I am new to this site so if this doesn't work, I apologize. We have an almost 9 month old Havanese female, Bonnie. I have been at home with her since we got her during COVID-19. She does have an expen and crate and uses both for shorter periods. I anticipate a day where she may be left for longer periods. Hurricane Sally knocked over our fence which we had not yet used for Bonnie. Now, as we rebuild our yard, I am trying to decide between FENCING most of yard or building a smaller DOG RUN.

Fence area would be larger and have grass area and could include another material like bark or gravel. Shade would be provided by trees. Bonnie enjoys digging and tends to still put things she shouldn't in her mouth.

Dog Run could be attached to back of garage area and be about 15*26 with fencing, house, and even some shade as well as artificial turf. Is there an opinion of which option might be better than others for Bonnie? Many thanks!

My dogs love being able to run around and play chase in a real back yard. The dog run would be better than nothing, but a bigger yard, would, of course, be better.

Hi cobbyw and welcome to the forum!
We’ve tried bark and pea gravel. One of ours dug through the bark and then began gnawing at his paw pads because of the tiny splinters. He still has not dug in the gravel. I retired early so our dogs don’t have run. How long will Bonnie be outside during the day in the future? The only issue I can think of would be birds of prey. I’m not familiar with Alabama from that perspective. Several years ago a friend of ours lost their dog that way. I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist just something to consider if it’s a possibility. Of course more space is better like Karen stated. If Bonnie we’re outside when you’re home is there a chance she might bolt if the yard isn’t fenced?
I’m very happy to hear you and Bonnie survived Hurricane Sally without harm. This has been a horrific season. Also, Bonnie is beyond precious❣️

Oh! I was assuming, in either case that the dog would be supervised when outside. Hawks can be a danger, and in almost all parts of the US, coyotes are a worse danger. Bobcats and mountain lions are in some areas. Havanese are little dogs and should NEVER be outside without supervision. Even when mine go out in our fully fenced back yard for quick potties, I stand in the doorway and watch for trouble.

I'm a terrible doggie mom. Patti goes in and out her doggie door and is not supervised. I overly worried about those things when she was a little puppy and kept a close eye on her until she matured. There are coyotes and hawks around, an occasional bob cat has been seen and reported. We have no mountain lions.

We live on 11 acres with large acreages around us but we are at the edge of town so we are not way out in the boonies with no one around.

Patti's a 15lb dog and I'm not concerned a Hawk is going to fly off with a barking, zooming dog. There are no reports or problems in our area with coyotes or bobcats attacking dogs, especially in a fenced yard. Sure they can jump over or dig underneath but they'd have be desperate and are not interested in coming in close to where people are around and there's activity.

There are plenty of rabbits and other critters that don't make noise to feed on that the hawks and coyotes are interested in. hunting. Coyotes have a large area they roam. Some years we'll have one or two that will appear for a while and leave for months to hunt somewhere else.

Other areas where homes in urban areas have taken over coyote feeding territory and there's lack of food seems to places that have problems with coyote attacking dogs and cats.

I've had other dogs and never had a problem with wild animal attacks, except for them getting sprayed by skunks and having them run and jump on the bed in the middle of the night. It's rare but we've had rattle snakes slithering around. I'm more concerned about those but they are rare and we keep our yard clean so it discourages things like that.

Patti is not outside late at night. But on cool evenings she loves hanging out on the patio, sleeping on a comfy patio chair, keeping the deer and armadillos away and communicating with other barking dogs until bedtime.

Patti wants to be around the family and we basically always know where she is, because she always has Her Eyes On Us.

A lot depends on where you live. But ... do what your comfortable with.

Ok Mikki, I think referring to yourself as a terrible Mom is needlessly harsh-you clearly are not. As I’ve said before (Mudpuppymama) no one who frequents this forum is a bad doggie parent. Where one lives is the most important consideration for a young puppy. We have rabbits everywhere. I don’t let the dogs chase them so when there is one in the yard it just looks at us and keeps chewing until we go back in. We had a pet rescue bunny for years so they’re not that interested anyway. Squirrels are a different story, they mess up my flowers and eat all our pears. The dogs need to chase something! At night we have to be careful of opossums that don’t want to be Cottons’ best friend. However, when it’s sunny Jodie and Cotton love to lounge outside. I’m glad to know that Patti weighs 15 pounds. Jodie is 14 pounds, lean and moves like lightening around the house and outside. She has long fluffy hair so people think she needs to loose weight compared to the boys who are in puppy cuts.
You’re pretty conscientious for being a terrible Mom��
That’s suppose to be a smiley face above not 2 question marks

LOL!!! :-) Thanks! Ja Ja

It is amazing how much bigger Patti looks when I let her gentle, fluffy, wavy hair grow out. I sometimes weigh her to see if she's gained weight. She's not a Pony Tail Girlie, Girl and I keep the hair around her eyes cut. She and I both like a short mustache and ears that don't hang down in her food and water bowel and mud and grass or whatever else she has her nose into. At 2 yrs 9 months, Patti's hair has matured, gotten prettier with age, doesn't matt as easily, making it easier to manage, unlike when she was going through puppyhood. I like both short and longish hair and go back and forth.

Before Patti I use to feed the squirrels - Oops! I mean birds. Unable to keep the squirrels out of the feeders I became an efficient Squirrel Trapper and trapped 72 squirrels one summer. Thinned them out for a while but others followed. In the beginning I transferred squirrels to other areas five miles away. Later I became Hard Hearted when some died quickly in heat. Cute squirrels are real nuance.

I, also, trapped three skunks. How do you get a skunk out of a squirrel trap....very! carefully.

I'm a hobby photographer, liked taking pictures of the birds and over the years had lots of beautiful unusual birds return. Also, have a few squirrel pics playing and drinking out of the bird baths. But, lots of birds make a mess kicking bird seed around and pooping, as well as, attracting neighborhood cats, mice, coyotes, skunks and other critters like ugly opossums.

After getting Patti I got rid of the feeders. The birds, squirrels and all other critters who once lurked around the house have disappeared. The cats took care of the mice and a few slow flying birds.

We have lights than come on with movement round the fence and house to discourage four legged and two legged things from lurking around.

Since fencing the yard we don't have rabbits, armadillos or critters coming inside the fence. The dogs (a Golden-doodle & Patti) probably discourages them. Just wish it worked the same way with Moles.

Mudpuppy...I need to borrow Mia your Mole Hunter.

Oh my gosh, I’ve been through all of that. We didn’t even think about bird poop, squirrels and seed everywhere. 72 in one summer is nuts (ha ha)! I’m impressed you were able to deal with skunks as well🤢
Since Jodie is almost 2 I’m hoping she’ll begin to look like Shama and Sophie. Mats are rare these days. I groom her every day but as you know, it doesn’t matter what is done during the blowing coat stage! Since you’re a hobby photographer is there any chance of seeing more pics of Patti and maybe the Golden Doodle? Our first dog was a Golden Retriever so I refer to Havanese as mini Goldens. Skunk pics aren’t necessary though 😅

Sorry we've hijacked your thread, Cobby, but this has been a fun one to read. (I only have time to read one or two threads at a time these days.) I vote for the fence if at all possible. Mikki, Shama would so enjoy spending a day with Patti on her acreage! And I bet Cobby wouldn't mind if you posted some of your hobby nature photographs here. (Or you could start a new thread.)

Completely off topic, but I know the readers of this thread will be sympathetic to hear that one of my best friends just lost her Golden Retriever Knut to cancer. She and her husband had never owned a dog before, even as children, and they agreed to raise this sweet boy to age two when he was supposed to go to Helping Paws to live the rest of his life as a service dog. Due to an unfortunate resource guarding incident when he was being babysat at the home of another GR, he flunked out of qualifying for service work, so he became my friend's beloved pet. In less than a week, he went from seeming fine to being in pain from cancer spread throughout his body, so they had to put him to sleep. He was only seven and a half.

Sorry again, Cobby, for going off topic in your thread. I hope you'll enjoy this forum where we are all friends. We can get a little chatty and off-topic at times. Welcome to the forum! Your Bonnie is precious! I hope to see more photos of her and hear your stories!

Thanks for all the feedback. I have no idea how long she would be left outside but not more than a few hours at most. I'm leaning more toward a dog run......and maybe I can even put a roof over it just in case there are critters. Our neighbor across the street has small dog and she is left outside with no issues. But I will be very careful and try to incorporate all this into the design.