Invisible Fences

[GreenKitty]

Anyone have one for their dog? Do they work? What happens when the dog runs out of the area, can they get back into the yard? Thinking of putting one in, seems less expesive than a fence.

[Carol in Cal.]

I can hear them myself--which is supposed to be impossible.

 

There is a house in our neighborhood that has one to deter squirrels and other critters. When I walk past that house, I hear a very high pitched sound deep in my brain--it is extremely unpleasant. If my next door neighbor put one in, I might have to move. Seriously.

 

OTOH, my DH cannot hear this at all.

[threetreasurs]

Our neighbor hood requested that we use the invisible fencing since we live right next to a wooded common area. It has worked out quite well.

 

Our dog did cross over once and sort of freaked out when he could not return (without receiving a shock). He never went over again!

[percytruffle]

The people across the street and down a house from us have an invisible fence. They have two rambunctious pugs. They have never crossed the line even when other dogs are walking by. They trained fairly easily too.

 

Our dog is the neighborhood nuisance right now. He tends to wander and we have no fence. We tried a cable system, but he just wined and barked on that. I'm not sure what we will do. I have been looking into the invisible fence system that has no underground line. It emits a signal from a base and makes a circle of boundary area for the dog. It is more expensive than the system with the wires in the ground, but the way our yard is we couldn't do that kind.

 

Of course, the cheap side of me says, hook him back up to the dog cable and get a training shock collar to teach him not to bark and whine, but I'm a softy when it comes to the pets and would rather give him freedom to roam.

[threetreasurs]

Our dogs are quite happy with room to roam!

[Sharon in SC]

We have an invisible fence for our Border Collie. We couldn't be more pleased. She, inadvertently, crossed the line while trying to learn her boundaries a couple of times early on. That was enough. She'll be flat out running to the front of the property to greet other dogs passing by but ALWAYS stops short of her line. :-D

[Old Dominion Heather]

We had to add ours underneath the existing fence. It was the ONLY thing that would keep our tree/fence climbing Jack Russel mix in the yard. It was either that or get rid of the dog. I couldn't afford to keep bailing her out of the animal shelter.

[GreenKitty]

Does the dog then wear the collar all the time?

[Sharon in SC]

Does the dog then wear the collar all the time?

 

Yes. THough, honestly, I don't believe ours has associated her collar with that thing that bites if she crosses her boundary. We truly believe we could leave it off and her behaviour would not change. Not a risk we're willing to take, however.

 

One reason I suspect she hasn't equated the collar with the boundary is because we have never removed it to walk her through the neighborhood. We put her in the car, take the collar off, and then drive out the driveway whether we're taking her for a walk or for a ride around town. We prefer it that way. However, I do know of some people who train the dog to know that when the collar comes off, she gets to leave the yard and go for a walk. We prefer our way because we don't have to worry as much about inadvertently letting the battery go down and causing the system to be ineffective before realizing it and allowing her out the yard.

 

HTH,

sharon

[Cindy in C-ville]

Anyone have one for their dog? Do they work? What happens when the dog runs out of the area, can they get back into the yard? Thinking of putting one in, seems less expesive than a fence.

 

We LOVE ours. First we put in one ourselves, but it wouldn't keep our "stubborn dog" in. After he led our then 5-month old pup out of our yard on July 4 several years ago, we bit the bullet and had the professionals come in. Now, they are so used to the boundaries, they barely even have the collars on. If they start to cross the edge a little, we'll put the collars back on - just to remind them. With the professionals, you have the option for much more zap, if necessary. Not only that, but they'll help you with the training, come out if something goes wrong, etc. It was hard for me to make the mental leap for the financial commitment, but the stress of having our dogs bolt was just too much. We didn't get golden retrievers to have them on a leash all the time. We wanted them to be able to play in the yard with our kids.

 

The dogs won't come back in, if they get out. They would get shocked on the way back in. So, if they break through, you have to find them, take off the collar, and bring them back in. Some people train their dogs to go through a "gate" with their collars off; we never did. If we need to get them out of the yard, they go in the car.

 

I don't regret for a MINUTE getting the professionals to put ours in.

[Danestress]

Anyone have one for their dog? Do they work? What happens when the dog runs out of the area, can they get back into the yard? Thinking of putting one in, seems less expesive than a fence.

 

My very busy Belgian Sheepdog has only gone through it once. He won't get anywhere near the line now.

 

If the dog gets out, no, they can't come back in without getting shocked UNLESS you turn off the fence. But if the dog gets shocked once trying to come back, he will decide it's a bad idea to try.

 

We take our dog for daily walks. He understand that when he's on the leash, he can safely leave the yard and reenter. He thinks the leash is the big protection:)

[Sharon in SC]

The dogs won't come back in, if they get out. They would get shocked on the way back in. So, if they break through, you have to find them, take off the collar, and bring them back in.

 

Our instructions from the company who installed ours was to, if Lady broke through, drag her back over the line *with her collar on* for a double effect of the boundary marking. However, one time when she stumbled over the line she just hunkered down near a tree on the opposite side and wouldn't move. Dh took her collar off and had to literally carry her back into the yard. The other time she accidentally found the boundary (both times were in a corner of the yard where the flags were not as visual to her because of the line being marked) she tried to come back in and basically travelled down the boundary whimpering the whole way trying to get back in. Again, dh was able to get to her and remove her collar and carry her over.

[Blue Hen]

We take our dog for daily walks. He understand that when he's on the leash, he can safely leave the yard and reenter. He thinks the leash is the big protection:)

 

We have two dogs, 18 months old and 8months old, and take them for daily walks too. Ours know that if they are on the leash they can safely walk down the driveway with us and go on the walk. When we reenter our yard it is always on the driveway. The older one can walk without a leash however he will not go down the driveway beside me without that leash on.

 

Carole

[Blue Hen]

Anyone have one for their dog? Do they work? What happens when the dog runs out of the area, can they get back into the yard? Thinking of putting one in, seems less expesive than a fence.

 

We have two dogs, 18m and 8m olds, and have had the system for one year now. Neither dog has broken through the fence. The younger one, just after we completed her training got too close to the line a couple times, yelped and RAN FAST for the house. This is just what we had taught her in training; if she felt the beep which comes before the shock, to run for the house.

 

If the dog were to run outside the fence then they are going to get beeped and zapped when they try to return. We only have our dogs outside in the yard when we are outside in the yard so we would know that it had happened.

 

We went with a system from Innotek, installed it ourselves saving a bundle of money, and love it. You asked whether it works; it has for us with this breed of dog. Plus, we followed Innotek training instructions to the letter with both dogs. At our previous home we had an electric fence and my german shepherd ran right through it. I don't know if I didn't train correctly or if it was the breed. I have heard that GS are one breed that does not stay contained with an electric fence. But maybe it was our training.

 

Carole