OT: Dog Lovers? Need your expert advice...

[ginalc]

We are looking to bring a Sheltie into our already busy home. We live in a neighborhood, but on 1.5 acres, none of which is fenced at the moment. I understand that Shelties don't do well with Invisible Fencing and we are looking at other fencing options.

I'd like to know how much of a fenced-in area you folks might recommend for a medium/small dog and for the children and I (and DH) to play.

Another factor to consider is that we are planning to move in the next year or two, so I'm not too keen on spending a fortune on a fence. A puppy from the breeder we've chosen won't even be available until January, so we've got some time to prepare. The children will be roughly 1 yr, 3 yrs, and 13 years old at that time.

Any suggestions?

TIA,

gina, mom to 3

[Rachels]

I grew up with shelties. They're so wonderful. They're great herders, too-- my mom could turn us loose in the backyard with our dog, and she'd herd us to keep us in a relatively confined area. :) Hmm. Shelties like to run around, but they're small, so you definitely don't need a HUGE yard. Our backyard is about 50x75 and would be plenty big. You could go smaller pretty easily as long as you're also getting in good walks. It just needs to be big enough to run a good circle with a few small children in the middle. FWIW, I've found female shelties to be a lot less rambunctious than males.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[mama2be]

My neighbor has a sheltie and they don't have a fence, Bailey stays near them (Or should I say near the house she runs circles around their house.

I'll defer to others for size info because I don't knwow hat to tell you there...we have .4 acres and our dogs lounge around that so not to large at all.

IF anything falls thru on your "pick" I know a gal who is real active with sheltie rescue so let me know!!!

You've picked a wonderful breed!!!

[nitaghei]

Conratulations!! Shelties are really cool - one of my foster cockers ended up with a Sheltie "sister."

A quarter acre would probably be plenty to have separate areas for the dog and the kids. I know that my PWD's breeders had one acre fenced off for SIX PWDs, who are quite a bit bigger.

We live inside the Beltway in the DC area, and have a small lot - a quarter acre. The back is fenced off - probably 1/6th acre? And there's plenty of space for my 2 to run around in (the cocker is about sheltie size). I can even put my jumps up to train the dogs, and a couple of agility obstacles.

I would HIGHLY recommend a wire or solid fence, at least 4 feet high, and preferably 6 feet high. Shelties are really smart, and I know some that are extremely talented escape artists. A wire fence for a quarter acre or less shouldn't be very expensive.

HTH

Nita

[loewymartin]

I don't have experience with Shelties, but had 3 Labrador Retrievers!

We put up green fencing (found at Home Depot or Lowe's). You pound in stakes every 4-5 feet and attach the fencing (we bought the 4 foot height one since Labs can jump). We made gates out of pressure-treated wood and a piece of the gate. Since it was green it blended into the yard and neighbors couldn't see it. I finally found a link to something similar:

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=92254-000080032-LF40503216

As far as size, we have trees behind our house, so we went from the corners of our house, out about 30 feet (at an angle away from the house) and the angled back in to a point at the far side. It kind of looks like a diamond shape with the house on one of the points...that actually came out more confusing than I meant it to, but it's about 1500 square feet inside and is plenty big enough for all of us. Alia's swingset and the shed are in there as well.

I forgot to mention, we moved the fencing from our old house 3 years ago too. Just used pliers and a screwdriver to bend back the little tabs on the fencing that hooked to the posts. Didn't have any problems except pulling up the old posts (they were in clay at the old house :-)).

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02

[smilequeen]

I don't have Shelties. I really like them, but they bark far too much for me. My assistant has two and no fence and they seem to do great. I don't even think they have an invisible fence, just well trained Shelties. They are smart cookies.

You might check out pugs, they are one of the only small dogs that are consistently rated to be great with kids. They don't bark a lot, they are sweet as pie, and couldn't/wouldn't hurt a flea. They ADORE children, can't get enough of them. We love ours and will never be without one (we have two).

But Shelties really are great, I just really can't handle the barking.