Dig-proof by arithmetic
Every containment line carries a twelve-inch galvanised apron pinned flat into the turf — the dig starts, hits steel, and ends. Houdini breeds meet the eighteen-inch version, buried, because we would rather sell you wire once and dignity never.
Latches two species can’t open
The dual-stage latch sits at fifty-four inches with a pin a paw cannot work and a toddler cannot reach — the same geometry the pool codes trust. Kennel gates add a gravity self-close, so the run shuts itself behind the person with the full hands.
Chew-graded boards
Cedar is delicious and we will say so to your face: on chew lines we quote composite, because it tastes like nothing and voids no warranty. Every quote names the board your dog is likely to eat and prices the one it can’t.
Services
The run sheet
01
Backyard containment — from $31/ln ft
Six-foot cedar or composite privacy with the twelve-inch apron, posts in concrete below the Birdwell frost line, and a gate on dual-stage hardware. The line that turns a supervised yard into a trusted one — jump height, dig depth and latch IQ all budgeted in.
02
Kennel runs & daycare lines — from $880/run
Six-by-ten galvanised runs on six-inch mesh, raised resting decks, and the double-gate entry an excited arrival cannot rush. Daycare yards get the drop-side transfer gates and drainage that hoses clean in the time between packs.
03
Catios & cat containment — from $1,450
Two-by-three mesh panels that hold a claw without a snag, shelves at the heights cats actually patrol, and a polycarbonate roof that turns a corner of the yard into a screened porch. Escape-proof runs to the vet-standard rule: if a head fits, nothing else does.
04
The double-gate entry — from $1,900
The airlock that ends the front-door dash: two gates, one always latched, sized to the wheelbarrow and the hurry. Concrete underfoot, dual-stage hardware both ends, and the two seconds it buys you back every single morning.
Escape artist? Send the video of the last breakout — we will tell you which failure it was before we visit. (555) 362-9150 · runs@hightailfence.example
The honest dog arithmetic
The chew test decides the board.
Cedar privacy runs about $31 a foot installed and one bored labrador can eat a hundred dollars of it in an afternoon. Composite runs nearer $44 and tastes like nothing at all. We quote both on the same visit, name the chewer if there is one, and let the dog’s own record decide the board — not our margin.
What a chewer costs the yard
Cedar boards, replaced after the bored afternoon≈ $560/yr
the delicious option, priced honestly
Composite boards, same dog, same afternoon≈ $0
tastes like nothing, chews like a loss
Chain-link with privacy slats≈ $0
the budget line that outlives the puppy phase
The dig repair you don’t need≈ $0
apron included in every containment quote
Birdwell · Fennel Crossing · 2024–2026
The escapes we ended
Six yards from the last two seasons, each photographed after the dog that owned it had a full summer to file an objection. None did — the mail carriers of Birdwell can confirm.
How the run goes in
From the breakout video to the tested line
Every yard we build starts with the dog, not the tape: what it jumped, what it dug, what it opened. The fence is the answer to that record — and the visit where we read it is free, whoever builds the line.
The dog interview
Breed, age, escape record, the video if one exists. A husky that clears five feet and a beagle that lives underground get different fences, and the interview is where we say which.
The dig audit
Soil, grade and every existing dig line on the property — the apron is sized to the record, from twelve pinned inches to eighteen buried ones for the professionals.
Posts & apron
Augered below the Birdwell frost line at 48 inches, concrete at corners and gate posts, apron pinned or buried to the audit’s number. The cure day is on the calendar before the boards arrive.
The escape test
The day we leave, the dog tests the line while we watch — the gate, the corners, the bottom rail. We adjust on the spot, and the sixty-day warranty starts when the dog gives up.
One Birdwell border collie remains undefeated — at chess. Every fence is holding.
Our husky cleared three fences in two years, including one a crew swore was husky-proof. Hightail watched the breakout video twice, said “she climbs, she doesn’t jump,” and built a line with a roller bar along the top rail. Two summers now. She sits at the gate and waits to be invited, which is a dog I did not know we owned.
Before the visit
The dog questions
What every Birdwell dog owner asks in the first ten minutes — answered with the record, the breed and the yard rather than the brochure.
Why not an invisible fence — it’s cheaper?
An invisible fence punishes the dog for coming home and stops exactly one animal: yours, sometimes. It holds no coyote, no loose dog, no toddler walking in. We build the physical line because the record says that is the one that actually closes the yard.
My dog eats wood — cedar or composite?
Composite, and we will tell you at the visit before you ask. Cedar is cheaper per foot and delicious; composite costs about forty percent more and survives the bored afternoon. On chew lines the arithmetic is not close, and the quote names the chewer either way.
How high is high enough?
By the record: most companions are contained at six feet, climbers need a roller rather than height, and the jumpers — the malinois-and-up class — get seven with a claimed-and-tested top rail. The interview sets the number, not a rule of thumb.
Can you match the fence we already have?
Usually, yes — board profile, spacing and weathering. New boards against old cedar read for about a season and then the sun settles it. Where the match matters we can source reclaimed boards first.
Tell us about the dog.
Breed, age and escape record — the visit where we read all three is free. The quote is written the same day, fixed for sixty days, and the escape test is on us.
Hightail Fencing Co. · Lic. #DF-2087 · five-year workmanship warranty, escape-tested at handover · runs@hightailfence.example · 14 Kennel Row, Birdwell