installing invisible fence

[BILLMAN]

Any ideas on how to use my new B7500 to help install an invisible fence for the dogs? I want to keep the puppy from running away but, still give him about 5 acres. I believe the "wire" is to be installed just a few inches under the sod. There is no way I could possibly do this job by hand. As always any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[John_Mc]

Check out this thread Middle Buster & Subsoiler in the Attachments forum.

It looks as though a middle buster will do the trick. One of the posters used it for exactly what you're planning.

 

[njrqs]

Billman

John is right.

I have a single tine ripper with a poly pipe layer. Would also do the same job. I have laid water lines not very far under ground and it works great.

Cheers

<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue>

 

[billboe]

A bit off topic, but, do these fences work? I've only seen one person try them and their dog would sail right over it (jumping a 4' picket fence at the same time). She would give a bit of a yelp, but, that was about it...

Billboe

 

[RobS]

We put an invisible fence in a number of years ago using my Craftsman tractor. I bought an iron pry-bar and drilled a hole towards the bottom for a clevis. Hitched it to the "tractor" and had my wife idle it along while I walked behind and guided the pry-bar. It worked great and we just laid the wire in the trench by hand. Bear in mind, this is our subdivision lot, not real acreage. For a larger plot I would have clamped a tube to the back of the pry-bar to feed the wire as we went. The sub-soiler would also work as others have mentioned. It took very little "pull" to accomplish what we did and the biggest problem with using my Craftsman was it goes too fast.

Regarding invisible fence: It's all in the training. Our dog never got out. We followed the training regimen to the letter. Our biggest concern was that the fence doesn't keep others out. Our dog developed a very mean side, especially after our first son was born. We became very concerned about other kids wandering into the yard and ultimately had to give up the dog (also fears for our own child).

As far as keeping the dog in, no problem. Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[hoghead]

Billman.
I was a dealer installer for Pet Safe underground fences until the company informed me that I did not purchase enough material from them..Any way, my experience tells me to use a tiller with carbide blade and a steel blade that follows and puts the wire in right behind the blade..I know that may sound complicated, but if I can borrow my brother's digital camera I will post a picture.I usally bury the wire about an inch in the ground.Try not to get it any deeper as the signal will be lost..When I first started putting in these in, I used my garden tractor and an attachment that I made to pull behind.It worked ok, but the it was mounted rigidly on the tractor so it didn't like bumps and hills.I will try to post a picture of this also.As far as the units working, I have had my black lab on the fence for about 5 yrs now and he has never been away from home.I have about three acres enclosed and not had any problems.Just change the battery regulary and "WALLA", a dog that stays at home!!

Hoghead

 

[jims5acr]

I just installed some electrical and I just droped the center tooth on my box blade to rip the sod, it went down a couple of inches.

 

[cowboydoc]

I think the installation has been covered. Just a few tips from my experience with them. You have to take the time and teach the dog or yes they will run right through them and never learn. It takes a couple weeks to get them trained well. It's not something you can just throw them out there and they will learn on their own. Second is make sure that when you make your splices they are done well and are waterproof.

 

[hoghead]

Well here is the first attachment i made to go on garden tractor

Hoghead

 

[hoghead]

and another

Hoghead

 

[hoghead]

well ill try again

Hoghead

 

[BigDan]

Where we live, having a hole or trench in the ground is a valuable thing -- because of the rocks. It's almost so bad, that, when we have a hole, we save it just in case we need it for something later.

Because of that, we installed our invisible fence through the woods just laying it on top of the ground. There's only animal traffic, so it is safe (so far). It was just laid on top of the gravel driveway for 1-1/2 years, until I had a chance to get a piece of conduit under the gravel (it broke every time that the drive way was snow-plowed and having to find the ends of a piece of yellow wire was fun - ha-ha).

 

[shade2u2]

I used a sidewalk edger to make my trench. It made a nice clean narrow "slit" in the ground to place the wire and covered back up easily. It does not have to be all that deep.

As already mentioned, they work as well as you train, followup retrain when needed, & keep the batteries replaced. One of our dogs actually had a dead battery for a long time because she was so well-trained, or old & retaining no interest in being loos. This is just an easy way to teach your dog a "boundary" that can also be done with pups in other ways... if you have the time & patience.
Again, as already mentioned, they do not keep out offenders or victims...

 

[rmorgan]

Billman--I hate to suggest that any job is not perfect for a new tractor, but I think using a middlebuster or other 3. attachment (except maybe for Hoghead's custom wire-dropper) will create a lot of unnecessary mess. Invisible Fence wire only needs to be down about 3-4"--much more and it loses effectiveness (in fact, it works best if it's not buried at all; in our woods, we just lay it under the branches and bushes). I've rented a gas-powered slit-trencher for, say, $55 a day that opens a slit, lays the wire, and closes up the slit, and we did about 5 acres with IF in a day. The machine was not self propelled, so the hills were a pain, but the result was much neater than the furrow from a sodbuster. As to "do they work," you mention a puppy; I think about five months is the earliest you can expect good results training to an IF (and I agree with Richard; you have to really pay attention to the training so it's clear to the dog what the rules are). we have had exceptionally good results using IF to contain our Australian Shepherds. It seems to depend some on the breeds; roaming dogs will test it, while territorial working dogs, I think, like having firm boundaries they can patrol and enforce. And some of 'em are just dumber than others; we had a neighbor who had an Airedale that appeared to love the stimulus provided by the shock and would just stand by the antenna quivering with the "thrill" of it! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Rick

 

[BILLMAN]

Thanks for all the suggestions , we have a 1 yr old Lab and my wife has a Bichon. They both like to chase rabbits,deer, anything that moves. We are just concerned that they are going to wander out to the road. And we all know what that means. We keep a very close eye on them when they are outside. But, wow are they fast.

 

[TerryinMD]

Billman,

I used a middlebuster to install my hidden dog fence as mentioned in previous postings.

I had about 1200-1300 feet of wire to lay. Some of it across my driveway. The driveway was the easy part. Used a Carbide cutting disk in my circular saw to notch the driveway about an 1" deep and backfilled with asphalt patch.

Used an edger for about 150 feet and decided that it would take to long. So, I attached my middlebuster to the JD 4100 and had most of the trench dug in about an hour. Roots and rocks were no problem. If your ground is fairly level, you should be able to set the blade to cut in about 4 inches and you'll just peel back the sod. Just lay your cable and push in the sod over the cable. In about a month or so, you'll hardly notice the work.

You won't eliminate all hand work, but it will save you hours of backbreaking work. I would say that it took me and the wife about 10 hours total to get the job done.

Terry

 

[kiphorn]

Invisible Fence is about training. My labs collar has been broken for about three months but he will NOT cross the boundry. When he chases a rabbit he goes full tilt till he gets to the end of the yard where firmly applies the brakes to the point that he almost turns cartwheels. Best investment (other than the dog) that I ever made!

Moving to a new place in the spring. Find out then if you can teach old dogs new tricks and boundries.

Installed my last IF with a roof cutter (work for a roofing company). Has a 12HP engine and cuts a little wider trench than the edger. Carbide blade cut through the small rocks. Worked fine on small lot. At my new place (15 acres), I'll have to follow one of the ideas posted here. Don't have the tractor YET but looking hard.

Good luck with your dogs.

 

[looch]

I used my single bottom plow to make my trench. I set it up to remove 4" of sod. Lay the wire in, flip the sod back over and that was it.

I keep my two German Shorthairs in the yard with it. I never leave them unattended, though. That's what the kennel is for.

 

[RoMo]

I used one of the scarifiers on my boxblade to install mine. that was almost perfect.

RoMo