I have a quote for Invisible Fence, and they charge $500 for training. My dog is well behaved and has basic obedience training, done by me. He just can’t resist chasing squirrels and deer, hence the invisible fence. I am having a hard time coughing up $500 for the training. I’m sure I can youtube it and do it myself. Has anyone else done this?
The fence most likely won’t keep your dog contained. If he’s going after a squirrel or deer, he’ll blow right through the invisible barrier and never feel it. And it won’t keep squirrels or deer out of your yard — squirrel in yard dog chases it out of yard and keeps going. I don’t know what kind of dog you have, but so many dogs (beagles, any hound or hunting dog, plus those who just like going after rabbits et.) are going to chase regardless.
Predatory behavior can be pretty hard to discourage with an invisible fence. Truly predatory dogs will take the shock, then leave to pursue game. Then they will not be so amped up, so will not take the shock to return to your yard.
Is there some reason you cannot do an actual physical fence?
That said, yes $500 seems steep, I would guess you can get what you need from YouTube videos.
But, is these some kind of guarenttee that the company has if you do their training?
That might be worth doing, since you may need to get your money back with this.
I’ve known dogs who have learned to go to the edge of the fence, where it beeps a warning, run down the battery, then they can cross the boundary without even getting a shock.
You may need to go through the whole shaving the neck, increasing the length of the contacts, but if your dog is really determined, it may not work.
Irish Wolfhound Rescue does not adopt out to homes with invisable fences, and most breeders will not either.
Good luck, please keep us posted.
I’ve trained a dog on invisible fence and it’s just not that hard. I followed the directions that came with the packaging. It took maybe 10-14 days before I thought she understood and could be let loose fairly.
But my invisible fence was just backup to keep her off of the REAL fence. I agree with the other posters that invisible fence only is unlikely to keep your dog from chasing deer and other exciting critters. And once they’re OUT of the fence, it sure makes it hard for them to come back in.
Is there ANY way you can put up an honest to god fence? Even if it’s just deer/snow fence on t posts, a flimsy visual barrier to back up your invisible fence is likely to increase your chance of success.
Now, if the invisible fence people will come and install and train your dog and GUARANTEE that the dog will never blow through it…that might be worth that cash. If only so you can get your money back. But I’d still want a real barrier.
Nope! It will NOT work to keep a dog from going after prey. I watched one dog “rock” back and forth building up to running through the fence. Once he was out he would NOT go back in. Once you got him back in it was only a matter of time before he was out again.
For a soft dog with no prey drive it might work but that is not what you have.
I had one years ago. I had two dogs at the time. One figured out ways to get out of the fence. She was little and could walk in a little overlay of the patio and get out of the fence, so I had to stop using it with her. The other dog was professionally trained, with many sessions, and stayed in the fence 95% of the time but would run out to chase things. A neighbor just told me that she had to stop using hers. Her hunting dog runs through to chase rabbits, and her other dog goes right through the shock all of the time. She shows her dogs in obedience and they heel perfectly. Before you invest a lot of money in an invisible fence, be aware that professional training or not if your dog’s chase instinct is strong enough, he may run through it even though he knows he will get a shock. I do know dogs that it has worked for, as well, but they do not work for all dogs.
$500 seems really steep. We had an Invisible Fence knock off installed, including training on 3/4 acre for $800 last year. I trained prior dogs to other “invisible fences”. Go online and search an owners manual for PetSafe or another knock off. For our Corgis it was one “correction” and some reinforcement. Can’t comment on the prey drive and effectiveness but basic training on the fence takes like 15 minutes (reinforcment is up to the owner).
I have trained 5+ of my dogs to an invisible fence, all with high prey drive. You train them to the flags first, add tone then shock. It takes at least 2 weeks of consistent training. My collars are programmed to sense them running too fast toward the boundary and first emit tone then shock but my dogs always stay several feet from the boundary. My batteries last forever. I have deer, groundhogs and fox in the fields surrounding me and have an acre fenced with no issues. I always tell people your fence is only as good as the time you spend training to it. I put flags around my parents property for one weekend and my dogs still do not leave their yard 5 years later.
[QUOTE=maybedog;8325703]
I have trained 5+ of my dogs to an invisible fence, all with high prey drive. You train them to the flags first, add tone then shock. It takes at least 2 weeks of consistent training. My collars are programmed to sense them running too fast toward the boundary and first emit tone then shock but my dogs always stay several feet from the boundary. My batteries last forever. I have deer, groundhogs and fox in the fields surrounding me and have an acre fenced with no issues. I always tell people your fence is only as good as the time you spend training to it. I put flags around my parents property for one weekend and my dogs still do not leave their yard 5 years later.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. I have a neighbor with german shorthair pointers with very high prey drive, and they stay inside. I understand it’s not an overnight process. I do have a small fenced dog yard, but I would like my dog to go up to the barn with me, and hang out in the backyard without having to be tied up. The invisible fence will run alongside the 4 board horse fence, so there will be a clear visible barrier for him. Plus, he will have to crawl under the horse fence, so he won’t be able to “blow” through it.
My problem isn’t so much staying inside. If they are OUTSIDE and try to come back in, they get shocked, so they learn not to come back when they do run away.
I have seen dogs blow through these before and I have seen my own dog blow through an e-collar that is stronger than the invisible fence receiver. In both cases the dogs had sufficient training. I wouldn’t take the chance with my dog.
If you have a physical fence along with the invisible fence you will probably be ok. I’ve trained 3 of my dogs to Invisible Fence (the IF brand). 2 were rock solid steady about staying in, the other one not so much. It has a lot to do with personality and prey drive. However, if you are running IF inside of a physical fence that can at least slow the dog down you may be ok. There’s really no good way to tell who it’s going to work for until you try it, unfortunately.
We just got an IF for our extremely high prey drive JRT puppy- it works fantastically.
For us the $500 for training, was having THEM come and physically do the training. Included with the price of the installation was them helping you- they don’t turn the shock on the first week, just the noise, they help you with the protocol for training, and then they come back and turn up the intensity of the shock as needed for the first year. Other than that, you do all the actual training which wasn’t that hard.
The newer invisible fences do NOT shock dogs coming IN the yard, just out.
Our JRT is smart, and so when we had to turn up the shock, we had trouble testing him- he would NOT go out of the yard. Fortunately he loses his mind around soccer balls so we used one to test. The next time that didn’t work.
Now (it’s been 6 months, he’s been reliable for the last 4 at least) he definitely knows where his line is and he Will. Not. Cross. For ANYTHING. He has stopped when the kids run out, kick balls out, other friend’s dogs go out of our yard, chipmunks, bunnies, etc run to the neighbors, he screeches to a halt well within the line.
I am a lover of Invisible Fence brand fence.
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Don’t buy the DIY IF stuff. You can’t change the frequency and that can be problematic.
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The price of installation normally includes the training–maybe your vendor adds more in? Training has never been an additional charge where I’ve lived.
It’s super easy to train. And if you get the boundary plus fencing and do proper training, your dog won’t run through it. But they have to KNOW the boundary and get appropriate corrections. If you’re worried about your dog running through, then use the training sessions. The way the fences work now, they get the beep as they approach and then they are getting nailed once they cross and onward until either A) the battery dies or B) they get back within the fenceline.
We originally installed our fence at house A. Moved to house B, dogs figured it out fast. Moved to house C, again, not much training needed. Once they know what the deal is, they sort it out pretty quickly.
It depends on the dog. We had an invisible fence knock off that my dogs sort of respected but would blow through if something appealing suddenly was on the other side (rabbit, dear, cat, me). We upgraded our system in May to PetStop and they RESPECT that fence. My little dog (the one who would occasionally run through the old fence) was professionally training on my mom’s PetStop fence and always respected that fence. My lab has had no professional training and would follow the other dog through occasionally. The girls spent a couple days at my mom’s and had their new fence collars on there and learned the beep and boundaries. The first night we turned out the new system (we replaced the system ourselves but retained the old wire so the boundaries were the same) they took off down the hill to the fence line the wire is where my neighbor’s dogs trespassing. They were flying. They must have heard the beep but I have never seen them slam on the breaks like they did. They’ve both gone through once since and immediately flew back into the yard (they can come in without getting shocked). Overall, I think it just depends on the dogs. Same for the amount of training needed. My mom had a siberian husky on the fence and they are very hard to train to invisible fences. He eventually was trained to the fence with some professional training so it’s possible.
That said, we rarely let our dogs out without supervision even WITH the fence and they are never out when we’re not home. But, I’m comfortable riding while they’re out (I ride on the other side of the fence) and they sit on the driveway watching me from a spot of safety. I wasn’t comfortable doing this with our old system.
My other piece of advice is watch the batteries! Ours are rechargeable but the seem to know when the battery is dead… Also, make sure you or the installer use a heavy gauge (14 gauge) wire, not the cheap 18/20 that come with most DIY kits. If you don’t install yourself, make sure that you know where it is buried so that you can find breaks yourself. Breaks do happen (though how often depends on your environment), even with heavy wire.
[QUOTE=BuddyRoo;8326877]
I am a lover of Invisible Fence brand fence.
-
Don’t buy the DIY IF stuff. You can’t change the frequency and that can be problematic.
-
The price of installation normally includes the training–maybe your vendor adds more in? Training has never been an additional charge where I’ve lived.
It’s super easy to train. And if you get the boundary plus fencing and do proper training, your dog won’t run through it. But they have to KNOW the boundary and get appropriate corrections. If you’re worried about your dog running through, then use the training sessions. The way the fences work now, they get the beep as they approach and then they are getting nailed once they cross and onward until either A) the battery dies or B) they get back within the fenceline.
We originally installed our fence at house A. Moved to house B, dogs figured it out fast. Moved to house C, again, not much training needed. Once they know what the deal is, they sort it out pretty quickly.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. The dog can’t blow through the fence because of the permanent horse fencing. He has to stop and crawl under the board fencing, and would be getting shocked the whole time. My old dog would try to dig under anything, so we had to put a strand of hot wire low inside the dog yard, so this dog has been trained to electric since 2 months old. He’s pretty smart, so I think he’ll get it quick. Will ask what is included in the training fee.
OP - I find the cost quite high. I have IF and two years ago had a guy come help me train the new dog. Surprise to me that their training method was flag put in, collar on dog, walk him over and let him get low zap. Couple locations, training done. Collar adjusted to whatever was supposed to be normal. $79 I think. I then spent time with him still on the leash but he was TRAINED. Never a problem.
I have known a number of hunting dogs (coonhounds) that did very well on IF; one afghan hound who wandered out but I think that was an owner issue. Also met a nasty golden retriever who charged off his property and attacked my dog because the owners decided he was trained on IF and therefore didn’t need his collar.
$500 does sound expensive. Im about to have a fence installed. Using the DogWatch brand as its $1k cheaper than Invisible Fence brand.
Cannot wait. 
I have 2 JRTs. One is 4 and sticks around. The other beast is 8 months old and stays on a leash unless we’re playing ball.
Update- I misread the quote. I have the pink copy (remember those days?). It’s a standard form, and they crossed out the word “training” and wrote “wire” next to it, and it’s 1000 feet of wire at 50 cents a foot, which is where the $500 came from. I thought it said “Will” next to “training,” and thought Will was going to be the one to come out and train the dog. LOL. And I called DogWatch, and their quote was higher than IF.
