My advice is...it sucks to share fences with other dogs :/
IME is that even dogs who are "friends" will often fence fight in these settings. So I don't know how far trying to get them to be friends could go. I think you've said your dogs are trained to bark collars. I have had good luck preventing fence fighting with those. However, that won't solve the entire problem obviously. The best solution I have come across seems to be the "fence within a fence" idea, where you put up another barrier a couple feet in from the main fence. The purpose is just to create a buffer more so than to contain dogs. You could say put up some cheap posts with chicken wire or rabbit fencing or if you want sturdier, livestock fencing. If it's possible where you are, let the grass grow up around this barrier. Or attach these to it for an additional bit of visual barrier.
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/backyard-x-scapes-6-ft-h-x-16-ft-l-reed-fencing-hdd-dan-rf01.html For a more permanent, long term extra barrier, you could always plant shrubs or crazy vines along the main fence and/or interior fence.
Of course, that depends on what is or isn't allowed or frowned upon where you live. If you have wooden and chainlink fencing on different sides of the yard though, I'm guessing there's probably not real strict rules.
Thanks, I am less worried about mine than maybe I should be. I do worry about Arnold turning on the girls when excited, so we'll be rotating in the yard until I have a better grasp on things. Sloan will probably love the excitement but she has a great recall. Shamoo will probably be the biggest problem, it's no secret she's just naughty and her recall against stimuli is barely a glance to humor me anymore. She'll need a leash.
The visual barrier seems like a great idea. The previous home owner put in cement garden edging bricks along a lot of the fence and I found a mostly buried nylabone on our side of the fence which makes me wonder if they used to get through. In that case my dogs will fight, I have no question about it and I worry. They're tough and I hate for them to hurt anything but the three to the back and big pit bull/bully/ambulldog looking creatures which could probably eat my dogs alive. I was impressed they're not redirecting on one another though so maybe it's not as aggressive as it sounds. They seemed confused by me calmly kneeling by them and my dog trotting in circles ignoring them.
Here is what I would do. This is assuming I am understanding your back fence set up correctly.
Untitled5 by
RedChrome, on Flickr
Here is what my fence on the shared side looks like. (well it isn't green and blue. lol)
Untitled6 by
RedChrome, on Flickr
Thanks! I'll look into this fencing!
The inner fence is probably the best option. A hotwire will also work, and is relatively inexpensive, but I think it's illegal here.
I would be tempted, I'm so afraid of hurting someone's dogs though, more for retaliation. I have seen too many movies. I don't think I need a hotwire for my own dogs.
Maybe we'll just layer more cement bricks where the dogs are close to digging through. Just as a precaution. Denis suggested for now we xpen off the yard closest to the house and use that as the potty break area and the rest of the yard for engaged playtime only. At least until we're re-fenced and feel it's more secure.
I could easily be overreacting as well, I've now seen their dogs once and we've been to the house a lot already at all hours of the day. Maybe they're not that big of an issue and mostly reacting to strangers in the yard being noisy while demolishing the interior of the house.
The other problem is if you get multiple dogs of yours fence fighting, there is a possibility of redirected aggression/a very quickly escalating fight. Sometimes mine run into each other when they run the fence line (barking at a cat or a squirrel), and they get into tiffs. It really sucks.
Yeah, with Arnold that is a very real concern, he's not allowed to get excited with other dogs so we're used to recalling and putting him up first if anything exciting happens.
Thanks to everyone, all of your advice has helped a lot. I'll start seeing what I can move around and stack at that point in the fence until we can get new fencing or a visual barrier. We don't plan to be moved in for another week or two (It's now kitchen and floorless lol) but when we do we'd like to be as safe as possible.
The back fence, which is the one of concern.
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3844_983748583028_947921257_n.jpg