Dogs and Barbed Wire

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Now that I'm getting out with my first bird dog I'm scared to death of barbed wire. It just doesn't register with my young dog. Do they learn?? She left a clump of hair on one Wed. Last year my buddy's dog was hurt pretty bad and required emergency care. I'm thinking of a dog vest but that seems more suited to keeping burs off than guarding against barbed wire. It's sure hard to avoid fences when pheasant hunting. Thoughts?

[gspman]

Some learn eventually and some don't. My old girl was layed wide open once on barbed wire. She was lucky to not have it happen again as she was one that didn't learn. My pup seems to notice fences a little more though. Hopefully it won't happen to her.

[GrouseHunt'R]

Let them run around with some cows in an electric fence for awhile. This happened by accident with my young pup, never really got the shock, but it bounced of the ring on his collar and he stood up and took notice. Pays really close attention to fences now.

[BDR]

The dogs I have had did learn. But that is only when they see it.

The worst seems to be that my dog isn't steady so when the flush happens, its all about the bird. Thats when he will hit the wire and bounce off. We have been lucky so far!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

my pooch tore a chunk of his chest off last year. it was at least an inch long. didnt stich it because he could reach the wound and the vet said to wait a while and see what happened. it healed up great. hes a little more cautious around fences now, but not too cautious. i still hold my breath when he gets near one. stupid dogs!

[ccarlson]

My question is why do they use Barb wire around Waterfowl Production areas? These areas are intended for hunters and the barb wire surely doesn't help keep out predators. It's only a pain for us dog users. Even right at the parking areas that your dog has to cross, it's barb wire.

My dog was cut one year down in Iowa and we had to get him stitched up. It ruined the rest of the day hunting as he was all tipsy and not on focus at all after the anesthesia. Even the next day wasn't so good. Kind of puts a damper on a trip that we drove 8 hours one way and paid out of state licenses for. (We were able to cover the stitched area so it was not harmful to the dog to hunt him.) That's the only incident with him though in 8 years. He crossed many other fences without injury somehow.

ccarlson

[BDR]

Most of these area are old farm/pasture lands. The DNR due to bugets cannot spend the manpower to remove the wire.

Some are donated others purchased, and Im sure some are tax forfieted.

[BLACKJACK]

They'll learn after bouncing off enough fences. We had two less than a year old pups out to SoDak and after hitting a few, they learned. In fact, one got to the point where we had to stretch the wire to get him across. Just check them out in the evening for cuts. I tried introducing my pup to fences before we went out but theres a big difference between going over a fence while you're hiking vrs while you're in the excitement of the hunt.

Talk about fences, you haven't seen barb wire fences til you get to the Dakotas!! Some are so tight and high that you have to either go under or through, you can't get enough stretch to go over. We had one guy where we hunted that we called 'Fencer Freddy' his fences were so tight. Most of the WPA's out there have barb wire around them because they occaisionally run cattle in them a year, instead of burning them. Here in MN I think that its a good idea to at least have a fence around the parking areas to keep the ahorns from driving into the areas.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Right now I'm staying away from them. My dog sprints after flushed birds for a little ways and sprints after downed birds. Hunting next to a fence is way too risky. Hopefully she'll learn.

[greenman]

It is possible to train the dog to stay away from barbed wire. If you use an e-collar to train your dog and if the dog is not collar wise then everytime your dog gets near the fence give the dog a good shock and say nothing. The dog should experience some discomfort for this to work. It is important that you say nothing so the dog begins to get the idea that if he/she gets to close to the fence there will be pain. This may take a few times before the dog associates being in close proximaty to the fence with the shock. This is close to how you train a dog with an invisible electric fence.

[ChuckN]

My girl just tangled with a barb wire fence Sunday evening. She hit it hard when I was watching my other guy working birds. She didn't yelp or anything.

The next day I saw the damage. She ripped a big chunk of skin on her chest, above a leg joint. No blood, but I was surprised how thick her skin was!

Vet checked and did not want to stich as it was a high risk of infection, so he gave her antibiotic pills for 2 weeks and a wash to keep it clean. There will be a scare, but I can't keep her out of the field for 3 weeks in a body cast (the other option) She wanted to hunt...

It is healing very nicely.

[fishnhooks]

Susuki,

I am on my first hunting dog too. The first year with him, I was as scared as yourself. I still get leary when we hunt around barbed wire because he gets so excited and doesn't seem to think about anything but that bird, But I am getting better about it. Probably because there has been no injuries to report. All I can say is I feel lucky so far, and am just waiting for day that I have to pay for an emergency visit to the Vet.

[Matt Breuer]

Chuck, exact same thing happened to my shorthair 2 years ago. Big flap of thick skin dangling. Vet said he ddin't want to stitch it. It's healed up so well that you can't even see a scar, he just clipped the excess when it healed. Hope your dog gets well!

[Stratosman]

Happens all the time, at least when they were younger, they are a liitle more careful around it now but still get cut once in a while. The stuff that scares me is the old fences that havn't beed mended in 10 years that are laying on the ground that the dogs can't see.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

chuck, that is exactly what happened to my pooch, i thought there was going to be a huge scar, but it heald up great, and you cant tell it even happened. your dog will lick it constantly and it will seem like it will never heal, then all of a sudden one day, it'll be all good.

[Little Joe]

My dog's run into barb wire a ton of times - sometimes going full throttle. Last year, pheasant hunting, was the first time he really paid the price. Huge V shaped gash on his front leg right over the joint. Took a bunch of staples to close it. Thank god I've got a vet in the family that just happened to be working at the Puppy ER that day.

Had him down to the same spot this year and he seemed a little more cautious around the fences. He actually stopped at one and waited for me to pull up the wire so he could scoot through. Guess it takes 8 years for a lab to figure out that running into fences hurts!

[LuciandTim]

Hmmm, I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to use a shock collar every time the pup gets too close to a fence. I think that would do more damage than good. Is she supposed to be weary everytime she sees a fence?

Growing up pheasant hunting in Iowa, MN, & So.Dak, with a great dog, I learned that fence lines offer some great cover. I can't count how many times I shot birds out of fence lines, I would hate to have a dog that is afraid of fences..2 cents

It was nice to see this post..Both times out this year Luci has run almost full speed right into a barbed fence! I looked for cuts and to my suprise there were none! Luckily. I think she is already learning.

P.S. we need more birds!

[Wild Willie]

My dog has yet to have a close encouter of the barbed-wire kind. I'm not looking forward to it...Spinach went through it and it can cost some serious vetenarian coin. I guess experience is the best teacher. When faced with hunting grounds having a bunch of wire I will just try to keep him throttled down as much as possible, maybe introduce him to it, show him how to get under it, other than that I have no idea regarding damage control...until he hits it the first time and gets the idea.

[knoppers]

my britt hit a fence and it flipped her over, tore out the skin on her front leg pretty bad, I carried her 1 mile to the truck, then bolted to the vet, just in time as they were closing for the day. she had to be stapled shut. but it never slowed her down the next time out after it healed.

[shorthairdog2]

I have seen both cautious and uncautious dogs around fencelines. My inlaws have a shorthair that consistenly runs full bore into fences. She has been stiched up a few times, my dog seems aware of fences. She has never really hit one hard and always finds away through one without help. I think it depends on the dog and with experience they watch for them.

[fishhook8]

I was out to SD for the opener. I always put a chest protector on my 50 lb lab. He was chasing a bird and ended hanging upside down with the barb caught in his skid plate. I'm sure it saved us a big vet bill. Cheap insurance and the blaze orange really helps in thick cover.