springer spaniel proofing a garden fence - help

[staryellow]

I am going out of my mind. We have a springer spaniel, one year old, who is an escape artist and I don't think I'm being melodramatic when I say he has me losing my mind 🙁He just keeps getting out onto the road, even after us spending a lot of money on wire mesh fencing, which we've attached to fence posts. We keep thinking we've outwitted him and then instinct takes over and he's like David Blaine, suddenly running up the road! It's about 1 acre, and any weak spot he just gets through. I know he solution seems to be to keep addressing the weak spots but he's just making a mockery of the whole thing. We're still trying to train him, and I've someone coming out soon to help with that but to be honest I'm not holding out much hope ... please someone help me before I really do go barking mad (sorry). I work from home and it's affecting my work.

He gets at least one decent walk a day, sometimes two, so it's not that he's not being exercised.

thanks

What mental stimulation is he getting? Running off is often boredom. Exercise isn't enough for most working type dogs. They need their brain worked by doing gun dog work, agility, obedience, scent work, hoopers etc etc.

At one year he is still a puppy.

Springer spaniels need a lot of exercise (more like two hours a day), so sounds like you should make the second walk a priority or add in a session of obedience, agility on certain days - they're also very clever and need the mental stimulation.

Is he escaping when he's out without you?

Wire won't stop them; you'll need a proper fence, panels or something.

Constant escaping is almost always a sign of boredom.
How long are these walks. Is he getting time to sniff etc on them or just marched round.
What enrichment and stimulation does he get?

I don't know many spaniels who would cope on one walk a day unless they also get a considerable amount of training/brain work on top.

How is he getting out of the garden? Is he digging or jumping over the fence? Our beagle needs at least 6ft solid fencing/brick walls or he'd be off like a rocket - I imagine a spaniel is pretty similar in terms of how high they can jump.

For now, you need to stop letting him in the garden unattended before he escapes and gets himself killed or hurt.

thanks for the replies. He gets lots of playing and interaction on top of the walks. Training too. Because we've a decent sized garden, I just thought it would be great to let him have that to mooch around in while I'm working and kids are at school. I definitely can't significantly increase the amount of time I spend training/walking etc unless I give up my job and I can't afford to do that unfortunately. Walls aren't an option, nor panels as there is a thick hedging

The problem is, escaping is self reinforcing. Such a good game and the more they do it the more they will.

Garden is for toilet only from now on.

Springer spaniels were bred to work a whole day and have the energy, intelligence and stamina to do it. You do need to look at his day as a whole and you may be able to make some changes rather than doing more. Some things are better than others for fulfilment. That's when a good reward based trainer who understands how dog learn can help. I would bet it is a symptom rather than the cause. Either way you need to stop him having unsupervised access to the garden.

Because we've a decent sized garden, I just thought it would be great to let him have that to mooch around in while I'm working and kids are at school.

You're right, it would be great, but unfortunately it's just not safe for him to be out there unattended at the moment. If your dog runs out in front of a car it's game over - he needs to stay inside if you can't dog-proof the garden.

I definitely can't significantly increase the amount of time I spend training/walking etc unless I give up my job and I can't afford to do that unfortunately

Could you afford a dog walker? Even if it's only a couple of days a week, it would give some time out of the house, plenty of exercise and he should just go to sleep afterwards and let you work in peace.

Walls aren't an option, nor panels as there is a thick hedging

It sounds like the garden isn't really secure - I assume he's just getting through the hedge?

Most young springers need more than one walk a day. Even if you don't walk for longer but break it up into 2-3 shorter and more intense walks that involve training or scentwork etc.

Escape artists also need...

a) a secure garden (6ft solid fence)
and
b) supervising in that garden

I dont know many 1 year old dogs that are (yet) able to just mooch in a garden unsupervised. I know quite a few older springers that do that and cause havoc out there (mainly barking) because mooching in an average sized garden is really very little fun for almost all dogs. Compare it to how long you'd like to mooch about your living room with no other entertainment. About 10 mins before it all gets very dull indeed.

I get that it is not convenient with your work and set up, but that doesn't change it being what is required here. To be fair, these are not unusual requirements for a young springer at all, so it's not like you've got a weird one.

I would stop letting him in the garden unattended - you want to break the habit as obviously it could lead to a horrible outcome if he keeps escaping. He’s seeing escaping as a fun game to play by himself which you really don’t want to encourage. Springers have so much energy and intelligence they can easily go ‘rogue’ (especially when still so young) if they get given too much freedom!

Genuine thanks again for the helpful comments. Being a human i made a mistake (shock horror!) and got what i now understand is the wrong breed for us but we love him and he loves us and we've made a commitment so we are trying everything to make this work.

We're using that heavy duty wire mesh stuff and attaching it securely to the fence posts, with heavy duty cable ties, which I know isn't ideal from an environmental point of view but it works., they're high enough and some of the beech trees have thick enough trunks we can use those to reinforce. The problems are places he can dig under and a couple of vulnerable spots where the land rises and he can launch himself ridiculously over. And in a couple of places we used lighter stuff and he's made a mockery of that. So I'm doing a final order of the heavy duty stuff and this weekend we're going to go over all the weak spots, putting these massive concrete slabs on places he's been digging. And starting with the new trainer next week.

The dog walker idea is good, if finances can stretch... maybe in the winter ... 🤔

Hope it all works out OP, they are amazing dogs. I did so much research and was still shocked at just how much more they need than other dogs (grew up with setters and retrievers) - mine is 19 months and is definitely starting to calm down. As it’s so hot this week he’s only had one shorter than normal early morning walk and has been fine pottering at home the rest of the day. Last summer he was an absolute pain in the arse and I had to be entertaining him all day during the heatwaves or he’d get up to all sorts!!!

I think most of us are guilty of underestimating how much dogs can be so don't beat yourself up - you're doing right by him which is what's important.

If its any consolation, we've just replaced our 6ft solid farm gate with a. 8ft model as my year old lab jumped it regularly. He didn't run off but just stood at the other side barking to be let back in.
He hasn't bothered anywhere else in the garden as its just a game hes invented.
🤣

They're so funny aren't they? DH's cousin lives next door to us and our beagle used to leap the wall and go and visit him and his malamute 😂

We put trellis up eventually and he used to go and sit in the garden and howl instead, haha.

I wonder if it’s more a male thing. Neither of my fit athletic dogs have ever tried to escape. In fact we’ve left the gate open by mistake and they’d not even thought about it. I was told that my border terrier would need escape proof fences as they all continually try to escape. Nope. Not mine (well yet anyway). We let her mooch but we’ve always got half an eye in her but then our garden is very small (and miles from any moving traffic).

Teenage spaniels are arseholes. They really are. I could happily have exchanged mine for a goldfish plenty of times.

However, at 2 he's fab. So, the things thatade the difference were training. Proper gundog training weekly, and we still go now.

He's EXHAUSTED afterward and runs about 200m the whole hour+. It's worth every penny.

Every day, do a training walk. So for us, this includes whistle work, retrieves (mostly see, but also memory or blinds), hunting balls etc. 45 minutes of that first thing and he sleeps most of the day! Then we have a village potter and practice our heelwork and manners and a late evening sniffy potter where it's a total 20 minutes of him sniffing everything as we literally go round the block. It's a 2 minute walk, unless it's his sniff time.

He then zonks from 8pm til 7am!!!!

I'd say you need to look at using your dogs innate bred abilities and then they won't want to bugger off as mum/dad are far more interesting.

Oh, and get a tracker! Ours was a godsend in that year where he was a total prat.