Fencing

[LemonadeWithACherry]

We need to fence off part of our garden for the dog. It's about 100ft long which would cost a fortune to secure so we just want to fence the bottom bit for the dog to use, with a gate for us to access the rest of the garden. At the moment we let him out on a long lead attached to a spike in the ground.

I don't want wood panels as I think they would look ugly and block the view up the garden, so I thinking of strong wire mesh/chain link type thing. Money is very tight and my DH is not very handy with DIY so I need something cheap and easy to install.

Has anyone done this sort of thing themselves?

[WeAllHaveWings]

Having just let my dog back in for the 5th time in the last couple of hours I'd be very tempted to secure the bit nearest the door instead of the bottom of the garden as it means come rain or shine you need to take him down to the bottom of the garden when he wants out and then back again when he barks or wants back in.

Also in the summer you wont be able to leave the back door open and let him come and go as he pleases depending on the heat.

Sorry don't know anything about your actual question

[ErrolTheDragon]

What size and strength is your dog? We fenced off a section - in this case near the back door - for our dog when DD was little, to keep most of the garden clean. Because he wasn't a jumper, we were able to do this very effectively just using trellis panels (the sort with a rigid rectangular frame) standing on their long sides.

[Cocobananas]

Hi, we have two acres. We used fence posts and chicken wire to secure a small area off our patio when pup small and now have chicken wire fenced round our paddock to give bigger area. Not pretty but economical.

[LemonadeWithACherry]

Sorry, when I said the bottom of the garden - our garden slopes upwards so I call the bit by the back door the bottom! Funny I've never realised that before.

He's a big strong mastiff and still growing, though he's not a jumper.

I hadn't thought of trellis! That would be great actually, if it works out cheap.

That's the kind of thing I was thinking coco, but would prefer the wire in ready-made panels I think as dh isn't handy and he could get this part wrong, not pull it tight enough etc. We had chicken wire and posts originally but dog pulled it down as he grew bigger, as the wire wasn't thick and sturdy enough and it probably wasn't secured well either.

Thanks for your suggestions!

[Floralnomad]

We fenced off our patio area for our dog so that he couldn't trash the garden / dig up bulbs and poison himself / kill the neighbours cats , we did it with ornamental metal fencing , its about 4' 6" which he could jump but doesn't , got the sections off eBay and they were very reasonable and easy to install .

[Thewolfsjustapuppy]

We also used chicken wire and fence posts, it really didn't require any more handyman ability than being able to use a very big (mallet) and very small hammer .

[Whitney168]

I'd have thought for a Mastiff, stock fencing would be your best bet - wider mesh than chicken wire, but stronger with solid posts.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'm inclined to agree with whitney, I doubt the trellis we used would be robust enough for a mastiff. If you try to do a very cheap job, and don't put sufficient effort into not bodging it you'll probably just waste money in the long run. Your dog is young so you want something that will last for years.

There must be youtubes etc showing how to DIY stock fencing.

[LemonadeWithACherry]

Thank you, now I have the term 'stock fencing' I can search for where to buy it!

We did watch a video about fencing with wire mesh, but it involved stretching it with a special tool and looked v complicated! I'm not sure what we will do about a gate, hopefully we can buy a ready-made one along with the stock fencing.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I don't suppose you're friendly with any farmers?