Chapter 6 – Confinement …on a larger scale

For this chapter I will step back in time slightly. Because the following events actually started prior to the Obedience School and .... are actually ongoing.

Riggs does not come when you call her. If you take a step towards her – this is a game. The object of the game is to elude your captor. The loser usually gets a bath (often times we both lose). The winner gets to run wild and free.
This was part of the catalyst behind Obedience School. But you see where that got us.

So obviously we needed a FENCE.

(on a side note: we had tried tie outs, runs and kennel enclosures with our last dog. They were ineffective at best and in some cases simply cruel. I did not want to have a dog tied to a chain in the backyard.)

We are intelligent and thoughtful pet owners, so we discussed our options at length. Our choices were of course: Invisible fence…or an actual fence… hmm.

If you recall from the last chapter – this dogs threshold of pain is remarkable. This made us leery of the invisible fence. Since it was a fairly big area we wanted to enclose, the theory was she could get a running start and at top speeds would be on the other side of the wire by the time she felt the shock. Then, of course, would not be able to get back home across the wire again. So, although it would have been more attractive and certainly more affordable, invisible fence was not for us.

Now onto the myriad of choices for fencing. The first thing we learned is: Fence is expensive, and attractive fence is astronomical.

Compromise was in order.

The most affordable fence is chain link. The ugliest fence is chain link.
Ok, so the compromise-- we would get chain link fence for most of the enclosed area, but it would be the black-coated chain link to make it somewhat more attractive.

So 3k later – we had ourselves a fence. Complete with two gates, one large enough to pull the tractor in, and plenty of room to run.
But we were not quite fully enclosed yet.

Part two of the compromise was that no chain link fence would be near the house (for aesthetic reasons).
First we priced attractive black aluminum – knowing that the iron we really wanted would be out of reach. For the two short runs of fence we would need the price was higher than the entire chain link. That wasn’t going to happen.

And so… we returned to our DIY roots.

Saving thousands of dollars-- the whole family chipped in and we built ourselves a fence.



An attractive fence for just a couple hundred bucks in materials.

Oh, and we learned one other thing about fences… .