From digging to climbing, a bored husky will find a way to find greener pastures and a road to run if care isn’t taken to secure your perimeter. Ok, that all sounds very formidable, but honestly, huskies are known escape artists and if there is a way to get out of a fence or barrier, and they have the time and freedom, they will undoubtedly find some way to get out. This article will provide the existing or new husky owner with some tools to help make sure their yard is escape proof.

Invisible Fencing

While some swear by invisible fencing, it may not be the solution for your situation and there are some definite concerns that you need to think about before spending the time and money to install it.

Time - Invisible fencing requires a professional to come in to discuss your needs and the needs of your dog. It will take approximately 3-4 weeks to train your dog to learn the invisible fence, and follow up training is also needed to reinforce the dog’s boundaries.

Cost - Its not cheap

Collar Batteries - the collars that your dog has to wear to tell it that its getting close to its boundaries requires batteries that must be checked and replaced. If the batteries die, the dog will not receive the correction when it gets too close to the boundary and will be free to run out of the yard without the “shock”.

Fur - some husky owners reported that in order to get a good contact with the prongs that deliver the “shock” when the dog gets too close to the boundaries, they had to shave their dog’s neck.

Stubborn - some husky owners reported that despite the “shock” when the husky got too close to the boundaries, they seem to have figured out that the “shock” doesn’t last that long, and the husky would zoom across the boundary and take the “punishment” to get where it wanted to go. Once out, even if it wanted to get back in, the moment the dog was outside the boundary, it would receive a shock each time it would try to go into the yard again, so there was no motivation to return to the yard.

Anything can get in - unlike traditional fencing, there’s nothing to keep other dogs, cats, or children OUT of your yard. There have been reports of dogs being attacked in their yard by other dogs, and because the dog in the yard was so well trained, it didn’t run to safety and was mauled by the other dog. Invisible fences also do not keep children from wandering into your yard, or nefarious people from entering your yard and just taking your dog.

For people in communities that don’t allow regular fencing, the Invisible Fence solution may be the only one they have. Just keep in mind that no husky should be allowed in the yard unsupervised while using one of these types of invisible fence solutions.

Regular Fence

The optimum solution for containment is a regular type of fence, but what is the best type of fencing? Some choose chain link, some choose privacy fence, but which is the BEST solution?

Chain Link

Most residential chain link fencing is about 4 feet high, which a husky will merely laugh at as it leaps over it. The more lazier husky will simply climb over it, using the chain links as ladder steps on its way to freedom. In rescue, we’ve heard and seen huskies doing a standing broad jump right over a 4 foot chain link fence before dashing off to freedom, laughing over its shoulder.

If you have this type of fencing, some of the ways that you can help contain your husky is to:

Install hot wire on the top of the fence. If your community allows it, the addition of hot wire (also known as electric fencing) is enough of a deterrent to keep your husky from climbing over the fence, but will do very little if they can jump the fence. Check with your local and city regulations first before installing hot wire on your fence, and remember not to lean on the hot wire while doing yard work.

Add additional fencing to the top. Once again, if your community allows it, you can add extensions to the top of your fence to contain your husky, especially if they’re jumpers. This added footage will keep them from simply hopping over. Some more inventive husky owners will actually bend the extension inward, which creates more of a jumping barrier.   Picture in your mind the tops of maximum security prison fencing and you get the idea.

Picket Fence

Most decorative types of fencing are child’s play for huskies and are not recommended at all. If they’re not hopping over it, digging under it, they’ll simply pull the pickets off and go skipping down the neighborhood.

Privacy Fence

Most privacy fences are anywhere from 6-8 feet in height and are ideal for husky containment. There are no footholds for climbing and unless you have the bionic husky, they are not capable of leaping that high. They are also great at keeping kids and other animals from climbing over into your yard. Lets face it, with a high prey drive, the friendly neighborhood cat doesn’t stand a chance if it gets in your yard, so having the most containment keeps everyone happy. There is also less chance of your husky seeing a cat or other dog on the outside and trying to find a way to get to that tempting play thing.

Up, Over, or Under

We’ve touched a bit on the jumping and climbing techniques of huskies, now let’s talk about their amazing tunneling ability.

Even if you choose a fence that is impossible to get over, there is that pesky getting under subject we need to discuss. If given enough time, and depending on your soil, a husky can dig under a fence in minutes. Before you start thinking moat, there are some very easy and cheap solutions to keep your husky from trying to dig under the fence.

Poo - the temporary solution

Your husky is content in its yard, never digs, is trustworthy on its own for periods of time in the yard. One day it discovers digging and the next thing you know you’ve got the great escape going on right before your eyes. We see it on lists all the time, the husky owner that declares that their husky never digs... then a week later the report of the great tunnel escapade. If you have one of those non-digging huskies and haven’t dig-proofed your fence and find yourself with an expert tunneler one day, the temporary solution for digging is to scoop up their poo and sprinkle it around the fence-line until a more permanent solution can be implemented.

Yep, you read that right, a husky will NOT go anywhere near its poo, so if you find a dig spot, the easiest way to get them from digging in that spot is to put their poo in that spot. Sure, they’ll go find another spot to dig, but for now you’ve stopped the digging at that one spot. Once you’ve recognized the digging has begun, its time for a more permanent solution.

Dig Deterrent

You don’t have to build a bomb shelter under your entire fence, you just want to make digging there unpleasant. The easiest and cheapest way to do that is to invest in some quikrete and chicken wire. Detailed instructions on this method can be found at here. You just want to make it inconvenient and not fun to dig near the fence. Once they realize they can’t dig, they’ll go find something else to dig up, like a newly planted tree or some pretty flowers, but hey, at least you aren’t chasing them down the block.

Other Tools of Escape

When doing home checks for rescue, trained eyes see all sorts of avenues of escape for huskies that the untrained eye takes for granted.

Leaving trash containers next to the fence is an excellent stepping stool for an escaping husky. Sheds too close to the fence are also springboards for escape. Sheds that have a little room beside and behind them keep the digging husky from being seen while they dig their way to freedom.

The Gate

Most people take for granted the type of lock on their gate and whether the gate swings in or out. All they initially care about is whether their lawnmower of other tools will fit through the gate, but they don’t realize that the number one escape avenue for a husky is a gate.

The best type of gate will swing into the yard, not out of the yard. A husky can easily figure out that the gate is a door to freedom, and will bang into it, trying to get it open. If the gate opens outward and has a loose latch, it can easily be knocked open. A gate that opens in is less likely to be pulled open by a husky, although I wouldn’t put it past some of the smarter ones.

Make sure that the latch secures properly and can’t be bumped open easily. Also make sure it is the type that can accommodate a padlock, as you will want to keep the gate locked at all times. The most common method of escape is by having someone opening the gate without realizing the dogs were outside and the chase ensues. Allowing anyone to open the gate only means that the yard is NOT secure, no matter how much time you put into securing it, so make sure nobody can open the gate unless the dogs are in the house and safe.

In Conclusion

Even in the most fortified, fenced in yard ever built, husky owners should observe a 5 minute rule, which is to look out to make sure their huskies aren’t in the middle of an escape attempt. If you don’t have a fence that you feel is 100% escape proof, then you shouldn’t let your husky unescorted in your yard. Escaping from fences is a full time occupation for huskies, and if you need other ideas or advice for husky-proofing your fence, just do a Google search for “husky proof fence” and read the zillions of pages that owners and rescues have put on on the subject.