PROBLEM: Husky is climbing my block wall / wood fence.
ANSWER: You have 2 options for fixing your problem; they are using hot wire or the rolling pin method.
Hot Wire Method
Hot wire has been around for years in the field of agriculture. It is some of the neatest stuff anyone ever came up with. By using this method of containment, a farmer/rancher can string a single strand of wire for miles and miles and keep their livestock from wandering off all over the countryside.
In
our application, you would purchase a CONTINUOUS shock/signal hot wire unit
from your local store (Feed store, pet shop or Home Depot).
Following the
directions on the box set up an inside perimeter to your fence line. You
would place the hot wire through PVC pipe or other type insulator
approximately 2 feet inside of your fence line ([this measurement is an
approximate one, if you have the need to access the area between the
hot-wire and your fence line. Then you need to make the width wider. If it
is a lawn area, I would go with the width of your mower plus 6 inches] Side
note, turn off the hot wire if you are working near it with metal tools, it
is a mistake that happens once, but you don’t have to!!!!!) and then you
turn on the system. After receiving a shock, most huskies will find a new
hobby. Some will need an extra shock or 2 to get the idea stay away from
the fence. This will stop the behavior as long as it is plugged in and
working. Moisture in the ground is required to keep a good ground. If
needed, be sure to keep the base area of the hot wire moist.
This is how the wire should look going through the PVC. PVC pipes should be 5 feet in length. Allow for 12 inches to go in the ground. From the 12 inch mark measure 6inches and drill a hole. Drill 2 more holes seven inches apart on the pole. You will have 3 holes in the pole.
The "Hot" wire will run in one continuous strand. When you have threaded the wire through the last pole, go up to the next pole and thread the wire back through the poles going in the opposite direction.
Connect the insulated wire from the charger box to the "hot" wire.
Hotwire does give a shock, it does not burn the hair or flesh. Hotwire is not deadly to animals or children. However, never leave small children unsupervised in an area where you have "live" wire. Just as you should never leave small children unsupervised with dogs.
Rolling pin method.
Someone that adopted a couple of huskies from us came up with the concept and it is quite the showstopper for a husky. Stop and think about how a rolling pin works, while you hold the handles, the outside turns around and around. By taking this same concept and say mounting a cable parallel with the top of your fence line, with support eye hooks at 10 foot (or less) intervals. Around the cable you would place 1 inch PVC pipe, around the 1 inch PVC pipe you would place 3 inch PVC pipe. Tighten up your cable and then your project is complete.
After the installation of this system, you husky may give you the look that you won a round, but they will never admit it. Every time your husky tries to climb over your fence, they end up rolling back off the fence into your back yard. (Imagine trying to do a pull-up on a bar that keeps turning back toward you, you would find something else to do quickly, so will your husky).
For Block Walls:
Parts needed:
· Angle irons/corner braces, typically found in the cabinet hardware section.
o Figure on one for every 5 linear feet of fence to be protected, minimum.
· Lead masonry anchors
o Two per bracket (I used 5/16ths., and bought a couple of sharp new masonry bits to make sure I got through the job!).
· Steel wire-rope (length of the fence)
o Buy a few feet more than you think you need, for cut-off and tie-down purposes. I splurged and bought the plastic-coated wire rope, a few cents more per foot; didn’t want to deal with a lot of rust on the wire in a short time. And, I chose the 3/16inch diameter; pick whatever makes you comfortable with the strength.
· Wire rope “locks”
o
I bought the type that have a U-shaped
double-ended bolt that runs through a small metal “V”… just find something
that will allow you to lock down the ends of the wire rope and is strong
enough to keep a Husky’s weight from pulling the wire loose and allowing the
PVC to drop down to the fence top!
· PVC tubing (length of the fence)
o Plan on having leftover… better than going back to the hardware store if you run out, and it’s pretty cheap…
§ ½ inch diameter for the inner roller
§ 1 inch diameter for the outer roller
Tools needed:
· Power drill, with enough oomph to drill a lot of holes in brick/concrete/whatever your block wall is made of.
· Drill bits, of the size recommended by the lead anchors.
· Screwdriver (I would heartily suggest Powered) to screw down the brackets.
· Hack saw or fine-bladed wood saw to cut the PVC.
· Bolt cutters, or seriously powerful wire cutters, to cut the wire rope.
· Box wrench, to tighten down the bolts on the wire anchor locks (or whatever it is you buy to lock down the ends of the wire rope).
Mount the Angle irons no further apart than 5 feet, about 2 inches in from the yard-side of the block wall. I actually went with 4 foot lengths (cost a little extra PVC and a few more angle iron brackets, but gave me more confidence in the strength). Make sure the brackets on the ends have the “L” facing towards the center of the wire run for leverage…
Cut
the PVC tubes into the appropriate lengths, leaving about a ½ inch- ¾ inch
leeway so the tubes can spin freely. Stick the wire rope through the top
screw hole in the angle iron at one end of the run, and secure with the wire
rope lock. As I did this, I figured out how to loop the wire rope through
the top and bottom holes in the bracket, and place the lock on the outside
of the bracket.
Thread the wire rope through
the ½ inch PVC, then slide the 1 inch PVC over that, and feed the wire
through the next bracket. Continue this process until the entire fence (do
NOT make my mistake and leave a section un-protected because the dog would
never go over that place!!). At the far end of the run, pull the wire taut
through the last bracket and lock it down, keeping as much tension as
possible on the whole thing to keep the PVC up and spinning free above the
fence.
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For Wrought Iron Fencing: 
This is pretty much the same process, except instead of using angle irons for the brackets you can use 5 inch TV antennae eye-bolts, or 5 inch carriage bolts with wire tie-down loops. Instead of mounting the brackets on top of the wall, I drilled parallel to the ground through the top bar on the fence, and suspended the PVC tubes 3 inches from the fence. It took extra nuts and washers to make them all stick out the same length; figure on one nut and one washer for each side of the fence for each bolt, as well as another nut if you using the carriage bolt/tie-down method.
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