| Re: at what age to switch
In terms of chainlink fencing.....I once purchased a dog run from Home Depot.....and despite reinforcing it repeatedly.....it never took longer than 1-2 minutes for one of my dogs to escape from it. What we found was that the gauge of the chainlink itself was so thin that it was able to be stretched out of configuration so easily that the dogs escaped.
A friend of mine two weeks ago purchased one of these runs from Home Depot....she told me it cost her just over $500 and her two labs are escaping from it daily again despite constant reinforcement. I had warned her in advance that I didn't think the strength of the chainlink would be suitable for her two labs but she had to find out for herself.
I personally have a panel construction dog run......it initially was 10 x 30' rectangular....I purchased it second hand through the classifieds and truly got a deal on it at $200......the panels are themselves 9 gauge chainlink and are 6 foot high and 10 feet long and are assembled and disassembled merely by using a small wrench. I actually just last week purchased some additional panels to make the run longer.....I purchased 4 additional 10 foot x 6 foot panels and it cost me just over $500. And my run will ultimately be 20 x 40 once all is said and done. I contacted an actual chainlink fencing company who made my panels for me.
A small price to pay for a safe spot for the dogs that they can't break out of. Perhaps check around your area for chainlink fencing companies and just do a price comparison for yourself in terms of size of fence & gauge of the chainlink.
Heather  |