Lurcher jumping out?

[LucyHebditch]

Help, we have got the most gorgeous lurcher, now 18 months old.
Has recently discovered that she is able to jump out of our garden and went 2 miles up the road the other day.
We are at our wits end and other than the obvious, putting fencing up e.t.c... Has anyone got any tips?
We are terrified she is going to be stolen.

[JaysMum]

add extra fencing to about 6ft in your garden...or .... if you cant be out with her, tether her to something for the duration of her being out there... Unfortunetly Lurchers can jump and are very springy when they want to be.....

[gtr121]

O.K I know that this is going to sound cruel but we had the same problem with a rescue dog that decided it would leave home when the the mood took it. To stop it I lay in waiting with a lunge whip and the moment it stepped off our premises I cracked him really hard with the whip. It took 2 goes to convince him that it was easier to stay at home. Far better than getting run over.

[JaysMum]

Oh yes... frighten the dog to death....... that'll work....

Not only will it make it stay put, but it could also instill other fears into it's life.. It's already a rescue dog, so you dont know it's past.... Dog is now probably scared of whips, you (when you have something in your hand)

I dont think I'd be encouraging others to use this...er.. method... You're right.. It IS cruel.

[LucyHebditch]

thanks sands01, it is going to have to come down to fencing, a shame but we adore her and are terrified when she goes!
Umm as for the other method, not only is it cruel, but it wouldn't work! They would still run away, then more than likely be fearful of returning! At the moment Lola comes back to us if she hears us call.

[Deleted]

We have the same problem with our flat coated retriever!! She has one hell of a jump on her! But we have seen her use the fence like a ladder! (our fence has gaps in in and she puts her feet in it and climbs over hehe) she is too clever! But were lucky and meg doesnt go very far only up the lane and she then comes back and lies in our porch

If i was you, and youre fence had gaps in it i would block them up

[sarahp]

Only fencing.

We have a rescue saluki who can jump taller than 6ft fences, chases anything that moves and goes totally deaf while doing so. Sadly he is walked on a long extending lead only, not ideal I know, but we have too big an area to fence and it has 9 gates in it too, it would never be safe for him. Hopefully when we move we will get the ideal - a walled garden he can't see thorough! He is fine loose in a friend's fenced garden, but we both cross our fingers no cat appears on top of the fence or he'd be over it and gone, he chased our barn cat over a 7/8 ft fence when we hadn't long had him. He has plenty of mad moment tearing round the house with our other dog though and spends most of the rest of his time kipping on sofa or bed, he shows no sign of missing the outside freedom. He does occasionally spend time accompanied outside or on the beach (not much to chase there) with a long trailing rope so that we can with luck jump on it if he goes, which he spends no inclination to do except to chase other animals. We took him to dog training classes and when he is paying attention he is well trained to most things, once thought reaches legs, so to speak, not the brightest of dogs, but forget it if his chase reflex has kicked in, no chance even to a whistle although that works well in the house. We were advised by the trainer he would never be reliable, and have also been told that the buried electric wires that zap them, not that I'm keen on those anyway, wouldn't work in his case as he would be gone over the fence so quickly and single-mindedly that he wouldn't be stopped, only zapped on the way out which would make him frightened of coming back.

We do tie him up in the garden - but it has to be on a light chain, he knows exactly how to turn his head and bite through anything less. We think he was a travellers' dog at some point as scarred and VERY nervous when we got him, I think most people would have given up and sent him back but he is the sweetest natured dog and deserves better than that, now very happily settled here.

It is the nature of sighthounds to chase and hunt by sight although I believe salukis are worse than most, and also eminently stealable too, sadly. Maye sure your lurcher is microchipped and wears a tag to that effect, I've also read that it's a good idea to label bit*hes as being spayed as they will not then be stolen for breeding. Ours is a castrated dog so it's obvious he is not a breeder!

[LucyHebditch]

Blimey! I don't think ours can jump that high, but she can definately jump out of our garden. Unfortunately she did that today and has now been missing for hours! Mum is out looking and i have walk across the moors and cycled down the road, but it's useless for me on a bike as she could have gone miles!! We're so frightened that a gypsy's will pick her up because of her breeding. She is mirochipped and has a tag, but not spayed as we want to breed from her, that is if she ever comes back. I'm just crossing everything at the moment and praying!

[darkdaze]

Heightened fencing is the only answer to this.

I have 5 Greyhounds & i have to have secure fencing to keep them in, i don't know whether they would actually jump out if they were to see anything that may interest them but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Surely if your Lurcher is known for jumping out & has done again today you would just take the dog for a walk on a lead rather than chance what has already happened.
I can only say you are asking for trouble continuing letting the dog in the garden knowing it will jump & may even cause a bad accident.

[LucyHebditch]

I didn't mean to say she jumped out, our gate was left open and that's how she got out. We have now got fencing up, so she can no longer jump out.
But right now we don't know whether we're even going to see her again, she's been gone 7 hours.

[sarahp]

You could always tag her as being spayed anyway, how could anyone tell? Hope you find her.

[jump4joy]

Spayed or tether her to a tyre or weight............although anyone who knew our Lurcher has seen her dragging a 50lb weight up the lane............but we never let her see us laugh. in the end she started taking the other dogs off.............so we let the vet have her..............he spayed her and she was the only dog he had.........she never went off again and goes everywhere with him ............she even had her own special room at the dogs home when she went off and was found by some unsuspecting stranger......and she would always get her collar off..........the dog warden knew her well..............he would open the door on his van and she would jump in and sit there like she owned the place..................Lurchers hey!! but they are great...............

[m@m]

if you,v got big enough garden, you could think about getting some of the builders surcurity fencing, in one corner to make a nice run, difficult for most dogs to get out of, (except a couple of mine lol) hope you found her

[PennyP4]

We had a similar problem with or 8st Rottweiler! He would jump over a 6ft fence with ease, very funny to watch he would jump the scramble up the rest! If he wouldn't jump it he would chew through it!

We had him castrated, no change. Tried chaining him up, he ripped the anchor bolt out of the concrete. The dog warden found him running down the road with 10ft of chain trailing behind him. We then got him a friend, seemed to help but he'd still escape. We increased his exercise up to 2 hours a day, 1hr in the morning at night.

In the end the only thing that worked was electric fencing, he now hasn't escaped in over a year. I don't need the fencing now as Ive found that now he had broken the habit and mature a little he doesn't want to escape, I've kept him exercise up though.

[wilmira]

I had a lurcher that could jump an 8 ft fence, he used to jump over to next doors, grab one of his chickens and bring it back, he also used to escape and go to the local butchers factory and some how get through 3 security doors to steal meat,

[sarahp]

I've been told that the high jump record for a lurcher is 14 ft!!!! Sighthounds usually escape to hunt, and if they see something to chase will just go, apparently the electric stuff doesn't work for them as they are through it without stopping before they notice, then are too frightened to come back again. Our jumping saluki is a neutered male and will chase anything but I can't see spaying helping in the case of a bit*h because it's not boyfriends they go looking for.

Hadn't thought of the builders fencing stuff but think he'd just sit there and howl as he does if left alone in the house. He knows how to chew through anything used to tie him up but a chain, and we do have exercise session in the garden with him trailing a long rope, you can at least jump on that if he does, but would never leave him unattended outside.

[teri]

Jan 14, 2011 17:55:14 GMT LucyHebditch said:

I didn't mean to say she jumped out, our gate was left open and that's how she got out. We have now got fencing up, so she can no longer jump out.
But right now we don't know whether we're even going to see her again, she's been gone 7 hours.

Have you found her yet???

[LucyHebditch]

Thanks for all the replies, unfortunately Lola hasn't returned, she has been missing since Jan 14th.

[teri]

That is so awful, have you put lots posters up? So sad, really hope she finds her way home