Labrador Retriever Jumping fence: Physical harm

[Faferz]

Hello Guys!

I have a 4 year old yellow Labrador retriever. She has been an inside dog her whole life up until about mid may. We moved into a new house, and my parents decided they didn't want dog hair in our new home ( cause we all know how much labs shed) Which is fine, since I will be going off to college in less than two years, she will be coming with me since she is my dog ( yes I know Dog's belong inside, but I do not have any say because I do no pay the bills.)
I got her at a younger naive age; while I was training her I didn't exactly know what I was doing, And because of my lack of knowledge, she has a couple of behavioral issues. I try to work with her using positive reinforcement, but the process is going by very slow considering I have school and extra curricular activities going on. She had learned to jump the fence at my old house and would run away. We would have to go chase her down and take her home. Now being at my new home, She wasn't able to figure it out until the 4th of July weekend. We figured out the area she was jumping and tried to block it off, only to find out that she finds a way around it. Not only is she jumping the fence now; she is hurting herself in the process. She ripped off two of her claws and managed to tear up her arms and legs. We think the injuries come from her hanging on the fence and then pushing herself over. Since we have a wooden fence, the tops are very jagged and carved into a small spiky like pattern. Not only is she hurting herself, she also just comes straight to our front door and waits for us to open the garage(where she sleeps at night) lately, we have been having to keep her in the garage a majority of the day so she doesn't jump the fence. ( We do take her on walks, so she's not in there ALL day; and she will stay in the backyard for about 45 minutes before she jumps) I've been trying to just take her through the gate into the backyard every time she jumps and making it to where the only way she gets to come in the garage is if she sits at the back door quietly. She has got the sitting part down but she still jumps and hurts herself. We had a shock fence all set up when we bought the house but we don't use it since she is hurting herself anyways. Is there like a product we could put along the top of the fence so she cant grab onto it? I would appreciate any training tips or links to products you guys have personally used!


Extra info:
-There is nothing on the other side that is more exciting, since she just comes to the front door.
- If a human is in the backyard with her, she wont jump.
- We have had some issues with separation anxiety (ex: she would carry our shoes out of our rooms and put them in her cage to sleep with while we were away/tear up our clothes while away)
- She has a friend in the back yard(our other dog) along with toys and plenty of food and water
- Before she figured out how to jump the fence at our new house, she would constantly bark and scratch at the doors to be let in.

[emmabeth]

There really is no immediate and yet kind, way, to teach her not to jump out of the yard - she is doing it for a reason and until that reason is addressed, she will continue to want and need to do it...

However you can physically prevent it - put an inward overhang of 45 degrees on the inside of the fence - make it whatever depth that she cannot cling onto the top of that whilst also kicking the fence with her hind paws.

This won't stop her problem, which is separation anxiety and probably boredom, though and if you ONLY do that, there is a chance she will do something else, chew at herself, howl, bark, dig, turn circles, chase her tail.... all behaviours that can become 'coping strategies' for stressed out dogs.

I would:

Grovel to your parents to allow her to sleep in the house with you, in your room, at night - (ideally so she can be in there before you go to bed, so she can hang out whilst you read, watch tv if you have a tv in there, do your home work etc). Play that off with offering to do not JUST the housework required for the hair shedding (so not just extra vacuuming in your room) but extra housework throughout the house.

Make sure she is getting two hours worth of walking, where that means walking, training, interacting and earning reward as well as off leash play, every day.

Make sure that at home she is getting mental stimulation in the shape of toys, games, training sessions, puzzle solving work, feed from food dispensing toys rather than bowls, to really maximise the brain-work she does, every day - the more brain work she does, the less time she has for worrying!

You say when she gets out she goes round the front to the garage - could a dog flap not be put in so she can access the garage herself?

[doggiedad]

build her a kennel.