Mine are 6 foot I personally wouldn't want any shorter than that she shouldn't dissapear but then better safe than sorry they can jump like you wouldn't believe lol.

 

The normal 'legal limit' is 2 metres.

 

6 foot fence is enough to keep "most" dogs in, as long as yours doesn't turn out to be a jumper. If you find that she still manages to jump that (and believe me with an agile dog it can happen! ) then you can add an overhang on top of the fences in the future.

Edit : as to why dogs escape - it's anybodies guess, but a male smelling an in season bitch, or a female in heat trying to find a dog to mate with are the most common causes I would suppose

 

My border collie is four months old and kept in the garden by a wall at one side and a fence at the other. The wall is only short, and she will be able to jump over soon. I am also putting a fence at the back. How high should they be?
And will she want to escape? She is quite happy, what makes dogs run away, I often see dog found or missing dogs ads on facebook.

Dogs leave gardens for all sorts of reasons. Some dogs are easily bored and will leave the yard in search of adventure and entertainment. Intact dogs may leave in search of a mate, some dogs might get spooked by something, a storm, a car backfiring and run out of the yard in a blind panic... There are tons of reasons why dogs run off and/or escape.

Knowing your dog and what is likely to motivate her to stay (or leave) is probably the first step in determining what type and what height of a fence to get.

 

We ask for a minimum of 5 feet for the Cresteds

So 6 feet or over for your collie

 

It is a tricky one, as some dogs are jumpers and some aren't. My last dog could clear a 6ft fence. He was a lab x springer spaniel. He was never left unattended in the garden. I would say for most dogs a 6ft fence should be sufficient, but it does very much depend on your dog.

 

ours is a bit over six foot, that has been fine for us

 

I'm not allowed more than 4 foot at the front and 6 at the back so that's what I have. Angus could easily jump it but he's rarely out unattended and according to his rule book of how the world should work it's illegal to jump fences (or go through the gap where the fence panel was before it blew down) - unfortunately he has no such rules about not opening the front door or the gate to go out to play if I'm asleep or in the shower.

 

My fence is four foot, and I've had four different breeds of dog here. I don't do agility, and have never encouraged them to jump. Bess likes leaning over the fence to see the pheasants in the fields behind, but has never tried to get them. I watch her like a hawk in her seasons, but she's never tried to jump over.

If there was a risk I'd higher the fences, but we're happy with them as they are. JUmping doesn't come naturally to Bess as she's never been taught it.

 

I have dogs trained to scale 6ft, none have ever felt the need to leave home.

If you cannot have a fence this high you can put in an angle overhang.

 

My old dog, Rocky, could clear a six foot fence from a stand still, but Battersea Dog's Home (who we rescued him from) only required a secure (anything over five feet fencing) garden.

Dexter can jump, but doesn't and Skip still can't jump lol. He jumps on to the sofa but that's it... I even tried to train him to jump in to my arms but thermostat he could manage was jumping waist hight (I'm 5"3)

 

I would go for a 6ft fence, its kept all mine in bar one which was Daisy in her youth, who could scale a 6ft from standing.

 

The normal 'legal limit' is 2 metres.

What does that mean!

One of my miniature poodles can jump a 4 foot 6 fence with no problem and also get through any gap her head fits through. She is a nightmare escape artist. She is a bird chaser so if she if watching a bird she just keeps going to be able to follow it. We spend our lives searching for new 6 inch gaps she has found! or bits of fence she has decided she can jump high enough to hook her feet round and haul herself over.

My collies never used to escape, in fact we never had a garden gate and they had the run of the place but never went far.

I would have thought 6foot would be totally safe.

 

ive got a just over 2 mitres on one side and i wouldnt want it any lower as my dog leaps off his back legs , i sometimes worry he might clear it by getting his paws on top and pulling hisself up , he will only leap up tho if he see's a cat on top of it , he wont jump out for the sake of it , he's never ever left in the garden alone tho as my wall on the other side isnt high enough and untill my husband sorts it i dont even turn my back for a second

 

I dont want a 6 foot fence, but how high a fence I will get has gone up. Thanks for all the replies.
She is only a 4 months old border collie at the moment

 

I dont want a 6 foot fence, but how high a fence I will get has gone up. Thanks for all the replies.
She is only a 4 months old border collie at the moment

BC's can clear 5' as an adult dog. Personally I would want to put a fence in place that I don't have to replace.

I had two JRs Terriers they could scale any wall or fence. The little beggars climbed like cats.

It does really depend on the dog some dogs' head will clear the top of the fence and will jump up at the fence but will not jump over, however some will.

 

Amber (Golden Retriever) liked escaping no matter what we did with her exercisewise. Mum had to do the entire length of the garden in proper wooden fencing that's 5 ft high. There is a proper fence round the bottom and other side which is over 10 ft tall.

 

Our exercise areas are similar to this. The posts are wood and we got a blacksmith to fashion the angles out of angle iron and we bolted them to the top of the posts. We used pig wire instead of barbed wire. Bit cheaper than buying the angled posts. You may think the wood may rot but we have been here 28 years and they are still going strong.

 

I've found it's not just the height of the fence but the type of fence you use.

My Mam has a 4ft "privacy" fence around her garden ( IE no spaces between the wood ) and Blade happily plays in her garden for hours without attempting the fence. I think it's because he can't see anything over the other side he's not interested in going on the other side.

On the opposite side my mother in law has a picket style fence that stands at around 4ft and Blade has jumped that before ( luckily into the neighbors garden )

Unfortunately not all of us are blessed with obedient dogs that don't try to escape.

We have a 9ft wall around our garden :thumbsup: and Blade has even -almost- scaled that when a ginger cat was sat on top of it "taunting" him