Invisible Fence

[chasineyes]

Does anybody have an pros or cons about an invisible fence system. Getting a new addition to our family!!!! Live in a standard suburb lot.

Thanks

[Todd Caswell]

There fine for teaching the dog the bounderes of your yard but there not fool proof, I never would trust them to the point of letting a dog out without being attended. I have one that we used with a cocker ( pet dog) we had but haven't used it since on our 4 labs..

[FCspringer]

I agree, It depends on the dog. Some will never cross the line. Others figure it out and gone. I worked for a guy once and his Britt would come out, let out a little yip, and keep on going. LOL, she would be gone half the day and always return, yip again and go in. It was funny. He said he does not know why he bothers any more, but at least she gets a little zap he says. I suppose you could use an ecollar to reinforce it better then he did. But I cant say one way or the other how they work for the most part. I bet there will be a few on here that can help.

[Todd Caswell]

The cocker I mentioned above was just a pet and I would have loved to CC him and really should have but... Funny thing was he was smart as a whip but would flip you off every chance he had. He knew when the batteries were going bad in his yard collar, you could watch him ease up to the fence and if his collar didn't beep then he would look to see if we were watching, and then slide past it out of the yard, never really went any where but still out of our yard, so I would buy new batteries, turn off the tone and let him sneek up on the line and get nailed, usually kept him honest for a monthe or soo.. But like you said he was one that if that collar beeped he would not cross that line for anything.

[MuleShack]

Like others said, it depends on the dog. Usually young ones will push the boundaries and as they get older adapt and adhere.

I have a large yard and cant afford fence, and didn't want to put the wire in the ground so I just use their E-collars. Yes it took more time to get them trained and more of my time watching them when outside, but I can also do it from the house as well out a window. It doesn't take more than a few times for some dogs to know exactly where they can and cant go. I still watch them every few minutes when they are out now, but i'm pretty confident they wont go near the road or on the neighbors side.

You could always look into one of those wireless ones but they produce a circular cone instead of letting the dog go to the corners of your lot.

The only way to be completely safe is to get a chain link where you can leave the dog out if your not able to watch.

Decisions...Decisions...

[MuleShack]

I was just informed that Lacey is already invisible fence trained...if that makes your decision easier.

[Harmonica Bear]

We put one in last summer and I think it works great. Now onder why I never did it sooner. Our dogs are collar trained, so acutally when they get close and the warning beeps start going they stop, they do not even get to the point of getting corrected.

[fishwidow]

I've had three of them--two separate houses plus one at the cabin, They are the Invisible Fence brand and although they are more expensive, I have never had a real problem. Have had two dogs go through one time each, but after that first time they never challenged it again. I tried one of the wireless ones that was considerably cheaper, but the dog kept getting zapped in places where it should not have been zapped, and became a nervous wreck, so I took it back to the store. I know a lot of guys on here have had good luck with the cheaper ones, but that was my experience. Don't know if they will let you do it, but I just bought the materials from them and did my own install at the cabin.

[jps]

chasineyes, I sent you an e-mail----- jps

[xedge2002]

I put one in my yard myself and did the training with my lab as a puppy. If you work with them and do it the right way they are great and the dogs respect them. My lab will not cross the boundary even if his ball or retrieving dummy cross the line. He will sit down and look at it then at me until I go and get it for him. The main thing, just like all dog training, is you have to work with them when you install it. Any questions on how to train them let me know.

[cavalierowner]

People who buy puppies from us ask us this question a lot. I have very mixed feelings about invisible fences, but generally I don't like them and I strongly discourage our puppy buyers from using them. Basically they are not as foolproof as a physical fence.

Cons:

-If the house power goes out or a circuit breaker trips, the IF is gone

-If the battery in the collar goes dead, the IF is gone

-Some dogs will decide the pain is worth it and run the fence. Then, later, they get zapped for trying to get back in the yard.

-It doesn't keep other dogs away from your dog

Pros:

-Cheaper than a physical fence

-Visually less obtrusive

[DeerSlayer4x4]

People who buy puppies from us ask us this question a lot. I have very mixed feelings about invisible fences, but generally I don't like them and I strongly discourage our puppy buyers from using them. Basically they are not as foolproof as a physical fence.

Cons:

-If the house power goes out or a circuit breaker trips, the IF is gone

-If the battery in the collar goes dead, the IF is gone

-Some dogs will decide the pain is worth it and run the fence. Then, later, they get zapped for trying to get back in the yard.

-It doesn't keep other dogs away from your dog

Pros:

-Cheaper than a physical fence

-Visually less obtrusive

Agree 100% - I am not really a big fan as my short hair taught herself to sprint and blow thru the fence at mach 5

[Eric Wettschreck]

Consider the wireless one from Pet Safe. Just like anything else, it takes a little training but boy howdy does it work great.

My dog tips the scales at right around 130. He's a big bull headed stubborn boy. When that collar beeps that's as far as he will go. Even without his collar on he will not get close to the boundry.

As compared to the buried wire fence, the wireless one will keep on a shockin and a beepin once the dog goes past the boundry.

Best couple hundred bucks I ever spent.

[BoxMN]

FWIW, I put it in myself when the dogs (2 lab/golden/husky mixes) were puppies. They learned quickly where the boundary was, and obeyed it with 100% obedience when the collars were on and young. After about 1-2 years, I didn't have to use collars anymore, they would NOT leave the yard unless on lease or I was pulling them across.

When not wearing the collars they would get closer to the edge, espeically when other dogs walked by. So I would put collars on maybe once a month to just remind them.

I am on corner, with somewhat busy street and lots of school kids who walk by, so I needed something but didn't want fence.

The only thing I really notice about invisible fence yard dogs, is that they bark more when you/others are walking by. My one dog is gone after 11 years, and her sister is now 12 and she obeys the lines still, but I haven't put the collar on her in a long time now.

Good luck with whatever!

(oh yeah, I just put wire done on top of grass using sod staples, and I mow right over it, the grass grows around it and holds it down. How easy, haha!

[Down2Earth]

I find that the people these things don't work for don't take the time to train. Plus the new fences have battery back up and rechargeable collars that last for a month on one charge. If you have one of these and your fance fails because no power or batteries are dead it is owner error.

[Down2Earth]

Agree 100% - I am not really a big fan as my short hair taught herself to sprint and blow thru the fence at mach 5

this could easily be fixed by putting on a regular shock collar and running it manually. Again it would take time and training but I bet within a day or 2 this could be fixed if the dog had actually learned the original training in the first place. If the dog didn't starting over from scratch would be the best.

[chasineyes]

Well we installed the fence on friday (piece of cake) and have been working with her all weekend. She was on a fence system prior to us acquiring her so she is WELL AWARE of what happens when she hears the beeping. So far so good, granted she is a great dog.

[MuleShack]

Well we installed the fence on friday (piece of cake) and have been working with her all weekend. She was on a fence system prior to us acquiring her so she is WELL AWARE of what happens when she hears the beeping. So far so good, granted she is a great dog.

[fr0sty]

We had a dog last year that learned the fence in no time. We followed the training instructions. She had to go back to the humane society for extreme dog aggression issues.

We got another dog about three months ago. I started training her last week on the fence. It was a disaster. She became very fearful of being out in the yard. Once we got out in the street to walk, I couldn't get her to really move much. She also walked much worse on walks.

I took all the flags down yesterday and she is almost back to normal.

[luckydog25]

I have a 9 year old lab and plan on installing an invisible fence at our new cabin. She is a very very sensitive dog but phyiscally tough if that makes sense. I am worried that she will either not care about the shock (because she is tough) or be so scared that she won't want to go outside. We have a regular fence at home and never had problems with her digging or jumping it, so I am hopeful that will help with her being used to boundarys. But she gets in that zone where she alsomst doesn't hear me sometimes when she sees other dogs though...any thoughts from those of you with experience with these fences?

[Dozer]

I put a petsafe undergound fence around our yard a couple weeks ago for our 5 month old yellow lab. Best money I ever spent! Works great! Spent a week training and she knows exactly where the boundry is and what happens if she gets too close.