invisible fence

[gigi1976]

Do you have one? Good/Bad comments? We are buying a house with no fence, and thinking this may be the cheapest option to let our dog out.

 

[disneyismyname]

Do you have one? Good/Bad comments? We are buying a house with no fence, and thinking this may be the cheapest option to let our dog out.

My neighbour has this and the mail man still won't deliever him his mail. He had to get a P.O. Box.

The way I see it...the invisible fence can keep the dog in the yard but won't stop kids or adults from coming in. I'm more prone to buy an actual fence.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Do you have one?

1) Works great on the dog.
2) But, the children still get through it.

 

[gigi1976]

1) Works great on the dog.
2) But, the children still get through it.

That was my concern too, and my brother's suggestion was that we buy a couple extra collars

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

Depends on the temperament of your dog and how concerned you are about animals, kids, etc. coming onto your property.

A dog with a high prey drive can be so focused on chasing that squirrel that he'll blast right past the warning beeps and tingles. Then, he may not be able or willing to cross the barrier to get back into the yard once the adrenaline wears off.

A more laid back dog who just needs a reminder that this is where your home turf ends might have more success.

I personally don't care for them and have had friends/neighbors use them with mixed success. I prefer a physical barrier that doesn't require electricity or a need to worry about batteries.

 

[gigi1976]

Depends on the temperament of your dog and how concerned you are about animals, kids, etc. coming onto your property.

A dog with a high prey drive can be so focused on chasing that squirrel that he'll blast right past the warning beeps and tingles. Then, he may not be able or willing to cross the barrier to get back into the yard once the adrenaline wears off.

A more laid back dog who just needs a reminder that this is where your home turf ends might have more success.

I personally don't care for them and have had friends/neighbors use them with mixed success. I prefer a physical barrier that doesn't require electricity or a need to worry about batteries.

Oh right, I had never considered what happens when the battery dies, I guess you hope that they are trained on the area by then. Hmmm...something to think about.

 

[skmommy]

They work great for some dogs. The batteries last about 3-4 months generally, you just have to remember to replace them. They even make a system for cats (we have one for our indoor cat to keep him off the tv and the christmas tree when it is up---love it!!!). The main issue I have with the yard containment for dogs is that other dogs can get in and could fight with/hurt your dog.

 

[2Kds2K9]

Love mine and the price of the batteries is not too bad. I think I pay $45 a year for 8 batteries. Two dogs, 4 batteries. The batteries don't really wear down as they are only "used" when they are activated. Therefore, I can have one battery last 9 months.

Yes, it will not keep critters out, but it does keep my dogs in. We have over an acre and I have the whole permimeter wired. The dogs have the run of the yard and love it.

Yes, some dogs will "grin and bear" it to get it out. My male has only gone through once and it was when I took my female out for a walk and left him in the yard. My mistake as he's "momma's boy".

I don't leave my dogs out unattended, but it's nice to know that they won't go running off when we are all out playing and/or doing yard work.

Good luck!
P.S. My dogs are Mushu and Mulan!

 

[clh2]

Not a fan of electric fences. Someone in our subdivision has one and uses it as a doggy sitter. Every once in a while "PeeWee" gets out and he is NASTY and mean. Only about 15 pounds - but I am afraid of that dog.

 

[deedeetoo]

Everyone around here has electric fences. No one has regular fences. Our yard is a little more than an acre and is wooded in the back. They were able to put the wire through the woods so our dog has the run of our entire property. He loves hanging out in the woods. We love the fence and haven't had any problems with it. The brand we have is called Dogwatch and our batteries last two years so we don't have the expense or problems that others have with that.

It doesn't work with kids, but when our kids were young, they weren't outside without us anyway so I guess this wasn't an issue for us.

The biggest problem for us is that it doesn't keep wild animals out. The deer still eat our plants, and we have seen fox in our backyard. Our neighbors have seen coyotes so we know they are out there too. Our dog is big (100 lbs) so he chases them away if he is out, but I would be concerned if I had a little dog.

We haven't had a problem with our mail since they just deliver to the mailbox at the end of the driveway anyway. The same UPS and Fedex guys deliver to the neighborhood all the time so they know all the dogs by name and we've never had a problem getting things delivered to the house even when the dog is out.

 

[semo233]

I bought one online (about $350) and rented a machine for $50 per day to lay the wire underground. We have two acres and it took about 1.5 hours. Depending upon your layout, they make a heavy duty wire that you just "staple" to the ground and the grass roots grow right over it.
Our system has a base that will beep when the collar needs to be recharged. We simply put the collar on the base to charge overnight.
Our lab LOVES to chase squirrels and turkeys, we have not had a problem with her running through the fence. Although it made me sad, the clincher was when she slowed down because she heard the beep and then got zapped. She will IMMEDIATELY turn around when she hears the beep now.
We only let her our when we are home.
An underground fence in our area would run me about $3500 at least, so I am so glad we took this option.

 

[crisi]

We have one. Once our dog was trained, a dead battery doesn't make much difference - he's learned where his boundaries are. He'll need a reminder if the landscape changes (i.e. the batteries had better be good when in snows, he can't tell in the snow.)

Our neighborhood is not one for loose dogs or coyotes, so we don't worry about that. And our mailman doesn't need to get into the yard - mailbox is on the street. Our dog isn't out alone much either - maybe quickly to go potty, but if he's outside running around, we are out there with him.

 

[rileysmommy]

Depends on the temperament of your dog and how concerned you are about animals, kids, etc. coming onto your property.

A dog with a high prey drive can be so focused on chasing that squirrel that he'll blast right past the warning beeps and tingles. Then, he may not be able or willing to cross the barrier to get back into the yard once the adrenaline wears off.

A more laid back dog who just needs a reminder that this is where your home turf ends might have more success.

I personally don't care for them and have had friends/neighbors use them with mixed success. I prefer a physical barrier that doesn't require electricity or a need to worry about batteries.

We recently got a puppy and are looking into fencing right now. The reasons stated above are exactly the reasons I am not going with electric fencing. We are getting split rail with wire mesh for the backyard and we'll just use a tie out and stay with her if we want to be in the front. Also, an electric fence doesn't stop other dogs or people from coming onto your property and hurting your dog. We have several dogs in our neighborhood who get loose and I don't want to take that risk.

 

[ashlansmom]

I grew up with a regular fence and now my husband and I have an electric fence for our black lab. I agree with PP that the fence works great for the right kind of dog. Labs don't challenge much, they are happy to stay where they are supposed to, but another breed might not care about the zap if they are focused on chasing another dog or squirrel, etc.

The price is right. So if you are mostly price motivated, i think this is a great option. Also, if you don't leave your dog outside while you are NOT home, this is a great option. We keep our dog in the house when we are not home. He is only out in the yard when we are here to keep an eye out. He doesn't really wear his collar much anymore because he is so trained by his boundaries that he really doesn't challenge it. Every once in awhile he wanders and we put his collar on again for awhile to remind him. Growing up, a regular fence allowed my parents to keep the dog out all day while they were at work, etc. I wouldn't personally do this with an electric fence.

We had ours installed for a bit over $1000 here in CT, 6 years ago. My uncle installed them at his kids houses with an edger to dig the trench and then laid the wire themselves, so theirs was much less plus the labor they put in themselves. So you can drastically cut your cost by buying it and doing it yourself.

If you go through with it, I would recommend seeing if you can get your driveway OFF your loop. My cousin did this somehow, and her dog can't go in her driveway. I WISH we had done this because our dog does not stay away from cars, he runs toward them. Everytime we are outside and my husband comes home from work I have to chase down the dog or trick him to get him away from the car.

PP are right also in that it keeps your dog in, but not others OUT. We haven't had an issue too much because we live in the woods and so we aren't near the street for him to run right to the barrier and then stop and scare the daylights out of people walking by, etc. But we did have a dog come into our yard the other weekend. Our dog was very protective and had the other dog not been a puppy who was outrunning our dog, there would have been a fight.

Also to consider, when walking in a neighborhood with these fences, it is really intimidating when a huge dog comes barrelling toward the street barking like crazy. The walkers have no idea if you have a fence or not....it can be very intimidating! I do think it's great for people like us who are far off the road though. The cost compared to a nice regular fence isn't even comparable. The regular fence could never have been in our buget.

Good luck!

 

[lucigo]

Depending on the restrictions in your neighborhood....where we live is considered agricultural. We put privacy fence along the front border and then farm fence along the sides and back of the property. We have an acre with woods along the back. It doesn't work for a small dog, we dog-sat a dachshund that could fit through the holes. LOL

 

[amylevan]

We have 1 that we use for our 2 jack russells. We used it at our previous house on a 1/4 acre lot and our current house on a 2 acre lot. Both houses only enclosed the back yard since we didn't want them to be in the front near the street.

It has trained them so well that we don't always put their collars on now. They know where the boundaries are and will sit at the edge of them. And these are terriers that are always chasing something. But when the squirrel that they are chasing gets past the barrier, they just sit and bark at them until they are out of sight.

 

[maxiesmom]

Oh right, I had never considered what happens when the battery dies, I guess you hope that they are trained on the area by then. Hmmm...something to think about.

I actually had a strange dog show up in my front yard last year. He was from the street next to us, but the scary thing is, is that everyone on this side has fences. So this dog had to walk up to the main road, and then back down to get to my house. He was lucky to have not been hit by a car.

Anyway, I loaded the dog into my car, and took him home. Turns out, the owner has electrical fencing, but the battery had died. And the dog took off.

I would never trust electrical fencing. Not just because of the risk of it failing, but because it doesn't keep anything from coming into your yard. Your dog may stay, but it won't keep any stray dogs (or kids) out.

 

[marie1203]

I am highly dislike electric fencing. A friend of mine had her dog killed by a snake because the dog couldn't get out. I seen plenty of dog fights were the dog couldn't go anywhere and strange dogs got into the yard. I also seen it be defective and just give the shock to the dog non stop (we couldn't catch this dog he was freaking out). I always rather do training that use shock collars. I will never use an electric fence. I can have our pitbull in our front yard without a fence knowing he will listen even if there is dogs, cats, kids, etc.

 

[DebMcDonald]

We had one way way way back when they first came out and you needed the company to come in and install it. Absolutely loved it. We had a German Shepard at the time. Yes, he did on occasion get though if someone was using a chainsaw the noise would literally just scare him and he'd be gone and then they can't get back in as it works the same way, but overall we were very satified with our purchase. Just make sure that you put up signs saying you have the invisible fence and you shouldn't have problems with the mailman, etc.

 

[2binak]

Personally, I think they're cruel and think that obedience training or a physcial fence are much better options.

Neighbors of ours have an electric fence and their dog has gotten out so many times that they finally put a physical fence around their backyard and keep him there now. Dh "rescued" him from the street many times and had to remove the collar in order to get him back into the yard. Their 11 yr old son saw me talking to another neighbor while my dog ran around & played with us. He asked "how come your dog doesn't have to stay in your yard?" and I told him "because she's been trained not run away from us." He looked really confused and continued walking to his house. I thought it was sad that he seemed confused that a dog could be trained to stay with it's owners while off lease.