Invisible fence question

[nancy679]

We are thinking of getting an invisible fence installed for our dog.

Has anyone gone with the "generic" invisible fence, which is less money and has to be installed yourself?

And approximately how much did it cost.

Thanks for any advise.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Bump. I haven't but I'm looking into it for our hound mix. I've never seen such a noodle-brain dog in my life! She gets on the scent of something and there's no turning back!

 

[Galahad]

We have an Invisible Fence (by Invisible Fence). It was about $1000 total for a 1/3 acre lot and three dogs. I would stay away from the do it yourself ones. I have read several reports if their failure and you have no back up if you need help with it.

 

[ajksmom]

Neighbors of ours bought a "do it yourself" kit and rented a "ditch witch" to assist with the digging involved. They "saved" $300 doing it this way, BUT spent an entire weekend cursing each other out trying to get the thing laid.
After that it was up to them to train their dogs, and adjust the settings.
To top it all off, during a lightning storm a tree near the wire was struck and "back fed" into their house. They lost all appliances, computer, lap-top, answering machine, tv's, DVD/VCR's, etc. and lost their phone and electricity for 4 days while repairs were being made. All repairmen who worked at their house talked about how badly this was wired. My neighbors had followed the directions completely and showed the electrician the booklet. He asked for a copy so that he could show the various building depts. in the area how unsafe the do it yourself installations were, in hopes that they could perhaps give homeowners a heads up.
Incidentally, he told them an electrician could have come out for less than a $100 and made the connection correctly for them.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I'd be careful. A good one can cost more than a "real" fence and if your dog is stubborn enough, like mine is, only lots and lots of training will work to keep him in. Mine would walk right through it.

 

[Spinning]

we put our own fence in it was easy and not a that much work. We did about 3/4 of an acre. Cutting the drive way was the hard part.
All we did was use a straight edge shovel, cut/seperated the dirt and then pushed the wire in.
We first laid the wire and then made sure it worked. then working as a team one split the dirt the other pushed the wire through. We did in a weekend but it wasn't hard we would stop and start later.
Well worth the money saved. IT was going to cost us around $1000 I think we spent around $300.

Our dog only went through the fence once. She is now almost 4 and we haven't had a problem since, including other dogs being next door and squirrel, chipmunks running around.
I think training is most important and not keeping your dog outside all the time. For the most part I am either outside or in the house. Our property would be next to impossible to fence and I can't even imagine the price so this worked perfect for us.

 

[MinnieMe2]

We have the Invisible Fence brand fence, but we bought it about 12 years ago, and at that time it cost a little over $300 and we could do the installation ourselves, which we did. Part of the reason I wanted the IF was because of their guarantee that the fence will work or you get your money back. Training and patience are key.

We're on our second dog to be trained to the IF, a basset hound, and it works great. I don't consider Charlie to be a 'noodle-brain' if he does what he was bred to do and follows a scent to the netherlands. Not everyone should bring home a hound, I guess. But I do consider myself to be a responsible dog owner and have made every effort to keep my dog in his own yard. The IF has done its job through two dogs in 12 years, and that's more than good enough for me. I'm very happy with IF.

 

[DoeWDW]

My dog is a mini-dachshund - a scent hound. Invisible fences are NOT generally recommended for scent hounds, since most will endure plenty of pain when following a scent.

Invisible fences do seem to work well for other types of dogs, such as the herders and retrievers, from what I've heard.

Best wishes with whatever you decide.

 

[DawnCt1]

My real IF costs about $1000 for an acre. You can negotiate the price. I am so glad that I went with IF. It has been hit by lightening twice and everything has been replaced for the price of a service call. They repair breaks in the fence., etc. Also, I was able to buy an indoor unit that looks like a smoke detector that I can move. Once she is trained to avoid that area, she doesn't go back to it. But, she is a poodle so that makes her the smartest dog in the world. . Another plus about IF, is if, your dog is untrainable, you get a refund.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

We have THE Invisible Fence. Have had it for 12 years. Our dog was difficult to train in the beginning because she was so fast and would just run over the line and not care, but the support and unconditional satisfaction money back guarantee that comes with it, really made it worth while. It got to the point when the owner kept coming to "correct" our dog and she would go and hide from him. He jokingly said "Well if we can't train her, we'll pull it out and simply post pictures of me around the perimeter." Suffice is to say, 13 years later, we are still extremely pleased with it. Our dog is now 12 and was trained so well with it, that she can be outside without the collar and still not even think about crossing the line.

The problem you run into with not going with THE fence, is the support, or lack of it; the fact that you have to spend the time installing it and then tweaking everything yourself. In addition, the collar is guaranteed for as long as you live in the house. You can pass it down from dog to dog. Also, the unit is pretty much covered for a lengthy period of time.

If it's just a money issue, wait until the winter months because Invisible Fence always runs promitions in which they will install the system for as little as $100.00.

Go fot it!

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by DoeWDW
My dog is a mini-dachshund - a scent hound. Invisible fences are NOT generally recommended for scent hounds, since most will endure plenty of pain when following a scent.

Invisible fences do seem to work well for other types of dogs, such as the herders and retrievers, from what I've heard.

Best wishes with whatever you decide.

We have a Lab and two Bichons and it works well. Most of our neighborhood has IF's. There is a bordercollie around the corner, for example, for which it works well. Haven't seen any hounds now that you mention it. Ours even works when deer wander through the yard and the dogs want to follow.

 

[caitycaity]

we use to have a golden retriever that we adopted after he had been abused and neglected. he was the sweetest thing, but also very stubborn.

we installed an invisible fence and did the training, but nothing worked. he would be fine until he saw something appealing outside of our yard. then he would bolt right through it. i guess the pain was not much of a deterrant for him.

after that we just installed a run.

 

[nancy679]

Thanks for so many quick replys

They are having a special right now for $599 installed, and they do have a money back guarantee if it doesnt keep the dog contained.

 

[darkcircles]

Remember that an invisible fence may keep your dog in but it won't keep other dogs out.

 

[DVC-Don]

Several of our neighbors have these types fences. For the most part they work, but once and a while a dog gets up quite a head of steam and just runs right on through it. It gets zapped on the way out and is then afraid to go back in.