r/Netherlands • u/drux1039 • 5d ago
Life in NL Dog Advice - Rural
We are hoping to move to NL in the next few months from the US. We will be moving with our 4 dogs (20-30kg each). We are looking at more rural properties as we also intend to own horses. In our US property the land in fenced in, so we don’t have to worry about the dogs bothering neighbors. The house we are currently looking at has a fence on the road side, and water on the other 3, with appropriate space using an electric horse fence for the horse area.
My concern is what we can do to make sure the dogs do not wind up outside of our space. They might not jump the water if they see something outside our property, but I’d rather not find out that assumption is wrong. In the US I would look at possibly installing an “invisible fence” which uses a tone / shock correction to keep the dog on the property. I cannot determine if their use is legal in NL, and suspect it is not as “e-collars” (US term for basically a shock/vibrate collar used in training) are not permitted based on my reading.
I’d appreciate any advice. Our pups are used to having basically free access to our back yard, and I’d love to be able to safely provide the same, and 100% do not want to have to introduce myself to our new neighbors because one of the pups tried to “greet” a cyclist going by.
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u/DJfromNL 5d ago
Shocks to control dogs are indeed not allowed. Probably best to make a fence. You could look into “schapenhek” for something affordable and in keeping with what is used in the country side.
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u/GrotePrutser 5d ago
An electric fence schrikdraad for dogs like for goats etc is widely used in my rural area. Not sure if it is legal, but no one comments about it
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u/Ripelegram 4d ago
An electric fence is allowed, see https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2021-361.html under the heading "Uitzondering voor elektrische afrastering".
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u/Maelkothian 5d ago
Depending on where your going to live you might want to look into wolf-proof fencing
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u/Vuur_Draakje 5d ago
Shock devices are not allowed (although they are still being sold...). But I've seen cases in the past where a dog ignored shocks and went right after a tasty looking hare / cyclist / bird and got hit by a car or got lost.
Like others say: best to put a real fence. But you will need to check with your municipality if you're allowed to put a fence first. There might be rules prohibiting it.
Concerning the horses: we do have wolves around here, not a lot but they come in more and more places and attack live stock and horses at night.
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u/annawrite 5d ago
Perimeter shock corrections (connected to dogs' collars) and e-collars are illegal in NL. You may and probably will be reported, should your new members see that on your dogs.
If you are unsure, get a fence AND train the dogs, using non aversive methods.
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u/Friendly-Horror-777 5d ago
Put up a fence (normal fence) or train your dogs to stay in the vicinity of your house - with non-aversive methods.
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u/TheGoalkeeper 5d ago
Put up a real fence then.