Where to put fence

[Anonymous]

I want to fence in my smallish backyard before we get a dog this summer. We are planning to adopt a small/medium young adult dog--not a puppy. Our backyard is a little unusual. We have about 1/8th of an acre that is lawn--pretty much treeless. Then we have a treeline and an area of about 1/8th-1/4th an acre that has trees and bushes and can be a bit overgrown at times. We back up to a (not nice) creek and more trees, etc. I am trying to decide weather to fence in the whole thing, including the trees and brush or just the lawn. I've had people chime in with opinions on either side. The pros for fencing it all in--it will look better, the dog can potentially be taught to pee and poop out in the wooded area, its more area for the dog to roam, sometimes our kids have liked to roam out there when the overgrowth has been cleared. It also keeps the potential for us clearing more area in the future and having more yard without having to redo the fence to go around it. The cons mentioned so far for fencing it all in--the dog would get ticks in the woods, we don't want to have to be calling the dog in from the wooded area if he/she is not good at coming back in, the potential of other "critters" in the woods. It's not that big an area so I am not sure how big a threat that last one is. Also, there's the opinion that the smaller fenced in area would actually look nicer. I had a fencing guy come out to give an estimate. I thought that the price might be the decider, but he says that both options are very similar in price. Can I ask what you would choose, as dog owners and maybe home owners, too? Thanks for any insights and opinions.

[Anonymous]

OP here--also, of course we'd put a gate at the back of the fence--we would not totally be losing access to the treed area if we decided to fence in the smaller area.

[Anonymous]

Does the creek ever flood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the creek ever flood?

No—and it’s not that near—I just mentioned it to point out there would just be more untamed area on other side of fence.

[Anonymous]

I would fence it all. It gives the dog more area to explore and the other benefits you mentioned. The tick concern is probably minimal if you are using a flea/tick preventative.