# Fence for a Standard. How High?



## Entellechy (Jun 10, 2017)

Hi Everyone. 
My husband and I are going to fence in our back porch and have it continue around our back yard so our current 2 dogs can enjoy restroom and outside time with more freedom. I am planning of adding a standard to our tribe next year. Neither of my current dogs will try to jump out of a fence but I know some dogs like to have that past time. I am wondering how high of a chain link fence I should put up in order to prevent my new prospective mighty leaper from clearing it. Is 6 foot overkill? Someone is usually home and most of the time my dogs are inside, but I think they would enjoy being out when the weather is nice. I don't want to have to worry if I want to leave them out and take a trip to the grocery store.


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## peppersb (Jun 5, 2011)

My experience is that my two standards (and two others before them) would not want to be left outside when you go to the grocery store. In the summer, I leave the back door open and they go out to go to the bathroom but other than that, they are inside with me. Of course, they will want to be outside if I am out doing yard work or sitting on the patio, especially if we have visitors. But if I am inside, they want to be inside. I have a 5 foot fence, and it is plenty.


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## DCspoo (Apr 19, 2015)

I have a 6 ft and that it the right height for our guy when he stands up with his front paws on it to chase squirrels running on top. 

Honestly I wouldn't do chain link. Many dogs can literally climb the links like a ladder. Mine is a wood fence. 

Additionally we don't leave our dogs out when we leave. Only when we are home. Not saying anything is wrong with it, if you feel secure,but dog theft scares me.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I have a 6' redwood fence, and they can reach the top of it when squirrel hunting, but they can't scale it. My dogs also would NOT appreciate being left outside while I was gone. They are always kept inside, as besides them not being happy outside, they could be stolen, escape, be let out by the gardeners, bark incessantly, etc. Plan to keep your spoo inside  They are inside dogs.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

We have two 6' brick walls on the sides of our property with a ledge. I don't believe Buck could clear them without standing on something. He tries to get at opossums running along the ledge, so he has had incentives to try and never considered it.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

We have a chained link fence. It is likely only 4 feet tall. It came with the house, and we have no plans to replace them. I think he can easily clear it if he wanted to. He has stood on his hind legs and got petted over the fence, and I had to kindly ask the neighbours not to do that. No paws on the fence, period. If I had my way, I'd go for a 6 ft wood fence. Here at our place we have to take snow accumulation into consideration.


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Gracie has been known to clear a 6 foot fence with inches to spare. I had an Irish wolf hound that could clear an 8 foot fence. Gracie has the run of our block with 4 foot fences and will not leave. That being said we don't leave her alone. When out and about hunting etc. she can clear 6 foot if needed. Training is more important than security. A dog needs to know the boundaries. Your new dog will learn from the old.

Eric


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

We have our patio and part of the yard fenced with a four foot chain link. My two Standards and the Jack Russell never challenge the fence. The younger dog can bounce in place and his hind feet clear four feet. They were trained to respect the boundaries . The rest of the .75 acre has varied fencing; mostly six foot vinyl fencing, and some stucco with wrought iron on the top two feet. The JRT only weighs 13 pounds and he can wiggle out of the wrought iron gates, so he has to be supervised when he is in the big yard. I make him wear a bear bell because the way the house is sitting on the property, there is no way to keep track of that little weasel of a dog. Now Nike, Wilson's brother was raised in Tennessee, and he has no respect for our fence boundaries. He sails in and put of the patio, and over the wrought iron gates like a deer. He does not go over the 6 ft. vinyl fence; never has even stood up against it. Maybe he doesn't care because he can't see through it.


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## Entellechy (Jun 10, 2017)

This is very helpful! Thank you everyone. My dogs do prefer to be in the house, but sometimes they like being on the porch in the sun. Especially my older boy who is 13. It would be nice to be able to let them stay out there if they want without worrying that they will wander off. Heh heh no worries they both know how to *BARK* *BARK* to come in. I think as long as the pups are content, there would be no reason to jump the fence. Thanks for reminding me of that Eric. =)
DCspoo I never thought of dogs climbing fences but I bet they could if they wanted to!


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

Sammy the spoo said:


> We have a chained link fence. It is likely only 4 feet tall. It came with the house, and we have no plans to replace them. I think he can easily clear it if he wanted to. He has stood on his hind legs and got petted over the fence, and I had to kindly ask the neighbours not to do that. No paws on the fence, period. If I had my way, I'd go for a 6 ft wood fence. Here at our place we have to take snow accumulation into consideration.


I had a post created last evening...it disappeared before posting.:angry:

But, essentially, same here. I just went out and measured....48" chain link. Yet the 2 previous females (21" at withers) and now Rio (24") never have tried to climb or jump the fence to get out.

You will train him or her... When I first got Rio and would go out the other door and walk to the garage saying, "Wanna go for a ride in the car?" Yes! and he would jump up against the fence. I froze. "Off." Stay frozen. Feet on the ground... Etc. You know the drill.

He never puts his paws on the fence anymore. And our dogs have really enjoyed being outside, sniffing, watching the neighbor do his gardening, the children across the street playing. There is both sun and shade in portions of the yard all day long. And of course someone might come out and play fetch. When bored, lie in the sunshine or come up on the deck and sprawl on the rug.

I love having a fenced back yard for the dog and grandchildren.

But we never leave the dog outside during even short times away from home. He has his room in the house for that.


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## Entellechy (Jun 10, 2017)

I appreciate ALL the great suggestions! I think I will go with a 5 foot. That will work fine for them to get out if they want only while I am home and checking on them. You guys are right. It would be dumb to leave them outside even if I only leave for a short time. If i work on training too, I know it will work. I'm so happy I found this forum!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We have a 6' vinyl fence so while I suspect that the poodles could scale a chain link fence of virtually any height they can't get traction to clear the fence we do have. Our dogs do not like being outside without us. I also would never leave a dog in the yard when I wasn't home to avoid problems like annoying the neighbors with barking to be let in when it isn't going to be able to happen or getting into trouble with cats and squirrels. I also do not like the idea of a person being able to do a dognapping or otherwise harming my unattended dog.


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## dogsavvy (Mar 6, 2015)

I actually prefer no fences but (sigh) I no longer live on a huge farm that can allow that to be safe. I have tiny dogs & large working dogs. My fencing has to meet everyone's requirements (no small feat). My favorite fencing is block wall fencing. This isn't always practical or acceptable depending on where you live. I loved it because my tiny Chihuahuas & my big working dogs were safe. They found less to bark at because they couldn't see every little thing. When we moved from that house, some neighbors said they didn't even know we had dogs! We were stunned. Our fence was 8 feet at the back, 5 feet on the sides/front. That was my favorite. There were only a few places for snakes to enter/exit. Any wild animal had to be a good climber to go up it so we had 2 feral cats, many wild birds & 1 teenie tiny non venomous snake that got in our pool. It's the most secure.

I like chain link or dog/horse wire & prefer 6 foot fencing. Most of the time I end up with 5 ft fencing because it's easier to work with & drive the poles plus sometimes it's just plain hard to get the 6 ft fencing. I do NOT like open woven wire fencing as is used for cattle. It's too open & I've seen dogs go through it. I like wood fencing except it's higher maintenance over the long term. 

I've included some pictures so you can see the dogs but also so you can see some of the fence I'm talking about. My current fencing shows the yellow flowers & the fence kind of disappears so it doesn't ruin the view. Dogs don't seem inclined to try to climb this as I've seen with chain link. The one with the tiny dog & a quail is the block wall we had in the desert. The one with the Giant Schnauzer & Collie are just to show the beasties I'm containing & the size differences  We range from 3 pounds to 77 pounds. Both my big dogs are very very athletic. 

Dogs who are jumpers or climbers are hard to contain unless they want to stay. My old Belgian Malinois could go out any of these fences if she felt there was a reason to do so. I suspect some Standard Poodles would fall in this category.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

A standard poodle can jump or climb almost any wall or fence if sufficiently motivated to do so. My Lili used to scramble up a small cliff - about 12 feet - when pursuing a rabbit. We live in a rural area, so letting her chase rabbits did not put her in danger of being hit by a car and she was big enough to be safe from coyotes.

I agree with those who said that standards should be left in the house when no one is home. Training a never-fail recall is also important.


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## Entellechy (Jun 10, 2017)

I do live on a 50 acre farm so there is no danger of a road or anything. We have them loose when we are out with them once we have a good recall but I really want to "kind of" fence my back porch and the back/side in so I can just open the door and let them out if they want to. I have to go out with them to do their business now and that gets old on winter mornings =). Thanks for the pictures dogsavvy! It looks like you have lived in some interesting places. I like your dogs too.


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Aha! - an exercise yard - good idea.

We did not have a fence for a long time, and our dogs did wander - especially the greyhound and the whippet. In those days, tho, there were not so many people in the area. I will be forever grateful to a wealthy neighbor who bought up all the nearby land to prevent development.

I have a "dog yard" fenced off with access through a dog door in the utility room. That area is graveled and has a 6 foot chainlink on two sides and a 4 foot row of exercise pen fence on the third side. None of the dogs has ever jumped out, but my whippet/border collie mix has beaten down the exercise panels to get IN the dog door when he did not want to be in the big backyard area (he was probably tired of being mauled by the puppy!).

I wish I had 50 acres instead of just 3! However, we are within an easy walk of the national forest, so it's almost like having lots of land!


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## saferguson (Jul 2, 2021)

What is the best fence to install on my territory next to the house?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Well I think that depends on local ordinances that might exist in your area regarding height, materials etc. but whatever you do make sure there are no object along the inside of the fence line that a dog might use as steps to get close to the top and jump over.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

saferguson said:


> What is the best fence to install on my territory next to the house?


Hi @saferguson - Please start a new thread asking your question and providing some specifics about your poodle(s). Size, age, etc.

This is an old thread that I’m going to lock to avoid any confusion.


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