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I live in a house with four housemates (we share the rent, and the house) and three dogs. Two of the dogs are fine--puppies, still enthusiastic and half-trained, but getting there--but the third is a problem.
Mercy is a 4-year-old female spayed Beagle mix (or perhaps pet-quality Beagle). She was adopted from the pound six months ago by a girl who used to live here. That girl moved away and left the dog; so now she is owned by one of the present housemates, though of course she lives with all of us.
Mercy is very intelligent; but she has some behavior problems. Among them is her persistent escaping from the back yard, where she and the other two dogs (both recently neutered males) are kept during the day while everyone is away at work and school.
Yesterday, she escaped and was hit by a car. The driver managed to brake and only bumped her; but she is limping and we think she has bruised something. We called the vet, who said it could wait until morning; so we have made an appointment and she is going to the vet tomorrow.
The girl who officially owns the dog has begun to seriously think about taking her to a (no-kill) shelter, especially because Mercy's other major problem--peeing in the house--is becoming very annoying to one of the other girls; and though it is not a problem if she is kept outside during the day, her fur is too thin to leave her outside during the cold Ohio winters.
Here's what I know about the situation:
Is there anything we can do to keep this dog in the yard where she belongs?
Mercy is a 4-year-old female spayed Beagle mix (or perhaps pet-quality Beagle). She was adopted from the pound six months ago by a girl who used to live here. That girl moved away and left the dog; so now she is owned by one of the present housemates, though of course she lives with all of us.
Mercy is very intelligent; but she has some behavior problems. Among them is her persistent escaping from the back yard, where she and the other two dogs (both recently neutered males) are kept during the day while everyone is away at work and school.
Yesterday, she escaped and was hit by a car. The driver managed to brake and only bumped her; but she is limping and we think she has bruised something. We called the vet, who said it could wait until morning; so we have made an appointment and she is going to the vet tomorrow.
The girl who officially owns the dog has begun to seriously think about taking her to a (no-kill) shelter, especially because Mercy's other major problem--peeing in the house--is becoming very annoying to one of the other girls; and though it is not a problem if she is kept outside during the day, her fur is too thin to leave her outside during the cold Ohio winters.
Here's what I know about the situation:
- Mercy's main mode of escape from the backyard is to dig out under the chain-link fence.
- When she gets out, she runs around for a while, and then comes back. Her owner chases her; and Mercy seems to think it's a game, because she runs away, looks back, then runs again. She can only be caught when she wants to be caught because, typically for most large dogs, she can run much faster than any human.
- We've considered keeping her in the house; but I don't think this is a good idea because she would pee all over the carpet.
- I don't know if this makes a difference, but Mercy's owner disciplines her rather harshly; she generally "spanks" the dog (with a hand, and not very hard) when she catches the dog misbehaving. Mercy usually rolls over on her back and/or pees when this happens. Then she is put in her crate for about a half hour.
- The house is a rental and we can't make major changes to the yard.
- We don't have the money to, for example, install a fence that is buried a foot or so into the ground, or set in concrete. So anything we do to keep this dog penned will have to be cheap.
- Mercy seems to have quite a lot to do in the backyard; there are the two pups to play with, and we have given her plenty of toys. We feed the dogs in the backyard and they always have fresh water available via a bowl with attached water tank.
Is there anything we can do to keep this dog in the yard where she belongs?