Fencing Recommendations for Weimaraners

The best Weimaraner homes include a large yard in an enclosed/fenced area so that dogs have room to stretch their legs, run, potty, and otherwise get some exercise in.

The purpose of this article is to help potential/new Weimaraner owners figure out what kind of fencing to put up. 

Keep in mind that Weimaraners are indoor dogs. While the backyard/fenced area should be viewed as an extension of your dog’s living space, it is NOT intended to contain your dog while you’re away from home. (That’s what the crate is for.) So ideally, you just want a fence that’s high enough that when your dog spots a stranger or a squirrel, it will prevent him/her from hopping over and running off.

For me and my dogs, that’s a five foot fence.

Some factors to consider:

1. Safety. At minimum, your fence should keep your Weimaraner in. If you know you have a digger, consider embedding the fence about 12″ into the ground. If you know you have a jumper, make sure you can accommodate planting a row of hedges or bushes by the fence at your dog’s “take-off point” so he/she can’t gather him/herself up properly to jump out. Also make sure that you don’t have anything placed near the fence that your dog could use as an escape aid (we’ve had to pull our barbecue grill away from the wall for that precise reason).
2. Aesthetics and Community. Consider the type of community you live in when selecting your fence. (Hey, it’s the neighborly thing to do.) If you live in a suburban area and expect to have neighbors and mail carriers walking by all the time (with or without their dogs), consider a privacy fence so your Weimaraner can’t see through the fence. This minimizes the times your dog will be barking her head off whenever she’s in the yard. [See also: Weimaraners are protective, and Weimaraners bark.] If you live in a more rural setting and no one will be walking by (humans or other animals), a chain-link fence is probably fine. That’s also if you don’t mind the aesthetics of a chain-link fence. Note that chain-link fences are prohibited in some communities, so check with your local City or County Zoning Ordinance first to make sure you can even put up chain-link, if that’s your desire.
3. Cost. The cost of fencing varies. On the low end, you get chain-link fencing. On the high end, you could go with a wooden privacy fence. Either will do the job to keep a Weimaraner in, so figure out what’s best for you and then get a few different quotes from local vendors before you make your decision.

I’ve got a few different types of fences on my property, and I like them all for different reasons. See if any of the below might work for you.

Best of luck in your search!

Wood fencing. The right portion of this wood fencing is about five feet high, and works great. Unfortunately, it steps down to about three and a half feet (on the left) and is not so great. My girls LOVE hanging over the short side of the fence to bark at our neighbors, their gardeners, the joggers, and the cats that go up the tree. Because there’s a drop on the other side of the fence, my dogs haven’t tried hopping it yet, but I don’t doubt that someday, they’ll try. So this is on my list of things to do when I get around to it.

Tubular steel fencing. This fence is five feet high and separates our “dog yard” from the “chicken yard.” We wanted something that wouldn’t visually slice our yard in half, and this works great for that, but the downside is that every morning, the dogs run up to the fence to point at the chickens and bark at the chickens. So far, no one has tried hopping this fence. I’m also planting stuff right next to the fence so that my dogs can’t zip back and forth or dig underneath.

Stucco fencing. This fence is also five feet high. I personally think it’s hideous, but it was here when we moved in and we haven’t done anything about it. Someday, the vines will grow over the stucco and it won’t be so bad. My dogs tend to stay away from this one, but I DID have a large foster Weimaraner (boy) dog once who easily hopped it to get out and go up the street. Proof that a five foot fence does not always work.

Rose hedge fencing. This one’s somewhere between four and five feet high, but it’s so thick that no one has ever tried to look through it or go over it. Of all my fences, this one’s my favorite, but I’m into “pretty garden things,” so this works for me. It’s also inexpensive because all it is is a few rose hedges growing over some wooden posts, but it does take time to fill-in.