to install chicken wire along the bottom of the fence and then stake it into the ground along the entire perimeter of the fence to prevent her from slipping underneath and digging out.

It was worth it though.

In the front entry way off our porch I installed metal 30"tall garden fencing with a gate to enclose a small section for Cricket and Lucy to watch the world go by. That was an easy install and is easily moved or removed. Cricket could probably figure out how to climb over it if given a chance to, but I supervise her and don't leave her out that long.

That was much cheaper ...I want to add to it but Lowe's is always sold out of that metal fencing.

[Maggie15]

My wife and i built our fence (took 2 days), drilled holes by hand auger -that was a pain! we went with 6' high cedar, no stain - no maintenance... i luckily bought the material at an auction (it was new) for about $500, retail was about $1500... it is approx. 30'x50' (2 sides only)... we like the privacy fence, but we are downtown... i really like being able to let maggie out and not worry about her in the back yard...

BrodysMom - i like the backyard and fence, nice job! ...maggie would love that space!!

A

[kayharley]

We have a board on board wood fence around around most of our property....only the front section of our property is fence free. We put it in about 18 years ago and I think it was around $2,000 installed! Most of the posts were put in cement and a few were "pinned" because of the rocks/ledge that couldn't be broken up.

Last year I decided to section off a part of the yard just for the dogs....an area where they could dig and pretty much do what they wanted. I used coated wire fencing and ran it from the deck stairs that go right into their area.

There were many nights when I'd let them out for business and they'd run off to chase something on the stone wall. I'd be out there barefoot in the dark with a flashlight trying to coax them in.

They do get free reign of the entire yard but only when supervised....there are some large shrubs that are not dog-friendly so I need to watch them although Maddy and Winnie are not chewers anymore. They'd much rather go after the poor birds at the feeder or the chipmunks....it's Remy now that I have to watch carefully.

[Fudgie]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! Sounds like if I want to work hard that it might be affordable. And yes, I have plenty of rocks here too (Missouri)!

[Eliz222]

We got a bid to fence in our yard about a month ago. Our lot is 100x250 and they wanted almost 15k for a vinyl fence!

Lets just say that it will be a long time before we fence in our yard! Our neighbors, on both side, have a fenced in yard, and we always "play" in their yards!

[Tracy A.]

We got a bid to fence in our yard about a month ago. Our lot is 100x250 and they wanted almost 15k for a vinyl fence!

Lets just say that it will be a long time before we fence in our yard! Our neighbors, on both side, have a fenced in yard, and we always "play" in their yards!

Wow that's sticker shock! Was that quote for all sides of the yard? or just the sides not already fenced in by your neighboors?

[shergry]

When I had a house, that vinyl fence was GREAT! It was an added expense that really sold the house and made profit. The one thing we did also was to go go 4-6 inches into the ground with concrete. Were had our first escape artist that could climb chain link and burrow under any wire fence you put up. She got out in the winter at 29F, after 4 hours of combing the neighborhood and state highway, there she was sitting in the garden area looking at us like: "Where you been?" You could see her foot prints all over the neighbors yards going and coming back into ours. She was, and still is quite the character. Anyway your fences look and sound great, now being on the road we have a portable fence we put up when we stay for a period of time.

[Eliz222]

Tracy, it was for JUST the backyard! It didn't include our neighbor's fence, but they did get a quote to take theirs down!

[mrskti]

well we're smack in the middle of fencing here. We came back home today from an overnight trip and there are ComEd flags everywhere!!!! Even through our alfalfa fields...how dumb is that!!! We're actually doing our front yard, reason is....the girls love being on the front porch, so they can have shade, lay on the cushy sofa and see who comes up the drive and most importantly....see the swimming pool!! We live in the middle of 80 acres and with the woods in the back, they would be barking all the freakin time at critters in the woods. We're getting the white pvc, see pic below. I thought it would look great with our house, it's not fancy, but it should dress it up a bit. But when I got the quote, which i knew would be high, i almost fell over.....$7,500. I think it's about 88x55, and only three sides cause the house is 75 ft along one edge!!! We are NOT doing the work ourselves, we live on the top of a freakin gravel pit....no way!!! Besides, if they screw something up, they pay for it, not me!

geeeeeze, the dogs were only $1000!!!!

[fiddler927]

Our yard was fenced in when we bought the house, but it's chain link and quite old now. The house is 45 years old, and I think the fence is about as old. It probably will need to be replaced sooner or later, but we had a foretaste last year of what the cost might be: when we had the deck built, the workmen found it necessary to replace the old chain link gate (because of the ramp that had to be built for my now-deceased father-in-law). A 6 foot wood privacy fence, only a four-foot section with a gate, cost an additional $800. Our yard is probably 40 feet across, and maybe as deep. It would cost a fortune to have the entire chain link fence replaced (and it's all ours. None of it was installed by neighbors). Doing the work ourselves is not an option, as my husband's arthritic shoulders and back will no longer allow him to do that kind of heavy labor, and with my MS, I'm pretty useless on that kind of thing.

One good thing about the chain link: Ellie and Black Lady are both diggers, and they have tried to dig under the fence. Fortunately, it goes deep enough into the soil to discourage both of them. I still have some boards placed under the fence by the old gate on the other side of the house, because Ellie can still wriggle under it otherwise! Black Lady is "stockier" in her build (as a Scottie would be), so that was never an issue with her.

Laurie

[tomq]

It all depends on your cairns. I've used the 2x4 welded wire fence fabric for years and had no problem, but in the last 6 months, I've had 2 boys who have decided they

can chew their way through this stuff! I'm having to upgrade the fencing to chain link!

A great solution for the diggers is to put a line of the 16x16 x 2 concrete pavers around the inside perimeter of your fence - it adds a nice decorative touch, and you can clearly

see tunnel attempts while they are still young and fill them in - it take a while to tunnel under 16 inches of concrete, then a 1 or 2 inch gap, then the fence itself, then up on the other side!

[Madwand]

I guess this is as good a place to put this as any, since I am new here. June 29 I left my dog at my father's house to go on vacation for 2 weeks. He has 2 acres surrounded entirely by chain link and a doggie door so she could come and go as she needed. Four days later she was dead. Evil neighbor dogs dug holes on their side and enticed her to cross, then ate her. Don't trust any fence, even if your dog doesn't dig.

[Tracy A.]

Even through our alfalfa fields...how dumb is that!!!

But when I got the quote, which i knew would be high, i almost fell over.....$7,500.

geeeeeze, the dogs were only $1000!!!!

LOL Speaking of alfalfa, do you ever grow sweet grass? I love the smell of sweet grass....

I am so glad that we are fencing ourselves, we'd go broke if we hired a company.

I love your thousnad dollar comment, my husband refers to the boys as 'expensive dogs', he keeps an ongoing tally in his head as to the total $$$ spent on the two....LOL

When someone says or looks at my lil'crack dogs with distane, he proudly says "hey, these are expensive dogs- sneer elsewhere!" LOL

[fiddler927]

Madwand, how awful for you! That must have been heartbreaking! I can't imagine how terrible you must feel, and I certainly understand how you wouldn't trust a fence.

And welcome to the forum.

Laurie

[fiddler927]

Yeah, PVC fencing is expensive, which surprised me, but even pine isn't cheap. These dogs (and I think it applies to all dogs, regardless of breed), are not cheap, and definitely not for those on a limited budget! Kind of like that commercial where the man says, "There's no such thing as a free puppy)!

Laurie

[mrskti]

Madwand, i am so sorry...what a heartbreaking story.

Tracy....I would NEVER keep track of what i spend on these two...no way!!!! Although the fence has sorta went over the top...so what's the use now!!! LOL Who cares, cant take it with us!!!! They make me happy, so I might as well make them happy.

I will still keep a close eye on them with the digging, I wouldnt want them tunneling their way out. I still need to fill a few holes!

[brin145]

180 feet of cedar (planks four feet high) fencing installed and two gates (one four ft., one five) plus labor = $1725. last year.

We decided to do a partial back yard fence attached to house. So we have three fence sides. Local fence company did it and we were more than pleased. The posts are cemented in and it took one guy two days to do it.