Economical Dog Fence

[NobodysSon]

More by chance rather than planning I have fallen into the Dog Sitting business, and brother, business is booming. As a result, I am considering fencing off my yard so that the dogs can go outside without my having to be holding the end of a leash. It would give them more exercise and fresh air, and I wouldn't have to worry about them going on the road or wandering into trouble.

I already have a board fence along the front of my yard that is mostly for looks, but with a few simple modifications would keep a dog in as well. The rest of the fence would be hidden in the fringe of forest that separates my yard from the neighbors on the other three sides of me so I am not overly concerned with how it looks as long as it is sturdy and will keep a dog in.

So far I have considered making it from boards (expensive), wire mesh (also expensive and hard to work with on uneven ground), using old pallets available for free from various freight yards, and even old tires stacked up.

I would love to hear some of your ideas for building a solid, economical fence, whether it is one you have made yourself, seen somewhere, or just off the top of your head!

 

[Gemma]

My sister had a really low budget for fencing her yard and it needed to keep in both her 6-pound poodle mix and a 75 pound pit-mix. Pretty difficult. She ended up starting with something that looks like it would fence a horse pasture. Wooden posts in the ground and 6 feet tall. Then four boards - one at the bottom, two in the middle, and one along the top. Then she used a roll of chicken wire on the inside of the fence, stapled in place, to keep the dogs from ducking between the boards. The boards supported the thinner chicken wire, making it sturdy but the small openings kept the small dog in and even kept people from reaching through the fence. You could do it shorter if you don't need the additional height or use fewer boards for small dogs. Chicken wire is super cheap on its own but the metal stakes many people use with it aren't very sturdy.