Go as tall as you can first. Seems like a no-brainer, but once they learn they can jump over--good luck. We put a temporary fence with t-posts in for the winter, until we could dig posts this Spring. We weren't very smart and just bought some cheap 3' fence.  Worked great for months, and then a few inches of snow and they were over it. So we upped the fence to 4 1/2', and the pup sailed over that the other day. Two sides of the permanent fence, when we get to it, are woven horse fencing at 48"--so now I guess we'll definitely have to utilize a hotwire border. We basically taught ours they could get out, by making it too easy for them to do so the first time. 
And on a side note, jumping a woven wire fence can be dangerous. Many moons ago, my mom and I were travelling along a major highway and saw a dog hanging upside down in woven fence. She had jumped it, got a hind leg stuck in a hole in midflight, and then landed on the other side. I don't know how many people had ignored her as they drove by, and no one even stopped to help us, but the skin was gray around the injury by the time we found her and cut her down...even though her front feet were touching earth. Next day her leg was amputated. Through a newspaper article, we eventually found her owners. They were delighted to have her back. Seems she had made it many miles during a lightning storm--until the fence got the best of her. We had a horse foal do a similar thing, and cut just about every tendon in her hind leg. When I'm gone, and not able to monitor them, I put my dogs in a 10x10 kennel with roof cover.
BTW, nice fence MegC, and thanks for the link. |