# Make an arial dog run more enjoyable?



## williampetruzzo (Feb 23, 2010)

Okay,

So, recently, I've had an increased difficulty with my dog, Mikey, finding his way out of our yard and into the city at large. He's a super friendly dog and our neighbors have been very gracious, in fact, they've really taken to him. Unfortunately, one particular Animal Control officer has not. I kid you not, he's about as close to a Disney villain as I've ever met in real life. The last time Mikey got out, the Animal Control officer picked up up and upbraided me with all the possible fines they could give. Not to mention insisting on using one of those pole leashes that's used for really aggressive dogs. Mikey doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, the officer was just being ridiculous. Now, I'm not being careless. The dog is only in the back yard for maybe 20-30 minutes at most, at a time. But he does love to be outside and so we let him out frequently. Though we've tried just about everything to plug the gaps in our fence and keep him contained, we recently discovered that he can actually just leap over the fence with almost no effort. That came as kind of a shock because he's only about 13-14 inches tall from his back.

We tried using a tie out but he always looks so deflated. He's really exploratory, and as soon as he's put on the tie out he just loses all his ambition and sits there waiting to get back inside. It's sad.

So, I ran an areal dog run yesterday. It runs about 75 feat from one end of our yard to the other. It allows him to move more quickly, but the leash that attaches to the run is only like 15 feet long, effectively giving him roughly a 25 foot corridor through our yard. It's better than the tie out, but I can tell he's not happy. He wants to play!

Longer leashes attached to the run literally tangle on everything and leave him even more contained.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any creative ideas for dog containment that would give him the freedom to explore, but not wander off.

Any ideas?


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## Locke (Nov 3, 2008)

If he's only out there for 20-30 minutes at a time, why not stay out there with him and supervise him? 
Does he only get his exercise from running in the backyard?


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## williampetruzzo (Feb 23, 2010)

Locke said:


> If he's only out there for 20-30 minutes at a time, why not stay out there with him and supervise him?
> Does he only get his exercise from running in the backyard?


I run a business from my home and I'm working almost constantly. Stopping for 20-30 minutes at a time 6+ times a day isn't really an option. Plus, he's not just out there for exercise, he just loves being outside. He's part beagle and will literally sniff for squirrel tracks for hours if you let him.

So that's what I'm hoping to do. Find a way that he can be outside doing what he enjoys, but still keeping him contained.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

He should get used to the tie-out eventually. Of course he's going to be sad--staying in the yard isn't half as much fun as roaming the neighborhood. But for his own safety he does need to stay in.

Do you walk him often? Take him to the dog park? Or anywhere else for him to run and explore? If he gets plenty of outings he may not feel the need to escape so often. Also, is he neutered? If not, that might be a reason for his escaping. They can smell a female in heat from miles away.


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## katielou (Apr 29, 2010)

You need to give him at least an hour or more a day and then he won't need to go out that often.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

williampetruzzo said:


> Not to mention insisting on using one of those pole leashes that's used for really aggressive dogs. Mikey doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body, the officer was just being ridiculous.


So you understand, the AC officer's job is to capture loose animals, and etc.. He has no obligation to risk injury in order to treat a loose dog the way the owner would prefer. Grabbing strange dogs off the street is fraught with risk. The most mild mannered dog you ever saw could bite defensively at the prospect of being snatched up by a strange man. Those folks are not paid nearly enough to put themselves in a position to take a bite.

There are ways to make your fence (almost) impossible to escape. You can train your dog to stop trying. Barring those things, you'll just have to suffer the consequences.


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## williampetruzzo (Feb 23, 2010)

Marsh Muppet said:


> So you understand, the AC officer's job is to capture loose animals, and etc.. He has no obligation to risk injury in order to treat a loose dog the way the owner would prefer. Grabbing strange dogs off the street is fraught with risk. The most mild mannered dog you ever saw could bite defensively at the prospect of being snatched up by a strange man. Those folks are not paid nearly enough to put themselves in a position to take a bite.
> 
> There are ways to make your fence (almost) impossible to escape. You can train your dog to stop trying. Barring those things, you'll just have to suffer the consequences.


Let me explain this in more detail.

When I first got the dog, I was unaware of some of our local laws about dog registration and such. I have no aversion to any such laws, I just didn't know they existed. I'm new at this, mind you. Shortly after we got the dog, I had him at a dog park, I was just chatting with a few of the other people there and the Animal Control officer pulls up. I didn't know anything was wrong, so I just kept about my business. The officer finds the dog didn't have registration on him and asked who's he was. I politely responded that he was mine. I mean, especially respectfully. I've never had a dog before and knew that if the officer had something to say I would need to hear it. The officer proceeded to very rudely and coldly explain that the dog had to be registered and registration must be displayed at all times. Each step of the way I agreed and apologized for my ignorance. He also said his rabies registration must be displayed at all times. Again, I respectfully agreed to have all of it done asap. That very morning I took him to the vet for a checkup and rabies shot. The immediately I went to the city hall where the officer was there and actually himself noted that I had gotten all of it done very quickly.

I wasn't messing around, I wasn't being lazy. I took the things he said to me respectfully and seriously. He remained cold and rude.

The dog has been something of an escape artist, but has only gotten out about 4 times, and none of those times was he gone for more than about 15 minutes before I found him myself. I am undeniably _not_ careless and lazy about the dog.

Flash foreword several months (at least). I notice out my front window that there are a couple of dogs running the neighborhood. They had collars and I was pretty sure I'd seen them before. I called them over, they came eagerly and were really friendly. I corralled them into the back yard and leashed them up so that I could call their owners. There was no direct number for their owner (I don't know why, that seems like a no-brainer). So I called animal control and let them know that I had a couple of dogs contained in my back yard. Animal Control sent a very friendly young woman over. She worked to try and get in touch with the owner who wasn't being responsive. She was going to have to take the dogs down to a shelter 20 - 30 miles away, but the owner only lived a block from me so I told the officer that it was fine for the dogs to stick around for a few hours while we waited to get in touch with the owner.

The officer was thankful, and continued to chat and be a generally friendly human being. During our little conversation, I mentioned that she was a lot friendlier than the other officer I'd met. I didn't remember his name, and I didn't care to complain about him. I figured he was probably just having a bad day when I met him. Regardless, the point was not to call out that officer, it was to point out that she was friendlier than I expected. We laughed and joked a bit, then she made contact with the owner who came to get the dogs and she left.

Flash foreword a couple weeks and my dog has gotten out some how. Again, mind you, I'm not reckless and the dog doesn't just sit out in hot weather all day unsupervised. Well, I get a call from Animal Control to let me know that they have the dog. Relieved, I run over to the office with a leash. When I get there, it's the original officer that spoke to me in the dog park. He calls me into the office and shuts the door. He immediately turns and says something to the effect of, "So, you have some problem with me, huh?"

Turns out, Animal Control in our city is only about 3 people. That was the real mistake.

Immediately after acknowledging that he heard I'd complained about him (again, mind you, it wasn't so much a complaint. In fact, I'd giving him the benefit of the doubt. I didn't even remember his name and I didn't try), he started spewing out all the different fines and probations he can leverage against me. Then, he said he's seen the dog running the neighborhood lots of times but he always ran away and he couldn't catch him. I know that's BS for at least two reasons, first, the dog hasn't gotten out 'lots' of times, and it would have been highly unlikely that the officer would have even seen him those times. He was in our neighbors backyards all but one time. And, second, Mikey won't run from anyone. It literally takes nothing to get him to come. If he ran from the officer, it's the only time he's done that since I owned him.

The point is, it was abundantly obvious that the officer was simply being a bully because he felt insulted. Frankly, I wouldn't call vindictive behavior acceptable ever--especially not from an enforcement officer of some kind.

*On a less frustrating note*

I believe I have come up with the near perfect solution to my problem.

I discovered a beautiful little contraption called a retractable clothes line. I attached this to the dog run, and the line to the dog. The device is gentle enough that Mikey doesn't even notice it's there, but taut enough that he rarely gets tangled on things. And, now he can explore almost the whole back yard (and some of the neighbor's, but they don't mind).










The retractable wire is 50 feet long, weatherproof and pretty sturdy. It's rated to hold 30 pounds, Mikey is only 23. Plus, it'd probably hold a bit more anyway. In any case, Mikey has been much happier since I installed it. In fact, barring the rare occasion that he gets snagged on something, he doesn't even seem to notice it's there.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

A couple things to note:
One is that while I agree vindictive behavior is inappropriate for a law enforcement official, remember that he can still legally make trouble for you if your dog does escape or you have any other violation. So long as he can show that he isn't harassing you and that whatever he cites you for has occurred, you are SOL. And obviously you've learned about the government grapevine, this can happen even in places with dozens of officers so it is ALWAYS a good idea to never say anything to a stranger you wouldn't post on a billboard 

The line looks like a pretty good set-up, but I would suggest using it on a harness and not a collar. It is safer this way in case the dog tangles on something or gets caught up otherwise. Generally, its not a good idea to leave a collar on an unattended dog. The retractable part though is great for making it safer.

Also, the 30 lbs rating is probably a 30 lbs of static weight while a lunging dog at 23 lbs creates a lot more dynamic weight. My 75 lbs dog has snapped a collar that would easily have held a 100+ lbs weight hanging from it (think "Force = mass x acceleration). So you should assume that he could break it.


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## williampetruzzo (Feb 23, 2010)

Shell said:


> A couple things to note:
> One is that while I agree vindictive behavior is inappropriate for a law enforcement official, remember that he can still legally make trouble for you if your dog does escape or you have any other violation. So long as he can show that he isn't harassing you and that whatever he cites you for has occurred, you are SOL. And obviously you've learned about the government grapevine, this can happen even in places with dozens of officers so it is ALWAYS a good idea to never say anything to a stranger you wouldn't post on a billboard
> 
> The line looks like a pretty good set-up, but I would suggest using it on a harness and not a collar. It is safer this way in case the dog tangles on something or gets caught up otherwise. Generally, its not a good idea to leave a collar on an unattended dog. The retractable part though is great for making it safer.
> ...


Yes, I know that an enforcement official can cause a lot of problems. That's why I'm being especially diligent. It's just frustrating when people are allowed to act immaturely because they have weight they an throw around.

It's definitely 30lbs static. Somewhere along the way, Mikey was trained not to pull and he never does. So, it's a risk I'm taking in the interest of him not being miserable all the time. And I'll look into the harness next time I'm at the pet store.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

For a very reasonably priced harness that can do double duty, try the EasyRider car harness (about $12-15). Since a dog really should always be seatbelted or crated in a vehicle, this is an easy way to do that and it has a good D-ring on the back to hook the line to. The "easy walk" or other "no-pull" harnesses will not work for a line like you have.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

If the retractable clothesline doesn't work, I think Flexi has a retractable tie-out product that should do the trick. I don't know if it's 50 feet though.


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