Invisible Fence? How reliable? And how expensive?

[Big Cuddly Bear]

We're moving into a home with no fence, but the property is way to big for us to put one up. So, we need a way to keep our to dogs safe ( as well as the neighbors ).

 

[npmommie]

That was our situation.
my dh just made a fenced area for the dogs. on the edge of the woods in the back.
worked perfectly, they have a huge area all their own, and can't roam the neighborhood!

although, my one dog is trained to stay on property and she does. she will run to the edge of the front when she is out there, but never steps into the road, you would think we had electric fence but we don't.
but I still don't fully trust her.

 

[Bilberry]

Some neighbors of mine have an invisible fence. It works - most of the time. Every once in awhile the dog, MaggyMayBones, runs through while I'm on a walk and tries to lick me a few hundred times.

 

[VAfamily1998]

The invisible fence won't stop other roaming dogs/malicious people from coming onto your property though...

I'm not sure what kind of neighborhood you'll be moving into, but I have to say, as a runner, I hate the invisible fences. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood--houses on approx. 1/4 acre each. Some people will leave their dogs out with (I'm assuming) the invisible fence. As I'm running past on the street, the dog (sometimes big ones!) will start barking and charging towards me. It's scary! Sure, the dog doesn't actually leave the property, but if I'm not familiar with that house/dog all I know is there is a BIG dog charging towards me and I don't know that he's going to stop!

I guess as long as the dog doesn't actually leave the property, the owners haven't done anything illegal, but I think it's inconsiderate.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I have been looking into these, also. Let me share a few things I have learned.

The Invisible Fence Company is very pricey, but I believe you have a warranty. You can also buy a DIY kit for an invisible fence from Innotek, which is the company that owns Invisible Fence. I think for my 1 acre it would be about 1k for I.F. and about $400 for a DIY kit.

We decided that even with an invisible fence (whether it is DIY or from the company) we still want to have a true fence up also. Our new dog is a runner...if she gets out of the house, she will tear off. We have heard from several people that their dogs will still run through the "zap" of electricity if the reward on the other side is great enough! My friends with 2 king charles cavalier spaniels said that they even jacked the electricity up to "lobotomy level" lol but the dogs learned it was worth it to run really fast through the electricity.

Our theory is that with a real fence and no I.F., we are afraid that our new dog will try to dig out (yes, she is also a digger as well as a runner *sigh*) so we feel the electric fence will help that, she will not want to feel the discomfort of a zap for the length of time it takes to dig.

There are many people against I.F.s for various reasons. I have a feeling you will be hearing from some of them, as this is the DIS.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

The invisible fence won't stop other roaming dogs/malicious people from coming onto your property though...

I'm not sure what kind of neighborhood you'll be moving into, but I have to say, as a runner, I hate the invisible fences. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood--houses on approx. 1/4 acre each. Some people will leave their dogs out with (I'm assuming) the invisible fence. As I'm running past on the street, the dog (sometimes big ones!) will start barking and charging towards me. It's scary! Sure, the dog doesn't actually leave the property, if I'm not familiar with that house/dog all I know is there is a BIG dog charging towards me and I don't know that he's going to stop!

I guess as long as the dog doesn't actually leave the property, the owners haven't done anything illegal, but I think it's inconsiderate.

I do agree with this, this is another reason we want to have a real fence. People should at least have a sign up letting others know there is an I.F.

 

[mom2aandj]

We are very happy with our Invisible Fence. It is expensive. I hear what the pp was saying about being scared and not knowing if the dog will stop or not, but in our neighborhood the HOA prohibits actual fences, so it's an invisible fence or nothing for us. We and our neighbors who have IF have signs at the edge of our property that identify it as having IF.

Why I think it works for us: we got our dog as a puppy and had the invisible fence put in asap. We never, ever let her cross the boundaries of where the fence was going to be, even before it was installed and she was trained on it. We were very diligent about the training, and made sure that her batteries in her collar were always charged. Our dog has never once tried to run out of our yard.

However, we have friends who either got older dogs, or had their dogs for awhile and let them cross out the yard before they got the IF or just plain were kind of lazy with training on the system once they got it, and they all have had issues with the dogs running through it at some point. My one friend let the batteries in the dog's collar die and it ran off this week.

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

I found the review by Phil W on this link to be helpful...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080326083357AAt8AJB

mom2-hmmmm, our dog ( from the Humane Society) is a 2 year old lab mix. We have had her about 3 months. I do take her for walks in the neighborhood and would like to continue to do that. I know someone with an invisible fence and she takes her dogs (rescued greyhounds) on walks. But what you are saying makes sense.

I guess yet another reason I need a real fence along with an I.F.

My dog LOVES being outside. I walk her often, but I know she would like to be sitting on the warm driveway, checking out the birds and squirrels. I would love to be able to let her out for an hour or so at a a time.

 

[msjprincess]

The invisible fence won't stop other roaming dogs/malicious people from coming onto your property though...

I'm not sure what kind of neighborhood you'll be moving into, but I have to say, as a runner, I hate the invisible fences. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood--houses on approx. 1/4 acre each. Some people will leave their dogs out with (I'm assuming) the invisible fence. As I'm running past on the street, the dog (sometimes big ones!) will start barking and charging towards me. It's scary! Sure, the dog doesn't actually leave the property, but if I'm not familiar with that house/dog all I know is there is a BIG dog charging towards me and I don't know that he's going to stop!

I guess as long as the dog doesn't actually leave the property, the owners haven't done anything illegal, but I think it's inconsiderate.

ITA. I hate them, especially if I happen to be walking with my kids.

Like other people have said dogs will sometimes go through them plus it doesn't keep other dogs out.

 

[RunningGirl]

I think the term "invisible fence" is a misnomer. It's not really a fence, it's more of a training tool.

When we moved a few years ago we moved from a house with a fenced backyard and didn't want to put up a fence in our new yard. We went to Home Depot and installed our own "invisible fence" for our two dogs. I spent a good deal of time training them as they had both been runners anytime they the chance at our old house. For one (a lab) the system worked wonderfully 100% of the time. For the other (a golden) it worked 98% of the time but occasionally she would go through if there was something she felt the need to chase after.

I think they can work, but realize you don't just install it and forget about it. Not only do you have initial training to do, you also may have to do retraining occasionally. I would not use this system if I lived near a busy road or had a dog that might be any kind of danger to another animal or person. I would also not use it if the dogs were going to be outside for long periods of time by themselves.

 

[mom2aandj]

I
mom2-hmmmm, our dog ( from the Humane Society) is a 2 year old lab mix. We have had her about 3 months. I do take her for walks in the neighborhood and would like to continue to do that. I know someone with an invisible fence and she takes her dogs (rescued greyhounds) on walks. But what you are saying makes sense.

.

sorry, what I said was not totally clear--we definitely still take our dog on walks, we have our IF set up so that she is in the back yard (we have 2 acres, so the half in the back still gives her lots of room!) When we want to take her on walks (or anywhere!) we take her collar off and take her out through the garage door and down the driveway. But it's not anywhere she can get to from the backyard, if that makes sense?

 

[deedeetoo]

We have an invisible fence and we really like it. Our property is about an acre and about half of it is woods. They were able to go right around the perimeter even through the woods so that our dog has the ability to go around the whole property. There is a sign on our mailbox post that says we have an invisible fence so people walking past know.

Around here everyone has invisible fences. Almost no one has real fences because of the sizes of the yards. And it just wouldn't look it right around here.

Our dog is a yellow lab. He is very trained to where the fence is. In fact, we often don't put the actual collar on him because he just won't go across the line. We've never really had a problem with it.

Your right that it doesn't keep anything out. We still see deer, fox, etc in the back. And we get the occasional visit from another dog, but we know all the nearby dogs so we just bring them home.

 

[arminnie]

Really depends on the dog. I mostly have rescue dogs so I get what I get. One who had been on the streets for a long time was such a bolter. Give him an inch and he's be gone IF would not have stopped him. He always came home though. I hated it when he got out, but sometimes someone visiting would not be as careful when going in or out.

My current dog is such a baby chicken. If he gets out the front door he will run about 4-5 feet and then turn around and run back inside. An if would terrify him. He would probably not even go back outside again.

Where I've seen them work the best is someone out in the country on several acres that wants to limit the dog to a smaller area (maybe where they can keep them in sight).

I bought a house once - the house next door had an electrified fence right on our property line. No warning or anything. Gosh that hurt. That was years and years ago. That can't have been legal.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I don't know how much they are but my sister has one.

One of her dogs stays within it, the other dog constantly barrels right thru. He could care less about the sting?jolt? whatever he gets from it. She says she wishes they had just fenced in a portion of the yard for the dogs so she doesn't have to deal with tracking that dog down half the time. She has even tried retraining the booger and it isn't helping.

 

[DisneyScraps]

We did an invisible fence for our dig. It was around $200 to buy it at WalMart. We installed it in about 2 hours. It was pretty easy. We had an acre lot. Training the dog was super quick, he got zapped once and that was it.

Now the down side. One morning we let him out and then the power went out, he ran. Another time the batteries got low, he ran. So we learned to change the batteries once a month just to be sure. Power outages and we would not let him out. Once he gets out of the yard he is afraid to come back so we would end up carrying him back into the yard, with the fence off.

I think it was wonderful to let him have the entire yard to run.

I would encourage anyone to do it and do it yourself, you don't need to invest in those companies that install it, it's so much more expensive.

Lisa

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

sorry, what I said was not totally clear--we definitely still take our dog on walks, we have our IF set up so that she is in the back yard (we have 2 acres, so the half in the back still gives her lots of room!) When we want to take her on walks (or anywhere!) we take her collar off and take her out through the garage door and down the driveway. But it's not anywhere she can get to from the backyard, if that makes sense?

ahhh, I gotcha. My friend that I mentioned...her backyard is fenced, her front yard is not...but both yards have the IF. If she wants to take the dogs for a walk, she just removes the collar and takes them out of the front. Although I don't think she really ever lets them out in the front yard unattended...I think the IF there is just an extra precaution in case they bolt out the front door.

 

[bellebud]

depends on the dog if it will work.

After we put in our electric fence, we found out our Boston Terrier would happily take the shock to get out, whereas our sheltie, belgian malanois and german shephard were trained in 5 minutes.

We then had to get a regular fence because of the Boston (little stinker!)

 

[DVC-Don]

We were happy with our Invisible Fence for our two dogs. We don't have the dogs anymore, but our Yorkie was a runner. She trained very quickly and never ran again. Our other dog was content to stay in yard even without the fence.

 

[tiggersbombed2]

How expensive?

Well, what's your dogs trust in you worth? Whatever that is, times it by 1000 and try to explain to him that you are causing him pain because it's what's best. If your dog really wants what's on the other side of that invisible fence make no mistake, he'll get it. But then, he won't come back to the front or back door because he's afraid of getting shocked coming back in. Or, perhaps he's smart and he waits until the battery is low and then makes a break for it.

Don't count on these as a fail safe. Many dogs go thru them anyway. If you want to be fair about it, put it on it's highest setting and wear it then shock yourself. If you think that feels right. Go for it. But don't count on it. They can still get out. Some won't, but you can't be sure until you buy and try it out. Then it may be too late. Those trusting eyes just looking at you, wondering why you put that thing that hurts on them.

Don't get me started on bark collars...

 

[ZephyrHawk]

As others have said, it depends on your dog. If your dog has a history of charging at anything (people, cars, other dogs) in my experience a shock is not going to stop it from it's objective. Oh, sure, it might make it think twice if the object of its affection is not at its most interesting (a slow moving car, for instance). However, when they see something they want to run after, they are not thinking, just reacting.

Meanwhile, if your dog is not generally of the type to go blindly running off, then it's probably of the type that could benefit from a little boundary training, which would cost you a little time, but no money.