invisible fence for dogs?

Cowboy

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Is it hard to train your dog to use these "fences"? I have never seen one in action but the new house has one installed and if we can use it instead of putting up a fence it would be a huge plus.
 
Depends on the dog ... hardheaded ones will run right thru it while more “sensitive” ones will catch on quick. Hardest thing is getting them to know the boundaries (little flags for a week or so usually give ‘em the idea) and learn to associate the audible warning from the collar with being close to it.
 
I had neighbors with invisible fence. Both dogs learned very quickly and stayed within the fence until there was thunder. Shortly after the first storm rumble there were barks at my kitchen door. They would stay with me until the storm was over then I would take them back home.
 
I think our goal is to put a regular split rail fence up eventually. But if we could get a few months out of this it would save us a little bit. we don't let our dogs out alone but we do like to let them run to burn off energy.
 
Not hard tat all. Just pay attention to the batteries on the collar.

If you are ever bored or have been drinking.......try the shock collar out....it will get your attention!
I could not determine if the collar was working since my old dog would once in a while just walk through the fence but would not cross it to return. So I grabbed the collar contact probes in my hand and walked across the fence. I must have thrown that collar 10' in the air, it was working ! My dog had gotten so old she just ignored it sometimes. After she died and we got another female about 6 months old, was not much in the way of training, she learned quickly to heed the "warning". As of now, 6 years later, she has not crossed the fence even though the battery may have been dead 2 or 3 weeks or more. Just some advice, I have not had much luck with batteries that are not Invisible Fence brand.
 
Depends on the dog ... hardheaded ones will run right thru it while more “sensitive” ones will catch on quick. Hardest thing is getting them to know the boundaries (little flags for a week or so usually give ‘em the idea) and learn to associate the audible warning from the collar with being close to it.
^^^This^^^
 
My neighbor had one and the dog ran through it everyday like it was nothing. Like someone said it depends on the dog.
 
Put up flags. The hard part is the emotional aspect of the training, you need to walk the dog to the flags, let it hear the beep and then take the hit. You need to do this a few times around the yard. Then you can do it but allow the dog to seek safety back inside the yard. Repeat this daily, just the beep part, for a week. We took the flags down in stages.

You can control the range of the fence. If you turn it all the way up the dog will get the warning 6’ or more before it gets to the wire.

You can also control the size of the shock by changing either a board or dip switches in the collar. Increase the shock for a larger or more stubborn dog.

Side benefit, put those flags in the house and the dog will likely stay well away from them. We ran our invisible fence through the crawl space to keep the dog from going upstairs.
 
The unit I installed has several settings from low to 'hard headed' on it. I trained my dog on hard headed power level.
I walked her up to her boundary so we could hear the warning beeps, then led her down the hill so it didnt get her.
Repeat.
Third time, I let it bite her.
Fourth time she like to have drug me down the damn hill when she heard the beeps.
Dialed power back to medium and aint had a problem since. She wont even cross if I take the collar off, walk over and call her.
Shes like, yeah, eff you dude.
Hope yours is as easy as mine was


Edited to add:
She will cross it on her own, but under specific circumstances.

When the house next door was being built, we all walked up one evening to check out the floor plan.
We all crossed the fence and Leia didnt. But she did go ballistic. Running back and forth, barking, raisin all kinds of hell. She was not happy we left her.
We got to the front porch of the new house and I stopped to look back at her. It was like a cartoon...I literally could see her make up her mind. She backed off a few feet, kinda lower her head and shoulders a bit, shook her head, and here she come lol.
Yipped as she powered through the fence gettin her. She walked through the new house with us and when we went back, I was curious if she would do it again.
She stopped at the boundary as the family crossed and then she didnt hesitate. Came right on through, yippin and yappin lol.
She'll only cross if the whole family goes across. As long as one stays back, she wont go.
However, if the whole family leaves in a vehicle, she's layin in the driveway when we get back. She doesnt go anywhere.
 
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People down the road from me have it and it seems to work for them. My next door neighbor has it and it works most of the time. On occasion his dog will come down to poop in our yard and get a snack/head scratch.

It would be useless for this guy if there was a deer/turkey/cat/etc in sight.


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We have two Boston terriers and invisible fencing. They will both occasionally cross the line while chasing squirrels or bunnies. The older dog hasn’t done it in a couple months but the younger one typically gets out weekly. I put flags back up in the area he typically leaves and that seems to be helping. Overall, I’m happy with it.
 
I have three dogs on one right now. They won't leave the area now even if they aren't wearing the collars.

I recently put another transmitter in my well house to extend the dog's range. They won't even venture out that far because they remember where the boundary was before.

One thing about the units I'm using (Petsafe) is that they do not shock if the dog was outside of the range and comes back in.
 
Miss Lily....my mother has that same situation.

neighbors' dogs (more than one dog and more than one neighbor) come to her house during a storm. she lets them in her house and they stay until it's over. the dogs don't do it when the neighbors are home (which is a lot this year).

she says: " i have lots of dogs, but none of them are mine. "
 
Why not just teach the dog it's boundaries?? Leash it and walk the boundary lines, when it tries to go over tug the leash and tell it NO very firmly. 3 or 4 training sessions and they know the boundaries. As was mentioned up thread, it does noting to keep other dogs out of your yard.....
 
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I’ve had good experience with this company/product.

https://www.extremedogfence.com/product/extreme-dog-fence-max-grade-ultimate-performance-system/

I
know you’re not looking to install a new one but the training vids are worth a look. No issues with my GSD, after about 3 months of training on a 50ft lead. Did not want to put out that effort but it has paid dividends. He is a full time outside dog and hasn’t spent the night in his kennel for about 4 months now. Just brief day stints to get his collar off and keep him away from company. No one pulls in my yard and gets out. No one crosses the property line either. See path he’s carved in the grass across the front. I’ve left for three days at a time. You assume a certain amount of risk, trusting a weak electrical signal and a small battery BUT I luv it!!

AF9F69BB-3331-4A72-B5DD-61B2B20B18B1.jpeg 6F6A2D89-3CBE-4699-B382-5A5F741F26B1.jpeg

Oh, another thing to think about is how long has it been in the ground. Most are only rated for a few years. That was a deciding factor.
 
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As long as the dog isn't a German Shepherd. Mine just walked through it, slight head tic, walks right back through it. Didn't phase her. :rolleyes:

Neighbor down the street had two Australian shepherds. They would approach the fence until the collars started to beep, then lay down. When the beeping stopped they would cross and try and herd all the kids in the neighborhood.

Neighbor across the street has a male Weimaraner, BIG boy and it works for him quite well.

So, Mileage may vary.
 
you can get longer prongs that do a better job of getting the point across. I have 3 dogs on mine 2 labs with strong hunt drive and an intact aussie male that hates cats. The only one that has ever crossed it has been the older lab. we bought the house and put in the system when she was 8 so she was stubborn enough and wanted at whatever would tickle her nose enough that she would cross the line. however once we put the big prongs on her it changed her mind.

The one great thing about the fence is that it made my younger dog a breeze to train with a shock collar while hunting.
 
I had one installed when I got my GSD. Worked great for her. She only broke the fence once and that was because I was outside her boundary in my yard and landscaping. I get very irate when I do physical work and tend to cuss out inanimate objects like shovels, mowers, tree roots etc. The dog was very attuned to my moods and was loyal to a fault. I was digging a hole near some pines at the rear of my property and outside the dogs boundary. The roots were making the hole a real pain to dig. I vented a string of expletives and there was the dog instantly, ready to fight with whatever it was that pissed me off...in her mind it was probably the same MF that just shocked her.
Outside of that instance, she never left the yard for anything. Squirrels, other dogs, joggers etc. I held it in my hand and tested it once. yeah, it'll get your attention right quick.
We also used this fence for a Labradoodle. She got zapped once and never approached the boundary again. I stopped putting her on the collar because she's a harmless 20 pound pile of fur and tongue who doesn't leave the yard. She seemed smarter than the GSD about this. Similar to how @Bailey Boat suggested, she got walked on the boundary a few times, encouraged to cross it once with the collar on, zap, and that's it.

We also had a puck for indoors we kept in the dining room. No dogs in the dining room ever. That's real nice with guests and formal meals.
 
We have one of the boxes that puts up a perimeter boundary to whatever distance you set it to. It works excellent for our pit. We put the flags up around the yard and accidentally shocked her the first time she went to it. She didn’t leave the porch for two days afterwords. Since then she has been shocked once, didn’t even shock herself when we closed her boundary to the middle setting. There have been a few instances where we lost power or the battery has died but she still stays in her area every time. We usually get around a month on the battery in the collar.
 
My dogs go right through them. My Beagle will yelp in pain as he goes through but Doesn’t stop. doesn’t stop.
the Great Dane mix will give a shudder as he goes through.
 
We have the Petsafe version going on 12 years now & it works great for our 4 Dachshunds. We've got one who can tell if the fence is down or a dead battery in his collar & will go visit the next door neighbor. He won't run the battery down, but I think he checks periodically to see if he gets a chirp & once he books, his brother follows him. The female won't cross it, no matter what & the puppy only has once (he's a momma's baby & he can't stand when she leaves). Upside is, they all know they don't get zapped with their walking collars on & will gladly cross the line when we take 'em for walks.
 
We have had one around 2 acres for 15 years. The four dogs we had gave it Much respect. We broke them all the same way. We staked them out on a Long rope that would Just Barely let them get to the edge of the fence line. After about 2 hours all learned that when the collar Beeps...go the other way! Mr Bullitt now travels without his collar and Usually stays inside the line. A day with his collar back on and he remembers where the line is.
 
How much do these things cost? My wife wants to fence an area to let the dog out to fo it’s business. I keep telling her to train the dog about the boundaries and it won’t go too far. Unfortunately, I’m dealing with the mom gene herr.
 
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