outdoor lattice, do I need screws?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Turns out that my puppy digs and is digging up a tree. To prevent digging, I was thinking about building a lattice out of cedar to place around the tree. I was thinking about simply using Titebond III and then just letting it sit so that I would not need to be as concerned about screws being left behind when it rots away. Sitting directly on the ground, I expect that it will rot faster than it would otherwise. Any thoughts?

[Jamie Buxton]

Glue will be okay presuming your wood is not soaking wet when you glue it, and presuming your glue lines are fairly thin. In my neck of the woods, cedar is generally sold green. Titebond cures by getting rid of water to the wood flanking the glue line, so if the wood is completely wet, the glue takes forever to cure.

[david brum]

I built some cedar lattice a few years ago. I used Titebond lll and it's held up great. I glued all the overlaps, using every clamp I had. That's a ton of glue surface area though, and it makes a really durable lattice.

Cedar is pretty rot resistant by itself, but you could always attach a pressure treated base.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Excellent. I will buy the wood, rip it to width and glue it together. I will lay the entire thing down on the ground so I expect that it will rot in a year or two, which is not a problem. I just want to dissuade the dog for a bit.

[Sam Murdoch]

How about just staking down a piece of chicken wire or hardware cloth? Or are you really looking for a woodworking project :D?

[Andrew Pitonyak]

How about just staking down a piece of chicken wire or hardware cloth? Or are you really looking for a woodworking project :D?

I have been thinking about doing exactly this. I think that if I do that, however, that I would want to but down the mesh and then bury it so that it is not a problem if little children (mine) run on top of it. I was thinking that I could build a mesh pretty inexpensively and it would not contain harsh edges.

[Sam Murdoch]

If you choose to use chicken wire or hardware cloth, you'll find that you can buy reasonably short rolls in various widths, I think starting at 24". The length is up to you. Anyway, the available widths come so that the width dimension is finished - no pointy parts or sharp edges. When you cut to length you will have a raw edge to contend with but it is easy enough to make a two inch fold at each end that will prevent harmful pointy things. Sorry to be using such technical terms :D. You can weight the wire down with rocks or drive in some tent stakes in the corners to hold all in place. Practically invisible, 80% less work, and your dog will be completely stymied.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

... 80% less work, and your dog will be completely stymied.

We have a winner! Will see what I can purchase tomorrow and then get-er-done...

Well, maybe I will wait until the cold spell is done (Monday).

[Jim O'Dell]

Be careful if the pup starts digging at the fence. Cedar splinters are very nasty and can create big problems. Jim.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Be careful if the pup starts digging at the fence. Cedar splinters are very nasty and can create big problems. Jim.

Had not thought of that.... I did not find cedar that nice to work with because it splintered so readily. Might have been the variety that I was using, and I don't even remember which it was (but I had to go to a specific lumber yard to get it). I used it recently for back panels in a shelf that I built in to a bunk bed. My daughter loved the color of the cedar after we used amber shellac on it - the rest was all pine.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Our German Shepherd destroyed everything we put under the fence trying to get her to stop digging.
2x10's, garden ties, chicken wire...I even tried cutting the bottom supports of old pallets off so I had two foot long sections of overhang (if that visual makes sense) and drove them into the ground with a sledge.
She still managed to tear up everything, including wire - which I have no idea how she managed to do it, but she did.
We ended up having to remove the wire since she refused to quit digging at it & tore the living daylights out of her paws and mouth.

The destructive capacity of a bored and/or dedicated dog is nearly limitless....

We ended up digging down eight inches under the whole perimeter of the fence and pouring concrete.
It wasn't a fun time... it took a couple of months.

She still kept trying to dig through even the concrete!
Thankfully all she managed to do was wear down her nails.

The one day, for no good reason, she just up and quit digging and never started up again. I don't think the concrete had anything to do with it since she would dig holes all over the back yard. She'd carry around her doggie toys for days on end and whimer whenever you'd take one away from her until you gave it back. Then for reasons known only to her, she'd take her precious toy out in the backyard, dig a hole and bury it! Then walk around and whiper because it was gone.
The bottom of the fence was just one of her targets. Her favorite excavation was, what we callled her "hole to China", a massive 5 foot by 5 foot hole at the base of a big tree that was nearly 3 feet deep.

In sheer destructive force though, the German Shepherd couldn't come close to the Huskey.
He was a one dog wrecking crew...

Good luck w/your pup - but - I think the only cure is that they outgrow the desire to dig - or find something else to occupy their bored little doggie minds.

[Peter Stahl]

She probably has a tunnel some where and is just waiting for the right time to make her move, lol. My daughters dog did the same thing and looks like she finally gave up. Her dog is a rescued pit bull, female about 50 pounds. She would jump up and hang onto a 6 foot fence and bark at the kids next door. She even tried a shock collar with the wire along the perimeter and at full voltage it didn't stop her from running through it.

[Sam Murdoch]

Well there is that too - the power and determination of some dogs. I was caring for a really lovely Malamute who didn't like cages and though I built her a huge pen - at least 12' square - in which she only spent the nights, she decided that that was undignified and actually tore apart the chain link fence that was buried 4" underground. She couldn't make a hole big enough for escape but she certainly impressed me with her efforts. In the case of Andrew's dog, my suggestions were as an alternative to a wood lattice. The next step might be the chain link fencing or concrete pad :D YIKES!

[Rich Engelhardt]

They all look so peaceful and serene just laying aound the house, only moving to find another place to circle around and around and around until they just plop down w/a pig-grunt and close their eyes for a nap....

It's hard to believe that once left on their own, they turn into liver-snap powered Komatsu's...