No Fences

No Fences

I have a theory.   Dogs given freedom do not abuse it. Dogs kept locked up don’t know what to do when they obtain it.  Let me preface this theory with I do not believe all dogs should be allowed freedom.    Today our society demands that dogs be good citizens and dogs in city and urban areas should not be allowed to do as they wish.    They are after all animals with teeth.

When I was young we lived in a tract house on a very large lot.    I think we had 5 Borzoi, 3 females and 2 males.    They were pets first but my family also showed and coursed and bred them.   Whenever someone knocked on the door or the phone rang it was normal for us kids to lose our minds racing to get the phone or answer the door.    This created a heightened sense of arousal of the dogs who are 90% of the time lounging on various pieces of the furniture like prima donnas.  They would then race us to the door or phone.    So we would open just a sliver of the door to say hi with 4 or 5 Borzoi noses lined up and down the opening.   Our parents got wise very fast and did not allow hysteria to ensue when the phone rang or a knock came on the door.   By then though we had already instilled a sense of excitement about what was behind the door.   Accidents happen it is inevitable with kids and dogs.  A gate or door left open meant all Borzoi within range were shot out of a canon into the unknown.   They were a mile away before you blinked an eye.   Red alert at the house while it turned into a crisis of greatest proportion with all hands on deck like a battleship at war looking for men overboard.   All resources went to locate one or more Borzoi who could go very fast and had no experience with freedom and were usually far away before they realized they were lost.  

Fast forward about 15-20 years, say 1995-2000.   My adult sister who was the youngest one at home had 2 Borzoi.   She would come over to the house and open the car door and out bounced her dogs.   We were aghast!   How can you do this?    She looked shocked and said: “what, do what?”.   Her dogs got out and milled around.   They did not run off like crazed inmates who just tunneled their way to freedom.   They just hung out.   It was then I realized we create our problems with our dogs.  Not only did we freak out when a door or gate was open while calling hysterically as they were running into the sunset we also never really taught the young ones what freedom is under calm circumstances.    We did take our dogs running.   We went coursing off leash and we also took them to large parks and university grounds where they could safely run.   It was not a case of keeping them wrapped in cellophane but more a case at a home created environment.     They did not know the neighborhood and learned that getting free is super super exciting.    

I now live on 40 acres in the foothills between Sacramento and Tahoe.    I am surrounded by 100s of acres all around me.    I do not have any fences.  I intended to build some fences, still do, but have you priced fencing lately??   I moved here from 8 acres.   That property was fenced all the way around with some fenced dog yards.     Prior to that I lived on a 25 acre horse ranch with fences for horses.   I had 2 dogs, technically no fences for dogs.   My current dogs had a clue about living large from the 8 acre parcel.    I have had 4 incidents over 30+ years of living out in the country.    One was fatal and 3 were not.   3 incidents were dogs living primarily in fenced areas who then got loose.  The last incident was a dog without fences who followed me to get the mail without my knowledge and then a passerby picked her up.   I am pretty sure she would have come home without the stranger intervening.  I did get her back 24 hours later. 

I have had to have a heart to heart with myself about my lifestyle with my dogs.   I often question myself.  Are my dogs happier and more adjusted for having complete, and I mean complete freedom?   Are my dogs generally trustworthy to handle this freedom?   Is it worth it for my human dog relationship?  Do I spend too much time worrying?   Having multiple dogs does it help to keep hot reactions down toward each other?   In general I say, yes except the worry part.  I only worry when I can't find one.   I worry when spring comes because the dogs usually like to do walkabouts.  Which means I have to go get Scarlet regularly from the horse ranch next door where she hangs out in the barn breezeway with people and horses.   It also means that the neighbor’s pond is more appealing than their own.   Yes I have given multiple, and when I say multiple I mean dozens of skunk baths.   They do chase the deer off the property, but no further.  I often wonder how the dogs know the property line.   One time I was out with 3 dogs.   The two Staffords flushed a wild pig.  The AmStaff was walking beside me and alerted.   Next thing I knew they were all running behind the pig like in a cartoon.     I panicked and after about 2 minutes total all 3 dogs were back at the house.    Since then I have noticed they only chase intruders off the property and then come back.   They have learned that cows and horses belong here.   They have learned that Jack Rabbits are a waste of running energy.    One has learned how to successfully race a ground squirrel to its hole and grab it before it goes in.    The same one walks with Yanni while he hunts those pesky ground squirrels to keep them back from the house and barns.   He shoots and she runs and gets them….   “what the heck?”   When did Staffords become retrievers?  

I study every story and situation where dogs are getting lost.   I want to understand how it happens and what the circumstances are because it is my biggest fear and worry.    Yesterday I was working in the garden and 4 of my dogs were at the private dirt road in front visiting neighbors.   That worries me because positive reinforcement means they may go to the road again because it was fun.  It is a very quiet dirt road but still, I worry.  I tell the ranch people next door to throw rocks at Scarlet and tell her to go home but every time they coo over her and put her in the Polaris and bring her back.   One time Chopper chased something into the horse pastures and I was so worried the horses would freak out but then over the hill came 3 horses heads down and ears back chasing him back out.    That was a good lesson for a bad boy.  

Today I have no fences and even the highest drive dog has freedom here.    Most of the time doors are open and dogs can come and go as they please.   I am usually embarrassed to say I don’t have fences as if I will be judged.  No one would place a pup with me, I am sure.  However, today my dogs do not panic or get lost when they breach the perimeter.    They all come when I whistle.   Daphne is getting hard of hearing so she is the last to come home.    I worry about how she will handle the freedom as she ages and her mind and senses start to go.    I think my dogs have a good life and I suspect if they could talk they would tell me so.  I have 7 dogs.    It is impossible to give 7 dogs proper attention and interaction while having a full time job.    I suspect allowing them time to be free spirits is a fair exchange.   Last night there were 4 dogs and 2 people in the bed.   I was so exhausted I forgot to put them in their crates.  I got up stiff from being unable to move but it was worth it.  
 
Ultimately I feel a dog would trade all the freedom in the world for a quality relationship with its owner.   So freedom is not a necessity to a canine companion but it is something that has taught me a lot about dogs in general.   It is one of the things good or bad that my dogs enjoy.