Dog Escape Artists, Dangers and Managing
(many authors, info contributors ...)
Dog Escape Artists, the dangers of "escaping" for them and detering or managing their antics
Young dogs left alone will often amuse themselves by figuring out how to go visit their people, or set out on some adventure. Truly bored clever dogs can get into a remarkable variety of trouble by setting out on exploration projects all alone: “Let me count the ways: ....”
1) Skunk finding – usually stinky but non-fatal; wash the dog with tomato juice [?]
2) Eating garbage eating, dumping or stealing – often fatal sooner or later. We lost dogs who died because they unwisely ate clam shells, metal bits of fast food cans, etc.
3) Rolling in infectious mange debris left on lawns or in brush by sick foxes or sick dogs
4) Encountering government “animal-control” people who may toss the dog in the “clink”
5) Injuries such as broken legs, wounds etc that can easily cost thousands of dollars.
6) Malicious persons harass or injure the dog (surprisingly common, sadly)
7) Police or disgruntled person shoots on-sight the dog (depends on where they live.)
8) -- - - For innocent friendly well socialized dogs the world on their own is more dangerous, because they are likely to trust strangers and unfamiliar dangerous animals
As adults who have adopted a dog, we are the ones who know how to read their medicine bottle instructions, use our opposable thumbs to open the doors and drive cars, and owe them in exchange for their companionship and assistance, enough training to assure their safety and our own. Such training ought to in my opinion include through positive experiences convincing our dogs that skills as “escape artists” aren’t part of the skill set of well socialized trusted and loved dog-companions.
There is a rather limited range of common escape artist skills, illustrated with a few countermeasures in the next paragraphs. Countermeasures against escape artist antics, although alleged perhaps “for the good of the dog,” that can result in injury to the dog are highly undesirable and usually very expensive.
Climbing Up, Onto and Over?” : If a dog discovers that its enclosure can be escaped over its fences or walls,” amazing leaping and scrambling Olympic class athletic feats can be achieved.
Small dogs have been observed to climb remarkably high fences or walls it they can get their paws into holes or pockets in the walls or fences. Chain-link fences are vulnerable to puppies and adult terriers, Basenji, - (ref. Fuller and Cooper, 1965) and other agile small-footed breeds.
Chain link climbers: We didn't have problems with shelter dogs climbing 7 or 8 foot chain link fences. [Pit bull types were the only ones that did, and were for this reason never allowed unaccompanied on an outdoor playing field.] I don't know of a simple solution for typical suburban 3 or 4 foot chain link fences, which are indeed an easy climb for most determined dogs and children.
Puppies were seen climbing up the front “grill” of their crate and thus onto its roof, then along a ½ inch wide partition to a chair from which they could safely leap to the floor outside.
Occasionally some dogs discover that leaning trees, planks, piles of boxes or lumber, leaning ladders and such can be climbed to reach the top of fences, walls or onto roofs.
Often the escapees will have worked out their procedures privately, when they believe that their humans aren’t around to observe and scold them. So, climbing escapes are more likely at night or any time when their humans are out of sight or away.
“Flying”: Some puppies who see an adult dog “fly” with a graceful leap over a fence, wall or partition will try to do the same thing, with a “splat” on the fence or wall and slide to the bottom, still inside. As puppies they quickly learned the merits of getting a running start, leaping high enough to hook paws over the top-edge, and scramble madly to get the rest of the puppy up and over.
Puppies who grow up inside three feet high or higher confinements are likely to always believe that the confinement is too high to be leaped across without a disaster. However rehoming a dog or replacing an existing fence by a new one of a different type (such as replacing chain link by boards) can instigate creative studies by a bored poorly exercised dog. Please do Not under any circumstance place things that can injure dogs, such as sharp prongs of other things on top of fences, walls, etc. Puppy mills were observed to place bare electric wires on top of their fences, which deterred human theft of puppies, but caused disabling injuries to energetic puppies.
Flying canines: With a wooden or stone fence, putting up an inward-leaning visual barrier at the top can help. Fasten flag-stick holders (the kind used to display the flag on the front of a house) at 4 or 5 feet intervals along the inside of the top of the fence, then insert dowels. String yellow ribbon or tape along the dowels, or string with bits of rag. The point is not for the barrier to be strong enough to stop a jumping dog, but to be very visible so the dog decides not to jump. Better to use something light enough that it will break if a dog does unwisely decide to jump and catches a paw in the tape/string (which should break). The dog won't be hurt, but the fall hopefully can teach that jumping is a poor idea - no longer works to escape. This method could also discourage a wood / stone fence climbing dog? The flag-holder plus dowels idea did work for a flying BC-mix in the States.
Mechanical-geniuses: Some dogs will learn how to open simple mechanical latches on gates or kennel doors and so forth. I was once led to the gate of his kennel by a Border Collie, who stood up and raised and then rotated the latch which confined both of us at the time. However, after raising and rotating the latch to unlock the gate, he was unable to grasp the edge of the gate (because he lacked an opposable thumb) to pull on it inward to get it open. Obviously if the gate had opened outward he would have been merrily on his way.
Crates with simple lift and slide sideways latches on their gates were opened occasionally from the outside by dogs who wished to free a companion.
One of our Border Collies began to appear mysteriously from the shrubbery to join us in our front yard, although he had been confined to the board-fenced back yard. We could Not discover any dug holes, nor was he getting out at the gate, or over the top of the fence. After several months, we noticed that he was most likely to appear from behind a particular bush near the side of the house, far away from the gate. Close inspection revealed that one of the wide boards was nailed with just a single nail at the top, and could be pushed aside by the dog’s paws and nose. He was aware that he had been scolded for scratching and chewing on the fence boards when he was getting his adult teeth, and then had learned from us to replace boards that he had moved. So he had been pushing the portal-board back in place after going through. A nail holding the bottom, with the existing nail at the top of his swinging “door,” ended his clever antics.
A litter of Border Collie puppies divided their tactics into “trainee” flyers, and “would-be” mechanical geniuses when they were confined by a sliding panel that was low enough for their mother to leap over whenever she wished for feeding time, but that slid sideways out of the way for their humans to enter or leave the room. The mechanical genius pups indeed learned to manipulate the sliding panel well enough to escape to adventures and brief freedom on several occasions (one occasion was about 2 AM, when strange noises were heard approaching down a hallway to their bedroom by the adult humans. When the lights came on, the five puppies scattered like mice to escape into the darkness under furniture or back to their play-room.
Probably the mechanical genius escape artists mostly get their insight on the procedures by closely watching their humans work the latches, and then when bored experimenting to learn how to do it for themselves. Usually such clever dogs can be defeated by a thumb-latch such as a carabineer or leash-end snap-coupling through holes of the gate and frame.
Diggers: Possibly all young dogs go through a phase of digging holes and some search for adventures by digging tunnels under or through the confining fence or partitions, etc. Filling their dug holes up again mostly will create a joyful competition between you and the happy digger on alternate days. Scolding a digger-dog runs the risk of one day finding yourself reprimanded by the dog for digging holes to plant your new flowers - - . Our sole effective cure was placing large chunks of rough stone such as broken concrete to nearly fill each unacceptable escape hole at a fence, which was then covered with an inch or so of dirt as usual. Our dogs would soon discover that something inexplicable had gone wrong with their nice new escape tunnel under the fence, and the soft ground had mysteriously hardened, causing their nails to wear quickly to a sensitive but harmless bluntness.
Dogs typically recognize the futility of doing the same thing time after time (once or twice anyway), and hoping for better results on subsequent ventures. Though not wolves or pit bulls, for whom one apparently has to sink the entire length of the fence 3 or 4 feet into the ground; sometimes even to pour a 3 - 4 foot deep continuous anti-dig concrete-filled trench as fence foundation.
By providing your dog a learning experience that tunnel-digging is not only useless but becomes slightly unpleasant most dogs will usually permanently abandon such projects.
Young dogs left alone will often amuse themselves by figuring out how to go visit their people, or set out on some adventure. Truly bored clever dogs can get into a remarkable variety of trouble by setting out on exploration projects all alone: “Let me count the ways: ....”
1) Skunk finding – usually stinky but non-fatal; wash the dog with tomato juice [?]
2) Eating garbage eating, dumping or stealing – often fatal sooner or later. We lost dogs who died because they unwisely ate clam shells, metal bits of fast food cans, etc.
3) Rolling in infectious mange debris left on lawns or in brush by sick foxes or sick dogs
4) Encountering government “animal-control” people who may toss the dog in the “clink”
5) Injuries such as broken legs, wounds etc that can easily cost thousands of dollars.
6) Malicious persons harass or injure the dog (surprisingly common, sadly)
7) Police or disgruntled person shoots on-sight the dog (depends on where they live.)
8) -- - - For innocent friendly well socialized dogs the world on their own is more dangerous, because they are likely to trust strangers and unfamiliar dangerous animals
As adults who have adopted a dog, we are the ones who know how to read their medicine bottle instructions, use our opposable thumbs to open the doors and drive cars, and owe them in exchange for their companionship and assistance, enough training to assure their safety and our own. Such training ought to in my opinion include through positive experiences convincing our dogs that skills as “escape artists” aren’t part of the skill set of well socialized trusted and loved dog-companions.
There is a rather limited range of common escape artist skills, illustrated with a few countermeasures in the next paragraphs. Countermeasures against escape artist antics, although alleged perhaps “for the good of the dog,” that can result in injury to the dog are highly undesirable and usually very expensive.
Climbing Up, Onto and Over?” : If a dog discovers that its enclosure can be escaped over its fences or walls,” amazing leaping and scrambling Olympic class athletic feats can be achieved.
Small dogs have been observed to climb remarkably high fences or walls it they can get their paws into holes or pockets in the walls or fences. Chain-link fences are vulnerable to puppies and adult terriers, Basenji, - (ref. Fuller and Cooper, 1965) and other agile small-footed breeds.
Chain link climbers: We didn't have problems with shelter dogs climbing 7 or 8 foot chain link fences. [Pit bull types were the only ones that did, and were for this reason never allowed unaccompanied on an outdoor playing field.] I don't know of a simple solution for typical suburban 3 or 4 foot chain link fences, which are indeed an easy climb for most determined dogs and children.
Puppies were seen climbing up the front “grill” of their crate and thus onto its roof, then along a ½ inch wide partition to a chair from which they could safely leap to the floor outside.
Occasionally some dogs discover that leaning trees, planks, piles of boxes or lumber, leaning ladders and such can be climbed to reach the top of fences, walls or onto roofs.
Often the escapees will have worked out their procedures privately, when they believe that their humans aren’t around to observe and scold them. So, climbing escapes are more likely at night or any time when their humans are out of sight or away.
“Flying”: Some puppies who see an adult dog “fly” with a graceful leap over a fence, wall or partition will try to do the same thing, with a “splat” on the fence or wall and slide to the bottom, still inside. As puppies they quickly learned the merits of getting a running start, leaping high enough to hook paws over the top-edge, and scramble madly to get the rest of the puppy up and over.
Puppies who grow up inside three feet high or higher confinements are likely to always believe that the confinement is too high to be leaped across without a disaster. However rehoming a dog or replacing an existing fence by a new one of a different type (such as replacing chain link by boards) can instigate creative studies by a bored poorly exercised dog. Please do Not under any circumstance place things that can injure dogs, such as sharp prongs of other things on top of fences, walls, etc. Puppy mills were observed to place bare electric wires on top of their fences, which deterred human theft of puppies, but caused disabling injuries to energetic puppies.
Flying canines: With a wooden or stone fence, putting up an inward-leaning visual barrier at the top can help. Fasten flag-stick holders (the kind used to display the flag on the front of a house) at 4 or 5 feet intervals along the inside of the top of the fence, then insert dowels. String yellow ribbon or tape along the dowels, or string with bits of rag. The point is not for the barrier to be strong enough to stop a jumping dog, but to be very visible so the dog decides not to jump. Better to use something light enough that it will break if a dog does unwisely decide to jump and catches a paw in the tape/string (which should break). The dog won't be hurt, but the fall hopefully can teach that jumping is a poor idea - no longer works to escape. This method could also discourage a wood / stone fence climbing dog? The flag-holder plus dowels idea did work for a flying BC-mix in the States.
Mechanical-geniuses: Some dogs will learn how to open simple mechanical latches on gates or kennel doors and so forth. I was once led to the gate of his kennel by a Border Collie, who stood up and raised and then rotated the latch which confined both of us at the time. However, after raising and rotating the latch to unlock the gate, he was unable to grasp the edge of the gate (because he lacked an opposable thumb) to pull on it inward to get it open. Obviously if the gate had opened outward he would have been merrily on his way.
Crates with simple lift and slide sideways latches on their gates were opened occasionally from the outside by dogs who wished to free a companion.
One of our Border Collies began to appear mysteriously from the shrubbery to join us in our front yard, although he had been confined to the board-fenced back yard. We could Not discover any dug holes, nor was he getting out at the gate, or over the top of the fence. After several months, we noticed that he was most likely to appear from behind a particular bush near the side of the house, far away from the gate. Close inspection revealed that one of the wide boards was nailed with just a single nail at the top, and could be pushed aside by the dog’s paws and nose. He was aware that he had been scolded for scratching and chewing on the fence boards when he was getting his adult teeth, and then had learned from us to replace boards that he had moved. So he had been pushing the portal-board back in place after going through. A nail holding the bottom, with the existing nail at the top of his swinging “door,” ended his clever antics.
A litter of Border Collie puppies divided their tactics into “trainee” flyers, and “would-be” mechanical geniuses when they were confined by a sliding panel that was low enough for their mother to leap over whenever she wished for feeding time, but that slid sideways out of the way for their humans to enter or leave the room. The mechanical genius pups indeed learned to manipulate the sliding panel well enough to escape to adventures and brief freedom on several occasions (one occasion was about 2 AM, when strange noises were heard approaching down a hallway to their bedroom by the adult humans. When the lights came on, the five puppies scattered like mice to escape into the darkness under furniture or back to their play-room.
Probably the mechanical genius escape artists mostly get their insight on the procedures by closely watching their humans work the latches, and then when bored experimenting to learn how to do it for themselves. Usually such clever dogs can be defeated by a thumb-latch such as a carabineer or leash-end snap-coupling through holes of the gate and frame.
Diggers: Possibly all young dogs go through a phase of digging holes and some search for adventures by digging tunnels under or through the confining fence or partitions, etc. Filling their dug holes up again mostly will create a joyful competition between you and the happy digger on alternate days. Scolding a digger-dog runs the risk of one day finding yourself reprimanded by the dog for digging holes to plant your new flowers - - . Our sole effective cure was placing large chunks of rough stone such as broken concrete to nearly fill each unacceptable escape hole at a fence, which was then covered with an inch or so of dirt as usual. Our dogs would soon discover that something inexplicable had gone wrong with their nice new escape tunnel under the fence, and the soft ground had mysteriously hardened, causing their nails to wear quickly to a sensitive but harmless bluntness.
Dogs typically recognize the futility of doing the same thing time after time (once or twice anyway), and hoping for better results on subsequent ventures. Though not wolves or pit bulls, for whom one apparently has to sink the entire length of the fence 3 or 4 feet into the ground; sometimes even to pour a 3 - 4 foot deep continuous anti-dig concrete-filled trench as fence foundation.
By providing your dog a learning experience that tunnel-digging is not only useless but becomes slightly unpleasant most dogs will usually permanently abandon such projects.