Minimum fence height for Labrador Retriever?
I have a 10 week old purebred female yellow Labrador Retriever. She was bred from a various bird hunting family, and their dogs are slim and in great shape. From what I could find online, they are more of an 'English' style Lab, even though it appears there is no official distinction.
I am going to build a fenced area in my back yard that has shade/sun/cover. We already have a larger backyard that is fenced at 6 feet (183 cm) high, but I don't want her roaming the whole backyard during the day while we are gone. The long-term plan will be that she can go outside to it via a dog door at any time when she is older and can be left alone without needing supervision during the day.
The overall area of this will be 300 ft2 (around 27.8 m2).
The problem is that I don't know how high I should build the fence so that she cannot jump over it when she is fully grown/most capable. I've heard a lot of conflicting numbers from other websites, with some stating their dog jumped over a 6 foot (183 cm) fence!? Is that even possible?
I respect the SE community answers, so I've come to ask what you think.
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If the area will have cover and be a significantly small part of the space (300 ft2 is about 6 x 6 yards), then plan for wide wire mesh across the top.
The mesh would have to be:
fixed at one edge;
able to be rolled or unfolded across;
clipped to the other 3 edges as needed.
Problem solved.
I've seen a few dogs climb fences over the years (mostly border collies), which is why I like the fencing that goes up and over. Though what I see the most is dogs digging under the fence and getting out. Having a fence that goes deep under ground or having a cement base with fencing around it would be good choices.
6 feet is great if you can manage that (+ a few feet extra for in ground). My dads golden got out many times from digging under the fence and she only started doing this later on in life.
My Lab can jump a 4' fence with running room. And chain link is right out because she will climb. Good luck on deciding what to use.
If you train her to the fenced area as a young pup, you won't have to worry nearly as much about her trying to escape.
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