In-Ground Dog Fence

[dillon]

Does any one have any suggestions as to which brand or model works well? I considered a wireless, but don't know what will happen if the dog is in the lake and then get hit with a shock.

With the in-ground, I was told you can create areas that the dog can cross over. That way she could go into the lake to cool off whenever she wants. Hopefully, she won't learn to swim around the fence and run free.

[walleye18]

the only experience i have with them is with the neighbor down the road. Doesnt seem to work too well as their dog is always over by our place - playing with my labs. Not a big deal for us, but he travels about 3/4 mile to get to us and Im concerned on day he's gonna get tagged by a car/truck.

my wife had one prior to us getting married. Her never worked too well either.

Dont know the brands, but I'm sure others will chime in and give you some better experiences.

Best of luck.

[brian6715]

I have the Petsafe UltraSmart system in my yard, and it works amazing. I have two dogs, including a stubborn beagle, and they won't even go near the boundary... and I have it on the lowest setting. I would recommend it, I am glad I spent the extra money on it over the basic system, just because of the rechargeable collars. It beeps at you if the collars need recharging and it monitors the system at all times to check for breaks. There is no way my dogs would ever cross it, as I have seen them chase stray dogs out of our yard at full speed and they always stop 10' short of the boundary. The key is to train them so they think that if they cross the boundary the pain will never stop; if they figure out that it stops when they get far away, the will possibly run through it. Anyone who knows dogs and has a few days to train will have no issue at all with the dog escaping.

The one thing I would do different is not follow their training guide lines. I would try to train the dogs around the yard using only the beep right away (for a few days) so they know where the boundary is. The flags they give you really don't work, or at least in my case because I only had enough to put one every 10 feet or so. Once the dogs get hit once by the shock, it's really hard to convince them to walk around the yard with you (our beagle lays down and you can literally drag her like a sled, she won't get up). Our dogs only use about 30% of the area they could because of being scared, but they are slowing expanding that.

You can create dead spots in the wire/fence where the dogs can cross it by twisting two wires together, with a pliers on one end and the two ends of the wire in a powerdrill on the other. This is what you would do to get the dogs to be able to go in the water, or to run the wire from the unit out to the perimeter of your yard.

Our yard is nearly an acre, or whatever 800' of wire does.

[311Hemi]

I am in the same boat, and looking into this as well.

Invisible Fence brand has a new system that dogs cannot run through, it will continue to correct them until they come back into the boundary. Also, if I remember correctly the boundary is pretty close to the actual wire.....not a 5-10' perimeter in from the wire. It's expensive though.....1000-1500 for two dogs if I remember correctly.

I will be curious to know what others have to say.

[brian6715]

There is no reason at all to spend anywhere near $1,000! I have less than $450 in my system and I had to buy extra wire and an extra collar. The UltraSmart will set a boundary any where from 1-10 feet from the wire, so you can have a 2' boundary or a 20' boundary, you do this by turning a dial on the unit. It has run-through protection, which the beeps/shocks get more intense as the dog gets closer to the wire.

[fishwidow]

I've had three INvisible Fence Brand in ground fences, and have been very satisfied. Training is key, but it does not take long to get the dogs to understand where they can go. You can have areas within the main boundary. such as a flowerbed or garden fenced off, and you can have a small receiver in the house to prevent them from going into areas you want them to stay away from.

AS for the water, we run the fence right out into the lake. Before ice we pull it in and just coil it on the shore.

It is more expensive, but we've had them for years and they are reliable. Have had several dogs over that time period, and never had a serious challenge. They become so accustomed to it that they don't even wear collars most of the time

I know lots of people have had success with Petsafe. I tried the wireless one and had the dog getting zapped left and right all over the place, so it went back to Fleet Farm.

Just my experiences. Good Luck.

[herm]

I went with Sport Dog brand when we got our pup. If memory is correct, it was same price as others but the length of wire was more, perhaps even double than others. Installed easily using a rented lawn edger and trained the dog using instructions. It works great. Personally, if it does not work, I'd be inclined to think it is a training issue, not an equipment issue.

[goose89]

Personally, if it does not work, I'd be inclined to think it is a training issue, not an equipment issue.

Well, I've seen it become an equipment issue with the Innotek Ultra Smart.....good looking on paper, but the unit i had was very irratic.....dogs never knew what was going to happen...I tried to do the training as specified, but the irratic behavior of the fence / collars made it impossible. I've got a soft Vizsla that wouldn't go outside without me being there for a couple days after first training session. I ate the $400 bucks, pulled it up and got Invisible Fence......flawless....I agree, TRAINING is the key.....but you can't train with something that's inconsistent......unless you feel lucky, I'd stay away from the Ultra Smart (any Innotek or like product). Other than up front price (my dogs are worth it), I've never heard of anyone complain about their Invisible Fence. good luck.......

[gspman]

Invisible Fence has worked well for me.

[Whopper Stopper]

Our Invisible Fence system has worked like a fine swiss watch for the last 25 years. As a matter of fact it outlasted both our labs.

WS

[dillon]

It seems like everyone with the Invisible Fence likes them. Can they be installed by a home owner or a contractor only? I would rather do the work myself and save the money.

[fishwidow]

Our first one was installed by the Invisible Fence people. I had no idea of what was involved and was fencing about an acre and a half. When we moved, I was going to ask about doing it myself, but my wife beat me to them and had them install it also. Her logic was that I had plenty of other things to do with the move to a new house, and we also have a pretty big part of the fence going through heavy woods and brush. Looking back at that, and with the equipment I would have versus what they have, she was probably right.

For our lake place, I did the installation myself using a power lawn edger. The wire does not have to be deep and actually doesn't need to be buried except to get it out of the way. Again it's a pretty large area--well over an acre and a half and I probably didn't spend more than a few hours on the whole thing. Your soil conditions and the amount of brush and tree roots could make it a lot tougher. Somone mentioned not having enough flags for training, but you can buy a bundle of them at Fleet Farm for a few bucks.

My guess is they will try to promote their installation, and I don't know how much you'll save, because it really does not take them long. Can't hurt to ask.

[jps]

I was all set to use one at our home, had devibullator [heart thing] go off while charging collar on kitchen cupboard. Ambulance to hospital, was told by dr. low on potassium. Filled me up on pot., back home in three days, same thing happened. Back to hospital, keeping the story short, call co. who make dog collar, they do not recommend these if you have a defibrillator. Just thought to let people know!!! jps

[hoppe56307]

I have the innotek Basic Contain and Train System for the last 4 years and has worked flawlessly. I have only had an issue with 1 collar in 4 years and they sent me a replacement with no charge to me.

Easy to do yourself just need to rent an edger and set it to 2-3in deep to bury the wire.

My brother has it for his dog which is a high energy short hair and it has never ran threw the fence and neither has my lab.

[401TE]

I have the Innotek Basic In-Ground Fence, the SD-2000, and it works flawlessly for my Brittany. 2 zaps when I installed it and she figured it out. Best $60 (store closeout) I've ever spent.

I'd also recommend renting an edger to install the wire...I didn't and regretted it for 8 hours.