A Good Fence Makes Good Dogs

Esther’s writing prompt: November 11, 2026: Fence

This is my response to Esther’s November 11th prompt Fence. Click here or here to join in.

Our Leonberger dog is standing on a red sofa. He is stretching to give me a hug,
Young Bronco is giving me a hug.

One thing that is abundantly clear to any dog owner who is letting their dog out in their backyard without supervision, which I think is very common, is that you need a good fence. Unless you have perfect control of your dog, they would like to roam the neighborhood unsupervised if given the chance, and you don’t want to give them that chance. That was especially true for a 140lbs Leonberger dog. A big dog can cause all kinds of damage to the neighborhood if unsupervised. Below is a picture of a good fence.

Backyard, relax and portrait of dog on grass for obedience, support and fun in leaves in sunshine. Nature, foliage and Labrador with tongue out in garden by fence.
Labrador in front of fence in the backyard. This is good fence but has a potential dig spot. Shutterstock asset id: 2485564001 by PeopleImages

Below are some real life stories from our life with dogs and the importance of good fences.

The Great Dog Escape

We used to have a Japanese Chin called Ryu and a Pug called Daisy. They were like a couple. Always together. Typically, it was the Pug Daisy who followed our Japanese Chin Ryu around everywhere, and Ryu could be quite adventurous.

Our pug Daisy is sitting as our Japanese Chin Ryu is standing and licking her ear.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu and our Pug Daisy. Ryu is licking Daisy’s ear, the charming gentleman he was.

One afternoon, my wife Claudia got a phone call from a woman who had found a small black-and-white dog walking around the streets of North Dallas with a pug following close behind. She thought they looked hilarious, but she realized that this was hardly a good situation and decided to help. She rounded up the dogs, checked their tags, and called us, for which we were very grateful. It wasn’t the first time Ryu and Daisy had escaped, and it worried us. We couldn’t figure out how they managed to do it.

Then one day I caught them in the act. At the back of the area in our yard that we call the dog run, there is a concrete wall, and by the corner of that wall there used to be a hole in the fence, a bit above the wall. I had never noticed it before because it was hidden and pretty small. Ryu and Daisy would jump up on the wall at its lowest spot, then walk down the wall to the fence, then climb up a bit on the fence and slink through the hole. Of course, after seeing that, I fixed the hole. No more holes in our fence.

The picture shows our pug and Japanese Chin walking on a concrete wall and through a hole.
Our Japanese Chin Ryu is leading our Pug Daisy through a hole in our fence that I had not noticed. I created this picture with the help of ChatGPT.

Baby Jail or Private Puppy Residence?

Unfortunately, Ryu got cancer and passed away. We got another dog, a mini Australian Shepherd named Rollo. He grew up with out big Leonberger dog Bronco and our pug Daisy.


Rollo often pushed his luck with Bronco—climbing all over him, sitting on him, and stealing his possessions. Bronco was very patient and protective of little Rollo, but we were afraid he would lose patience with him one day when we were not present. Therefore, we put Rollo in a playpen whenever we left the house. The playpen was a like a fence protecting Rollo (from himself).

The photo shows our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo biting and pulling on our Leonberger Bronco’s tail.
To my astonishment, Bronco didn’t react angrily when Rollo swung like Tarzan from his tail.

The playpen had a door that swung open and could be locked. Soon he learned to go through the door on his own when we asked him to. We would say, “Rollo, playpen,” and he would march right in. We made sure that the playpen contained water and toys and that the door was locked behind him. Of course, we didn’t leave him there for too long. Experts recommend a maximum of two hours when the puppy is two months old and a maximum of three hours when the puppy is three months old. Even when Rollo was older than that, we never left him in the playpen longer than four hours.

Rollo’s relationship with his playpen was interesting. When Daisy tried to walk in, Rollo would get angry. The playpen was Rollo’s, and no one else could enter. It was his little house within a house. Sometimes he would walk in even if we didn’t ask him to, and he would just sit there for a while, as if he needed some alone time.

The picture shows our mini-Australian Shepherd with a toy inside his playpen. The playpen was about three by three meters.
When Rollo was in his playpen, we were sure he would be safe in case Bronco decided he had had enough of his younger sibling’s antics.

Our younger son’s girlfriend came up with a great name for Rollo’s playpen: baby jail. So that’s what we called it, and Rollo seemed to like it. When we told Rollo, “Rollo, baby jail,” he would march right in, just as he did when we called it a playpen. Even though he didn’t seem to mind it, he was always eager to come back out when we got home. He would stand on his hind legs, jump up and down, and bark. Then we would rush to greet him and lift him out of his baby jail. The baby jail was another example of the way a good fence makes good dog neighbors. Maybe we all need a baby jail?

The Tornado and our Fence

A photo of severely damaged house. The roof is lying in the street.
Our street, just a couple of houses down from us

On October 20, 2019, our neighborhood was destroyed by an F3 tornado. We were lucky compared to our neighbors. The houses of many of our neighbors were completely destroyed. Our house stood but it had some damage. Our chimney was smashed by flying debris from our neighbor’s roof, and our roof was damaged and needed to be replaced. The garage door was destroyed, the wiring in the attic needed to be replaced, the grill flew away and our fence was damaged. Because of our dogs repairing the fence was the first priority.

This happened right after our Leonberger dog Bronco had a toe amputation due to toe cancer. It was a very stressful time. You can read more about it here “Five Years After the Dallas Tornado of October 20, 2019”.

The picture shows a Leonberger lying down in front of a broken fence.
This photo is taken after a tornado went through our neighborhood. Our old Leonberger Bronco recently had a toe amputation in picture, and he has a plastic bag around the bandage.

I have many more stories about the importance of having a good fence in your backyard when you have dogs. Suffice it to say, a good fence makes good and safe dogs.

My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

One thought on “A Good Fence Makes Good Dogs”

  1. You’re so right about needing a fenced yard with dogs! Personally, even though our fence is escape-proof (it had to be, for the sake of my business), I still won’t ever leave a dog out there unsupervised.

    That was quite an adventure Ryu and Daisy went on! Good thing somebody found them, and you could fix the hole. Rollo’s little “house” offers him a calm environment, so that’s a good thing. What a terrible ordeal that tornado must have been for all of you! And poor Bronco, recovering from toe surgery at the same time. I can imagine the stress.

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