Dog Containment Fence

[BrianC]

Would anyone have some experience and advise on using the electric collar system on a dog.

Does it work well? Any do's and dont's?

Thanks

Brian

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

We have had great results with a PetSafe RF 104. The wire is cheap 16 & 18 ga, surrounding about 5 acres. So long as we keep a fresh 9v in the collar, replacing every couple of months, it keeps our 80 lb. mutt in. He is reasonably bright, but a bit timid. I understand some tough dogs just power through it and take the shock. Ours doesn't. He did learn that as soon as the battery gets a little low, he can go down the twisted pair line from the house and get out where it splits to the perimeter loop. How he figured that, we'll never know.
The wire is strung along some fence above ground, scratched an inch or so in the ground at the edge of some grass, and embedded across a couple of blacktop roads with a masonry saw and cold patch. It has been broken perhaps 3 times, but we found the breaks and spliced it easily. The controller gives an alarm when the circuit is open.
All in all, we have been very pleased. It has shut down a growing neighborhood issue.

 

[webbmeister]

Hi Brian:

My sister had one of these systems installed about a year and a half ago. Part of the package was training the dog to know where the boundaries are. To make a long story short, the dog is smarter than the fence. He gets a running start, leaps over the boundary, yelps from the zap, and then he's FREE! Then comes the hard part. Whatever caused him to want so badly to get out (squirrel, rabbit, etc.) is no longer around. There is absolutely zero incentive for him to endure another zap to get back inside the perimeter. The result is that he takes off and it takes hours for my sister to hunt him down and bring him home.

Bottom line? If yours is a timid dog, it might work well. If he's a robust creature, well, "ya' takes yer chances."

Good Luck!

Jim

 

[MReeter]

Brain,We have had 5 acres "under wire" for close to two years.Lost our first dog to the highway because of faulty collar.Got up the nerve to get another dog(had over a grand in the first one,close to that in the second one)Retrained her to the perimeter,then the transmitter shot craps.Then another collar went bad,then A/C adapter went bad.Now,it's been close to 8-9 months since we've had any problems.The dog knows every inch of her domain,and will not cross the line.
I keep the band width pretty wide,about 40' from the wire is when the collar starts giving the dog a warning signal.Our system warns the dog of the perimeter before it starts to stimulate.All and all this set-up works good,but I'm always checking things to make sure it's working properly.There is a new "wireless" system out now that might be worth looking into,covers about 1 acre.By the way our system is an Innotek Contain &Train.
I used our box blade with one shank down plowing out the trench about 2-3 inches deep to lay the wire.We put down close to 2500 ft. in a long week end.I also ran a loop out into the lake so the dog could in the water when she wanted.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

i have had mixed results with the dogs, two out of three have done well, but the third just a stuborn lab ran through repeatedly, he would sit in the middle of the field, with his collar beeping and his neck twitching from the shocks and just sashe around. if i were to train a dog again on the system, i would put a stake in the ground and give him enough rope to reach the boundry but not cross over, and keep him that way for a couple months at least as a pup, then he would learn not to run through and to avoid the shock by backing away from the beep. once he learned that he probabley would not cross the fence, as soon as he heard the beep he would back up.

alex

 

[BrianC]

Thanks everyone...I think the dog might be brave enough to run through the fence line and suffer the consequences. I thought the fences might be a little more dependable than what your experiences have been, now I am not sure what to do.

We too are close enough to a very busy road that I fear losing the dog to it. We just burried a dog last week becasue of that road.

Thanks for your experiences

Brian

 

[akman]

Hi Brian,

We have used Invisible Fence(TM) for over 3 years now. It contains our two very active Golden Retrievers within our three acre front lawn without fail. Our one dog Daisy is blind and even she has never had a problem!

The transmitter is lightning / surge protected, and the collars (expensive @ $125.00 each) have a lifetime no questions replacement guarantee.

Hope this helps.


Tony

 

[RSeymour]

Brian,

We have 5 English Springer Spaniels on our 5 acres and my wife does private obedience and agility training (with dogs after she learned that I am not trainable). We discussed the electronic fences, however our primary concern was keeping other dogs out, as many people around here think once they are in the "country" they can let their dogs run free and unattended (don't get me started on that one).

We ended up fencing the whole back yard (4 acres) with 4' high "farm fence" and have had no problems. As a side benefit the fence also keeps the Coyotes out of the yard. However, if your dog is a “jumper” you may want to try a combination of both or a higher fence.

 

[Wal]

<font color=red>Bottom line? If yours is a timid dog, it might work well. If he's a robust creature, well, "ya' takes yer chances."</font color=red>

Webbmeister, I would beg to differ with you on that point. We have used the "Invisible Fence" system around our one acre yard now for seven years. Our dog is a GSD who is a sweety, but definately not "timid". The company claims that the system works with "99%" of all dogs if they are trained properly. I would suspect that the overwhelming reason for failure of the system to keep any dog enclosed is poor or even no training.

 

[looch]

We lost one of our German Shorthairs to the highway 2 years ago. We immediately bought another puppy and an invisible fence. These dogs are quite smart and they have a little crazy streak in them. We do not leave them unattended while they are on this system.

A farmer close to us is advertising 350' rolls of 8' high "wildlife fence" for 300$ each. This has piqued my interest.

I vowed to not let another one of my dogs die by way of the highway. I owe it to the memory of Ruffino to make it impossible for this to happen.

 

[TerryinMD]

We installed the Contain and Train system from Innotek. As long as the collar is on and working, the dog understands the boundary, and the dog is not a bonehead, it will work.

Be prepared to spend a some money to install the system. We have about $350 into it. If you go with the Innotek system, purchase the warrenty. We haven't and have had to wait for a new collar after ours went faulty.

Installation note: I used my middlebuster to trench the perimeter. We installed about 1500 ft of invisible fencing in two days. Be prepared for some work.

I have had two breaks in the fencing. One caused by a contractor pushing a tree across the fence line and the second by me dragging my toothbar across. The first was easy to find. The second took some time as I was grubbing the property in many places. To troubleshoot, you buy a RF choke at Radio shack (.99 cents) and attach it to the lines. Tune your radio to AM 600 and track it down. Took my girls less than 10 minutes to find the problem. Add a splice with underground connectors and the problem is solved.

Good luck.

Terry

 

[MReeter]

I bought a 2500' roll of a coated 16 gauge wire from our Electrical Supplier for about 100 bucks,a lot cheaper than the 500' rolls that the Fencing Co. offers,and just as good or better material also.Another plus is no splices.We also have a GSD who is very protective of her domain,nothing is sacrid around here.Anything that moves is fair game;birds,frogs,snakes,you name it.But since the initial training she has never made an effort to cross the boundries.She will run as hard as she can till she gets close to that line,then she puts on the brakes.

 

[rmorgan]

Brian--

I too don't think it has much to do with "timidity." Different dogs have different behaviors. We have Aussies which are absurdly fearless dogs, but they are working dogs like GSDs and are extremely pleased to have a perimeter to call their own. Hounds and other hunters are harder to train to an invisible fence, I think, because their nature is to roam. We have had very good luck with Invisible Fence systems at two houses (we moved the boxes when we moved), both times I installed the wire and the boxes myself but the good thing about working with a company that has a local presence is if there does come up a break that you can't find--they can. We paid about $40 a couple months ago to have a stubborn one found where a piece of equipment had snagged the wire and buried the break. They also replaced a transmitter that got fried by lightning for free.

 

[kevincook]

"These dogs are quite smart and they have a little crazy streak in them"

I think is a huge understatement. We had a couple of German Shorthairs when I was a kid. They are a fantastic dog but they are absolutely NUTS.

We have a Golden Retriever now and I am planning on installing a radio fence this spring. We have used an indoor version and it works extremely well. I think the biggest reason for a system to 'fail' would be the lack of training or a dog that is difficult to train. It helps if the dog is retrained on a regular basis....which they will be if you use the system on a regular basis. I am fortunate and have a dog that is easy to train.....I can not use the indoor system for 6-9 months and then just place the transmitter in a doorway and show the dog and she knows right away to not try to go through. She doesn't need the collar on or even the transmitter plugged in.

 

[Wal]

<font color=red>She will run as hard as she can till she gets close to that line,then she puts on the brakes</font color=red>

Mike,

That is exactly the same behavior as our GSD. She will charge down the hill to the invisible fence boundry with her tail in full "helicopter" mode. She then stops on the preverbial dime at the last possible moment /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. Its usually Mr. Squirrel she's after. Problem is, Mr. Squirrel knows the boundry just as well /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

 

[bigrazor]

I have the wireless version and it works well.

The advantage over the wired approach is that once the dog leaves the area, the dog is shocked until it returns. There's no jumping over the wire tricks. You can also take the controller and collar with you if you have to travel.

The disadvantage is that the controlled area is smaller. It can be set to a radius of up to 80'.

 

[wrinkled]

It seems from these posts that the invisible fence system works reasonably well. (My brother - in - laws dog finally bit down hard on the bullet and just powered on through the pain to get out.) I'm not sure what he does now to keep his pooch in.

With that said, there is one thing the electronic fences don't do, and that is to keep other creatures out. We have smaller dogs, (terriors) and my concern is the odd animal that would do them damage. We ended up with a wire fence to solve the problem.

Just my .02cents

dave

 

[Wal]

<font color=red>there is one thing the electronic fences don't do, and that is to keep other creatures out</font color=red>

Wrinkled,

That indeed is the main disadvantage, assuming you have a dog that is trained to stay in the boundries. Although it has never happened in the the seven years we having been using the "invisible fence", I am still fearfull of the day an aggressive, large dog picks a fight with our GSD on her turf. It would not be a pretty sight.

 

[Mosey]

If one of the boundaries is out in the middle of the yard, how does the dog know where the boundary is? Do you have to mark it with flags or something?

 

[Inspector507]

Danny,
The initial training is done with the flags and then the dog 'learns' where his boundry is. Except for mine, he isn't learning very well.