# Having trouble keeping in one of our Gp's



## chickenzoo (Mar 7, 2012)

My one male( fixed) Gp's has decided to start digging out of our 16 acres. I can't put barbed wire at the bottom of the field fence because of my emu and horses. I have a strip of 1.5 inch  hot tape along the bottom. He would find a high spot and dig under, so I just hammered in PVC rods about  6 inches out from the fence as low as I could get it and strung the tape on that, hoping the distance would make it harder to dig. I don't want to keep him on a run line, he's my best dog..... But I'm running out of ideas and tired of being out smarted by a dog... Lol.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 9, 2012)

Shock collar might work. The ones that work with the invisible fences.


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## TTs Chicks (Mar 9, 2012)

How much different is the tape from electric wire?  My Pyr loooooves to dig :/ and I finally got electric wire run all the way around (of course I only have about 1 of my acres fenced) the bottom and it has stopped him.  Before I got the electric wire run all the way I slid pieces of tin (we have alot of old tin) under my field fence so he couldn't dig.  It looks bad but it did the trick til I could finish the wire.


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## chickenzoo (Mar 9, 2012)

I would get the shock collar, but most units say they get interrupted by electrical fences.... Which I have to have for the farm animals. Anyone have one that doesn't?   I don't know the difference between the hot tape and wire... Used wire before, but I can't use it now because of the horses and emu. I use the hot tape because it is way safer to the animals then the wire.seriously considering shaving a line down his back so it makes better contact..... Lol Charger is for 100 miles, so is strong enough...... I haven't let him off the run yet to test the new layout... Sigh... Have to do it when I'm home all day to watch him. The charger is a pulsing one not continuous...as I have chickens and small birds.
I really don't want to lay down wire fencing on the ground all the way around 16 acres....... Ugh.


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## Beekissed (Mar 10, 2012)

I'd bolt a big triangle of pipe to his collar...either way he turns his head, he won't be able to clear that hot wire when he goes under that fenceline.  Back in the day, a cow that kept getting out of fencing was forced to wear a big, crotched tree limb on her neck...sort of a big, wooden triangle...that would prevent her getting through gaps in the fencing and pushing her way through because she would get her head caught up before she could push with her shoulders and body weight.  

Big, heavy duty collar with some metal piping bolted and formed into a triangle with corners that stuck up at least a foot in three corners.  He can't get it off, he can't fit it under the fence without getting a jolt and he won't dig that deep to clear the contraption...if he does, make a bigger one.  He'll get the picture soon enough and stop trying.


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## chickenzoo (Mar 11, 2012)

Hummmm.... Off to dig through the scap metal pipe... Hehe.  I think I may get some long carrage bolts and  bolt them up through his heavy leather collar and see how that goes....


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## Stubbornhillfarm (Mar 12, 2012)

When your GP does get out.  Where does he go?  Is he gone for a long time?  Do you have to go get him or is he gone for 20 min and then comes back?  Just wondering.  I'm not a dog, obviously, but it seems funny to me that with 16 acres, he would need to focus on "getting out".  I am just wondering what the draw is to the other side of the fence.


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## Beekissed (Mar 12, 2012)

With GPs I don't think there necessarily needs to be a draw....they just have a wandering bone.    I have a friend whose GPs wander for a few miles up and down the road when they leave the farm~which consists of over a 100 acres.   The neighbors seem to be glad of the protection as this is smack dab into black bear country and the dogs seem to have run off all the bear, 'yotes and even the deer in a 2 mi. radius!


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## Stubbornhillfarm (Mar 12, 2012)

Ah...thank you for your response.  I will have one someday and just enjoy learning as much as I can about them from people who own them rather then from just reading about them elsewhere.  I hope you find a cure to keep your GP where he is suppossed to be.


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## Beekissed (Mar 12, 2012)

chickenzoo said:
			
		

> Hummmm.... Off to dig through the scap metal pipe... Hehe.  I think I may get some long carrage bolts and  bolt them up through his heavy leather collar and see how that goes....


Wondering if you found some scrap pipe and if you took a pic of the contraption...who knows, could be a whole market for those things.  Could market them to all the GP owners out there!


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## chickenzoo (Mar 14, 2012)

When he wonders he does come back a few hours later... there is a pond a few hundred yards back in the woods across the street he likes to go...( we have a smaller liner pond)  also the neighbor behind and over has 15 wolf dogs that have gotten out and killed a neighbors pigs.... not sure if he feels he has to go harass them...... His holes however allow other animals an easy entry and if he's not here he's not doing his job......
I'm working on the collar... drumming up ideas...... having hubby also put in more grounding rods.....


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## Stubbornhillfarm (Mar 15, 2012)

chickenzoo said:
			
		

> When he wonders he does come back a few hours later... there is a pond a few hundred yards back in the woods across the street he likes to go...( we have a smaller liner pond)  also the neighbor behind and over has 15 wolf dogs that have gotten out and killed a neighbors pigs.... not sure if he feels he has to go harass them...... His holes however allow other animals an easy entry and if he's not here he's not doing his job......
> I'm working on the collar... drumming up ideas...... having hubby also put in more grounding rods.....


Boy, I wish I could offer up some advice, but have none.  I hope that you are able to find a solution that works for you and the dog and that perhaps in time, he will learn what his role is and stay near his herd a bit more.  I can understand your frustration.


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