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My friend cannot currently allow his dogs in his backyard because they dig under his privacy fence. I wanted to fix it for him and just planned on digging a trench (8-10inches deep, 6-8inches wide) and burying chicken wire. Then covering the chicken wire in gravel.

Cost of rental not being a factor, mainly just time, what is the easiest way to dig that trench? It's a long enough fence that digging it manually seems like a bit much. Is there an excavator that can dig right next to the fence? Anyone solved this issue before?

Thanks in advance

Dylan Buth
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In my experience, the easiest way to dig the trench is to let the dogs do the digging.

My former neighbor had dogs that would dig under her privacy fence. Putting a few bricks in the places they had started to excavate was enough to dissuade them from digging further in those locations. We used enough bricks to block the light through each hole they started.

Jasper
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I've used a trenching machine to install a sprinkler system. Obviously, one does not need a particularly wide trench to bury plastic pipe, but the concept applies here. The machine resembles a lawn edger in that it consists of a spinning blade and engine drive assembly.

If you picture a lawn edger, the blade rotates in the plane of the blade. This trenching machine rotates the blade 90° to the edger types, a flat scraping type motion. The device also covers the blade with a housing to direct the dirt excavated to one side and protects the operator as well.

EZTrench is one such product. I was able to rent the device for a reasonable fee in order to complete the sprinkler system installation. Based on the video, it appears that you would have a trench about six inches from the fence line, as clearance is required for the discharge chute. If the fence is not open construction, the excavated dirt will build up at the trench edge and may fall back in somewhat.

There are narrow trenching shovels that are handy for cleaning up the trench after excavating.

fred_dot_u
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I think you should lay heavier wire than chicken wire. The dogs will dig at first and the chicken wire might damage their paws.

Rather than dig a trench, what about laying wire on the ground and staking it in place with U-shaped stakes which hold it down?

Jim Stewart
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