Dog containment Fence

[Helicon]

Does anyone have any experience and recommendations for invisible fencing for dogs?

I bought the kind that sends a radio wave but the area it covers is too small.

We have a 10 acre horse farm and a 70 pound dog who likes to wander. The perimeter of our property has three-board wood fencing.

There is a kind of dog fence where you bury the wire, but my husband wants to try attaching it above ground to the horse fence.

[kimkatsooo]

We did not bury our wire except where there was a gate. We attached it on the middle board of our three board fence. We did it there due to mowing-don’t want to mow the wire!

We had to get the “stubborn dog” collar for our American Bulldog AND set it to WAY out from the fence. If it was set too close he would run through it as it did not really “get” him. Once we set it to a wider field he stopped running out.

Now the bad part is we have 6.5 acres field wire. NONE of our other dogs had a problem staying in. This one??? He LOVED people so went to find them if he heard them or their dogs. He would stand on his hind legs and hang his front legs over the fence and wiggle, push down, etc until he got over the fence.

We have the property set up in two areas—Pasture and house. The 3 board fence cuts the property in half. So we just underground (but not really underground) fenced in the 3 acres around the house and pond.

This has worked great for us.

Good luck!

Kim

[2tempe]

My fence in Florida is partially underground and partially tacked to the perimeter fence. It is tacked near ground level because nothing along there gets mowed or weed wacked. In Ohio I fenced two acres, mostly woods, lots of rock and clay, so the wire was primarily on the ground, held sporadically by heavy wire clips, shaped like a U that were pushed into the ground.
I’d consider a smaller area than 10 acres, just because I like to know where my dogs are, lol. But really the wire is the least expensive part.

[LauraKY]

Most of my neighbors with invisible fence only have it buried under gates and the driveway. It’s all tacked up on the bottom board of 3 or 4 board fence. It works just fine.

[maddiehorse]

We just have the underground wire at our house. Works great. We have had it cut a few times though, so make sure you bury it well.

[Helicon]

What kind of wire did you all use? It looks like coated copper wire is the right stuff? Am I correct in assuming horse wire would not work?

[Simkie]

I used the wire that came in the kit. It’s a fairly small gauge non copper wire. Coated.

You’ll need a specific gauge to feed into the controller. I don’t think uncoated would work–instructions are very specific on how to protect the joins if more than one roll isn’t enough.

Mine is strung at the top of my four foot fence and at the bottom. Not buried.

Keep in mind there is quite a bit of training you have to do with the dogs once it’s installed, to teach them what it’s all about. Unfortunately, it’s not just an install and let them loose sort of thing. I took a couple weeks with my dog before She actually wore the collar without the training (non-shocking) prongs.

[Helicon]

Thanks! We are a little worried about the training. This dog has acted hostile when zapped by the horse fence.

[kimkatsooo]

With my STUBBORN dog I had to work with him for about 2 weeks.

-FLAGS all around the area when the fence was.
-Flag in my hand-let him smell it and feel it
-flag in my hand telling him no and waving it at him (flag=bad)
-flag in my hand telling him BACK/get/leave it and having him back up (flag=get away)

-dog on leash, HIGH value treats in pocket
-let dog walk towards flag/fence AS soon as YOU Hear the beep of his collar pull him back while saying back or NO. Give treat for him leaving the area as soon as he heard the beep.

-take dog all around where the fence and flags are. Repeat the above. If he is smart after a couple of times he will not even try to get near the flags.

-work on this off and on. The first time you put him in the yard without a leash be there with treats ready.

I cannot/will not leave my dog in the fence if I am not home. I hate this and wish I could BUT he has shown he will do what ever he has to do to go visit the neighbors. My property is fenced in on all sides with field fence and he still found ways to get out! We put in the wire fence and it has worked but I do not want to push my luck.

All of my other dogs stay in the fence without any try to get out. Not sure what it is about this one but…I found a way.

GOOD LUCK!

Kim

[witherbee]

We are in Florida as well and have most of the wire buried on our 10 acres and just a bit behind the barn and in a particularly wooded area tacked on the fence or trees. We’ve had it cut a few times, but my husband can fix it if he can find it and if not, the DogWatch Hidden Fence people here are terrific.

We’ve had the Dog Watch Hidden Fences for about 15 years here and also in Massachusetts when we lived there. I’ve only had one dog that was hard to keep in - a Rough Collie who would wander. Solved that by getting longer prongs on the collar and turning hers up to max.

We do not even use flags to train to it anymore. Normally it takes 1 or 2 sessions and they are trained. I have had 2 Collies (the Cough and my new Smooth youngster), 2 lab/hound mixes, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, a Corgi and 2 Chihuahuas and they have all been super easy to train. We have had a couple that become porch puppies for a while because they are afraid to test their boundaries, but for the most part they all do great.

Good luck!