The old paying for a fence to keep dogs out issue! ;)

[Vallhala]

Unlike another poster (can't recall who, some SillyBloodyMoo) who was loathe to pay to keep her own dog in her own garden, this dog-owner recognises the need to put up some fencing in order to seperate the back garden from the front. Mine's a semi-detatched house so the dogs can get directly to the front garden, which has a wall too low for big dogs to resist when passing kids with ice creams or neighbouring dogs amble by.

Problem is, I know nothing about fencing, so what do I ask a contractor? What do I need to ensure? What's a good price? Wood's nicer and more private (and this is a rented house so I have to consider my lovely landlord) but surely wire mesh is cheaper (thinking rented house again!).

The space is only about 12 foot, with the house wall one side and a stable, 6 foot wooden fence and posts running parrallel to it, so both ends are solid enough to take a fence.

I've emailed a few local companies and got one quote of a 5ft wooden fence and labour for £75. My reaction is "bargain!" as I was expecting it to be at least 3 X that. Is it a good price (am in the South of England)?

And, wise MN-er's what do I need to know/ask please?

I got my dad to knock up a few posts with chicken wire mesh between them, looks awful but I'm growing honeysuckle through it and it keeps dogs and children in nicely. Having said that I have lurchers so they're not really clever enough to try and escape ...

I'd tend to agree with your initial thoughts on cost though - not bad!

Oooh, can I borrow your Dad please? I don't speak to mine!

Sadly I have no-one to help out and can't do the work myself (a combination of having a dodgy arm which hurts/gives out/could get worse through stuff like that and being totally bloody useless at stuff like that.

Seems I might be wise to bite the hand off the £75 contractor.

I'm sure he'd be delighted to help (but he won't want to get involved in any debates with your neighbours over who pays for it!)

Well why on earth not? I think that the cousin of the mother of the neighbour 9 doors down should pay for it. Why should I pay to keep my dogs safe?

Okay, I'll shut up now!

According to DP, who is a builder, the £75.00 quote is an absolute bargain. It's not even half a days money!

He suggests you ask if the timber is pressure treated as it'll last longer if it is and also whether it's a panelled fence or close boarded. Close boarded is much stronger so would be a good choice if you have big dogs. We have a Dogue De Bordeaux and a SBT and they could push through a panelled fence if they really wanted to. Not that they would, they're both bone idol.

Don't know where in the South you are but if your £75.00 quote doesn't work out then we're on the Surrey/SE London border and DP says that he could put the fencing up for you at cost (Roughly £100.00 for a close boarded fence) if you're not too far away from us.

Thank you Amandoh, I really appreciate the advice. Not far South enough I'm afraid, East Anglia rather than Surrey/SE London (ah, home! ).

My boys (GSD and Lab X) aren't determined to get out per se and have pretty good commands, but are prone to bouncing and playing rough so I need a strong fence. At present I supervise all the time they're out, not least because my Lab X can be a bit funny with people entering his territory if he takes a dislike and because of passing children who I fear will see my own DC playing with the dogs and think that it's okay if they lean over the gate to stroke them. Come winter I will not be amused at standing out in the garden waiting for my dogs to decide to come in and besides, it's time-consuming to do so. It will be nice to be able to let them out last thing at night whilst I get on with clearing up for 5 minutes without having to stare into the darkness trying to locate a black Lab in a pitch black, long country garden!

On the downside, a fence will prevent me from havinng all round access to the house and from being able to take the dogs straight into the kitchen when they're muddy (proposed and only logical site of fence will split up access to front door and access to side door) yet I think a gate in this proposed fence will add too much to the expense.

Are you sure that includes the fence panels, or is that just labour costs?? It sounds far too good a quote to me!! If all in then just go for it.

We put up a fence in the back garden to separate the dog area from the childrens play area. We used metposts like here that you literally bang into the ground then stand the wooden posts into, no digging needed. Then we simply screwed some panels onto the posts. We used these panels for our labrador and though she is still a (large) pup she is not going to get over them anytime soon.

Hope that helps - and have fun thinking about who else could foot the bill!

Definitely panels and labour, beautifulgirls.

Think I'll give the matey a call.