A little over a decade ago, I picked up my first portable chainlink dog kennel. OK, so at 6’ high and 6’ X 10’ it wasn’t very “portable” but I really loved it and got 2 more of these kits as my home was under construction and the ability to move the kennel from one area to another as the construction progressed was a real benefit. Even after the “real”, fixed fencing was in place, I kept this portable kennel up as it gave me a place to kennel the dogs without them having the run of the full yard and that’s very handy at times. Shortly before moving, I sold the panels thinking I could replace them. Well, here starts the tirade.
The chainlink system I had was FenceMaster brand which is now owned by PetSafe and you can see a photo of the style I had here. This photo on their website annoys the CRAP out of me because it is NOT what they actually sell now; nor have they sold this style for QUITE SOME TIME.
First they lessened the gauge of steel in both the frame (tubing) and chainlink (mesh) and then they changed from the rounded top corners to bracket corners. You can see the new style here. I’m sure that set up, as is, may be fine for the average dog but that fence doesn’t have anywhere near the structural integrity the original design had. One of the nice things about the original was the ability to expand it to double and triple the size (to give some trotting space) with additional panels while still having great structural integrity (for an 80 pound Lab going at a dog on the other side of the fence full tilt to be stopped cold with no damage to dog or fence). Cross bars are added to the new style and it STILL doesn’t have decent structural integrity even in the plain 6' X 10’ structure.
Pet”Safe” my arse! Oh, and if you want one, you have to get it from an Invisible Fence dealer as that’s who they use as for distribution now. UGH! Invisible fencing for dogs is, IMO, perhaps the very worst idea ever had for dogs with a high prey drive. The problem being that they will blast right across the line while their adrenaline is up for the prey they head out after but they’re NOT going to come BACK across that line once they’ve calmed down so these fences tend to keep dogs out rather than in AND they don't keep OTHER animals out AT ALL.
Back to fence panels… About the only chainlink panels I can find locally now are Behlen Country. PUKE! When I ordered mine, they had a picture similar to the original FenceMaster panels. It was NOT what they delivered via Lowe's. I sent Lowe's a nasty email and I probably wasn’t the only one since the photo has disappeared. If you go to Behlen Country’s website, you’ll see a photo of the kennel with the corner brackets but this is NOT what they were delivering to Lowe’s as of about 6 months ago. What they delivered had the corner brackets at the top replaced with these cheap, lightweight clamps.
I suppose I’ll probably end up interspersing drive gates like these (if I can even find these) between the Behlen Country panels to add structural integrity but those panels are quite pricey, don’t have the center vertical bar (which I'd definitely add if I did this) and do have rounded bottom corners so they don’t “seat” into the dirt like I would prefer (also some risk to small dogs escaping, especially with this type side by side, leaving a large triangle gap that encourages digging to boot). GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I want my old FenceMaster dog kennel panels BACK!
More than that, I want companies to stop committing FRAUD by depicting and describing one product and delivering a different and substandard one!!! I really think they should have to pay for every minute a customer spent shopping, researching, and obtaining the fraudulent product to deter them from this behavior.
For dog kennels, these panel systems run about double the cost of fixed fencing but they WERE better quality so were well worth it. I saw that Barbara Hoffman mentioned actually building similar portable panels for her big cats. I can only imagine the cost but I can certainly sympathize with doing it themselves to ensure it meets the safety needs of their animals.
I guess I should mention the welded wire kennel panel systems that seem all the rage now, being touted as “safer” than chainlink. These come at double or more the cost of the chainlink panels and, more importantly to me, they weight 25-50% more per panel. See Behlen’s model here. Each large panel weighs in at 60 pounds or more. For me, the difference between a 45 pound panel and a 60 pound panel is substantial and not getting less so as I get older! But I did try a set of this style nearly a decade ago and several of the welds popped leaving pokies sticking out so I don’t think them even as safe as properly maintained chainlink that I don’t need welding equipment to repair!
Have I mentioned that I want my old FenceMaster dog kennel panels BACK (and a few companies who actually deliver what they promise would be nice too)!
Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone
(except PetSafe)