Well this may have been covered in past posts, but everytime I use the seach feature... it brings up words such as "out" (even words with out in the like "about") and kennel, digging... but I cant find what Im looking for. PLus when I use the back botton the page expires and I have to redo everything all over again. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

So anyways.. to my question: We recently bought a house and I have a separate area reserved for Kane (22 mo. GSD) My husbands friends put up chain link fencing for him for no charge. But my problem is Kanes only used to being locked up in a crate, and doesnt approve of being locked up in a spacious dog kennel. Hes digging under the fencing and squeezing out. At first he was just sliding under the chain link... then I went out and bought some tension wire and had my husbands friend come over and try that. Well it worked at first... then Kane figured out how to unlatch the gate handle within 10 minutes. So I locked it but now hes just digging deep enough o fit under the fencing again.

Now I know there are some options like cementing etc... but really our budgets kinda low right now... after buying the materials.. our new higher mortgage payment... christmas coming etc... I cant afford to have the area cemeted or build a state of the art fool proof kennel. Can anyone give me any pointers? The poop in the holes dont work in my case. He tries his hardest to get out. Right now I have two 12X12 paver stones and a couple of bricks leaning and proped against the area hes squeezing through... but Im sure its only a matter of time before he gets past those.. or finds another spot.

Any ideas or opinions would be great! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

We fenced in our back yard just for our new pup 3 years ago (a small Sheba Inu). It didn't take long for him to dig his way out. We fixed this by digging a 24 inch trench around the inside bottom of the fence and laying down 24 inches of chicken wire. It wasn’t a deep trench… (maybe 6 -8 inches deep) enough to cover the wire and secure it in the ground

It was cheap and came in 25 foot rolls for like 3 bucks. We left a little of the wire exposed and stapled it to the bottom edges of the fence all the way around . Our fence is cedar. If your have a chain link fence you could try zip ties or something like that. It worked like a charm. He has never dug out of the fence… however after he matured he learned how to scale it. Dogs are ever so cleaver.

Chasity,
My recommendation would be to look at laying hard wood floors. It will cost you about $200 or a little less for some excellent 2in thick plywood that is pressure treated (which is ok for animals now days, they stopped using arsenic in the pressure treating in 2003). Drive around to some stores and "aquire" or just ask most of the time they'll let you take a few and get enough to be able to line them all around the edge of the kennel and then place some throughout the center they don't have to be touching but enough to give very stable support for the wood you'll lay on top. Then measure your Kennel from all four corners (since yours is custom made) to make sure you have accurate measurements and that will help you or the hardware store person help you determine how much wood and how to cut your wood so it will lay down like a nice easy wooden puzzle. Then get screws and a drill (Screws are better because they can be reversed out with a drill for changing out a section if need be rather than nails). Lay your wood down one piece at a time taking note of where to to place that next screw which will be screwed into the wooden pallet beneath. I love this set up and find it very easy to clean, I pooper scoop the poop out and place in a trash bag then hose off the residue, ahhh, fresh and clean kennel with no poop smelling yard <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Note make sure for instance if your kennel is 10X10 that you cut the wood just shy of 10X10 by probably like 2inches, this will make for a perfect fit all around the kennel, cut it right at 10X10 and you'll find it won't quite fit in the kennel. Then you can by you buy for like $10 a covering to fit the top of the kennel that lets water through (so it doesn't accumulate during a rain) and acts as shade also, just google dog kennel shade covering. Now the only thing left for your dog to do is eat through the fence <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

So... I should lay down wooden pallets and assemble wooden planks on top? Im trying to picture this in my mind. Really the area where the kennel is needs ALOT of work. The previous owner has a garden back there and the ground is extremely hard and uneven. I thought about pea gravel at one point but thought it would be too messy and tracked out. So then I thought about just leaving it for now and maybe next summer, using paver stones. I imagine I would have to rototiller it up so I can even out the ground. I was thinking of diggng along the fence and placing bricks (I have brinks on hand) in the trench. At least for the time being. Right now with the pavers stones down he has dug trying to get out but hasnt dug enough. The good thing is its behing our garage and shares the neighbors fence and our back fence... so the only chainlink is on one side, otherwise Id have alot more grond to worry about. I wish I knew how to break him from digging. Or if theres was something I could bury (besides poop that would detear (sp?) him away from there. It still amazes me that he will run in his crate on command happily but dreads the open kennel where he has more room! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I like the idea of both... although I may have to go with the chicken wire first since it costs less and requires less time. I work at home Mon-Fri from 7:30-5:30 and go to school from 6:00-9:30pm... so his training/exercise happens during the kids' nap time. But I like the idea of changing the ground cover completely.

I don't know if chicken wire will deter a big dog like a GSD - my huskies will mow right thru ckicken wire. I would follow what Chris has suggested or you could try this - get some railroad ties or landscaping ties and build a frame of a size that your kennel can sit on top of the wood. In the bottom(weighted down by the ties) put some heavy mesh, welded wire of a heavy gauge or even some chainlink fencing.
over top of the wire put a thick layer of gravel even with the top of the ties. Place your kennel on top of this frame - it is now nice and high and dry and can be cleaned very easy. If your don't want gravel, you can forgo the wire underneath and put pavers overtop of the gravel. Sometimes you can find someone taking out a walkway and get pavers for free and sometimes building centres will sell you "seconds" (chipped a little, pitted, stained, etc) for cheaper. Also don't forget to attach your kennel to something solid as escapo-dogs sometimes figure out how to push panels away from walls and squeeze out and don't forget to have a really sturdy escape proof roof that is secured to the rest of the kennel if there is a chance he is a climber. (can you tell I have had a few of those escapo-climber dogs? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)

Chasity,
I went out and took a picture of one of my dogs kennels (linked below). As you can see they have run a dirt track around the kennel when I let them out one at a time while cleaning that use to be nice green grass <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />. Anyhow this should show you what I mean. Also, this took me exactly about 1 hour to do once I got the wood home, and trust you me, I am NOT the handy man. I tried to build a dog house one time and I swear if the county had seen it they would have ordered a county code to condemn it, LOL! It is softer than concrete, and if you don't have heated kennel floors, it keeps them completely of the ground. Before I laid the pallets down, I bought a hard rake for like 5bucks and put some elbow grease into leveling my kennel spots off. For a 10X10 that took me about 20min. If your ground is super hard, you could import some dirt to spread over your kennel area and level it out that way. Lord knows I know money don't grow on trees but this is really one of the best methods for stopping diggers is harding up the floors completely, either concrete or wood. And as I said, I like wood, because I don't have heated indoor kennel concrete floors, so this battles cold concrete floors in the winter.
Picture of my hardwood floors with pallets as a foundation on bottom.

Thanks Chris for the picture... I really like this idea and think I will go with this one... I like the idea that its warmer and easier on him too. Thanks! Oh where can I get pallets from and how much to they cost? Or will I need to build them?

The wire I used was a heavier gage then normal chicken wire but I had a 120 X 48 foot area to cover so cement or plywood was not an option for me and it was visually appealing since the wire was covered over with loam and seeded with grass. However we did cement the gate door entries.

I can tell you my Sheba is a pretty good escape artist and quite the digger and it did stop him. I also have a GSD that the shares the space but she would rather guard the door then try to escape. If your dog will rip anything to shreds including a heavy gage wire... then the other suggestions are probably better suited especially if it is just a small area.

Chasity,
I got them from work (military base) by the dumpsters. You can find them behind walmart, or dollar stores, pretty much behind shopping centers and grocery stores, warehouses Etc... I had a buddy who had success asking a stock guy in walmart about 10:00PM (when they are starting to stock up for the night if he can have a few pallets from the back for his dog kennel and they told him no problem.

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Before I laid the pallets down, I bought a hard rake for like 5bucks and put some elbow grease into leveling my kennel spots off. For a 10X10 that took me about 20min. If your ground is super hard, you could import some dirt to spread over your kennel area and level it out that way.

Rocks work well for helping level out the ground. If you have a rock quarry nearby, you could get a pickup truck load of gravel and spread it out in the kennel to lie the pallets (or the plywood) on - or you can buy it from Lowe's or Home Depot in the garden shop. I don't know if that would be cheaper or more expensive than dirt, but it's another option.

You dont have to worry about splinters with plywood floors, Chris?