Dog is a man's best friend. So why not show your dog that you appreciate him? Build a dog fence for him so that he can play outside and have a little fun. Building a dog fence is easy, and often requires no more than a good plan, and maybe some metal bending work.

Instructions on Building a Great Dog Fence

1. Find Out Where Your Lines Are

Call your utility company and have them mark utility lines in your yard. You don't want to end up bending metal, sticking it into the ground and disrupting other people's services, or causing yourself serious injury.

2. Start Marking Your Site

Use stakes to mark the corners of your dog fence, and also where the gate will be. Metal bending and metal rollingmight be part of the actual grunt work of your project, but you won't break a sweat by merely planting some stakes into the ground.

3. Start Digging

Dig a hole a couple of feet deep where each stake is. Drop a post into each of these holes and make sure to pack the dirt in around these posts very tight.

4. Rope It Off

Run a rope between your posts. Keep the rope close to the ground so that you can use it as a sort of ruler for when you start putting your fence up.

5. More Staking

Put stakes along your rope, about every five feet. These will be markers for your T-posts,

6. T-Posts

Start putting metal T-posts into the ground, everywhere you have a stake. Whether you practice metal bending or metal rolling and have made the posts yourself, or if you have simply bought them already shaped at a store, you want to make sure they are secure.

7. Secure the mesh

Staple your wire mesh into your fence posts. Be sure to hammer the staples in good.

8. Roll

Start rolling the mesh around your fence line on the inside of your T-Posts and on the outside of your corner ones.

9. Pull and Attach

Now you want to pull your mesh tight and start attaching it to your T-posts. Put the wires into the T-post holders and squeeze those closed using pliers.

10. Tight Is Right

Pull your mesh very tight around all corners, using your fence staples to make sure they are secure.

11. Almost Done

You're almost finished. Just continue to attach your mesh to all of your posts until you have the entire fence perimeter covered besides the gate.

12. The Final Piece

After all that metal bending, wire meshing, staking, and measuring, you are just about done. All that is left is to attach the gate of your choice.

Whether you are doing everything from scratch and making your own stakes, metal bending, and designing the gate, or you buy all of your materials pre-made and just put the fence together from my instructions, building a dog fence will be rewarding not only to your dog, but to you as well. I’d love to hear any comments from any of you that have already made a dog fence.

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Karen Davies is a construction expert specializing in metal bending and metal rolling. When not helping local communities with park projects he likes to help people on the web with advice on home improvement projects.