Homemade Dog Traps

Dogs are domesticated animals, which means that they are used to being around people and will usually come when called. Some skittish dogs, untrained dogs, or wild dogs, however, might need to be trapped. You can design homemade dog traps to use if you need to catch or trap dogs that will not readily come to you.

The easiest way to trap dogs safely is to trap them inside of a building on your property. You can use your garage, a shed or even your child's playhouse. Clear out the building and remove anything that might be dangerous or poisonous to a dog. Lay down newspapers and cover anything that a wild dog might chew on or damage. Prop open the door to the building so that the animal can get inside. Station yourself outside of the building, as near as possible. Place an amount of food that has a strong scent, such as tuna fish or canned dog food inside of the building. Then wait. When the dog manages to get inside of the building to eat the food, slam the door from the outside.

Fence in an area of your backyard and leave a small hole in the fence so a dog can get into it. Take a piece of fencing that matches the hole and suspend it directly over the hole by placing it up against the existing fence and using a small wooden peg to keep it suspended. Attach a string to the wooden peg and tie the other end of the string around a large piece of meat. As the dog enters the trap, he will tug on the meat and as he does, the peg will fall out of the fence, causing the portion of fence that has been suspended to fall to the ground and cover up the hole that the dog came through.

A pit trap can be used to catch wild animals. When an animal falls into a trap, however, it might break a leg or get injured in some other way. Pit traps are only to be used for wild dogs that are dangerous, rabid or that would otherwise have to be put to sleep. You can dig a hole in the ground and cover it with big tree branches and leaves. Wild animals that run over it will fall into it, including wild dogs. Be advised that this type of trap is considered to be inhumane.