Menu

Stay in Touch
Sign up for ENews
Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Invisible fence for farm dogs?

Around The Farm
#21

I’ve had Invisible Fence for the 20+ yrs. For the first dog, a shelter mutt, it was great. Then I got an Aussie/Ridgeback puppy and he was good on it until he hit about 2 yrs old and decided he wanted to leave pound friend and visit the neighbor’s little dog. I tried clipping the hair from around his neck to get a better ZAP! I also tried a stronger battery and finally ended up giving him to a girl from work with 5 greyhounds. I didn’t want to come home to find roadkill.

I’ve since had a Rottie/Shepard mix on it, currently an Australian Cattle Dog (heeler) and another mixed breed, all pound dogs and they’ve been good. Oh yea, I also had a Chow mix that ran through it after deer and went back to the shelter, but for other reasons like snapping and growling at the hand that feeds it.:sigh:

People are right in that while it might keep your dog in, it doesn’t keep other dogs out unless those dogs happen to be wearing IF collars. That did happen once with 2 labs that were loose out on the road, saw my dog and decided to come to visit. They got zapped and immediately left with their tails between their legs. :frowning: Animal control did catch them though and eventually found their owners. :slight_smile:

#22

invisible fences

I only use them to reinforce a physical fence (prevent Houdini dogs from tunneling uder/jumping over). Any dog in the heat of the momemt will chase a rabbit through an ivisible fence alone (no solid fence), and it is really unfair not to keep other dogs out (they don’t have the collar).

#23

I have a PetSafe Stubborn Dog system installed over nearly 10 acres. I LOVE my fence, when it is working… In hind sight, I should have concealed the wire within tube of some sort before buying the wire but lesson learned. I have breaks weekly and am constantly repairing wire over a lot of land. This is very time consuming and frankly a pain in the butt. However, the fence keeps the dogs contained VERY well. I have 2 hunting type dogs and they would love to roam and did before the fence. I made the perimeter of my fence match the fence lines so that there was a visual barrier as well as a shock barrier. This also keeps my dogs from chasing horses. I actually have 2 perimeters. One that covers a large amount of land and one closed off for just one paddock. That way when the farm is busy my dogs can get shut off in to the small paddock and stay safe. When things quiet down or in the evening they can have the run of the place. The fence gives me peace of mind for my beloved babies.

#24

[QUOTE=citydog;5006480]
Hate 'em.

They don’t keep other animals out, they won’t stop a drivey dog (there is always going to be something out there that will get a dog to go through the fence–and once they do it they tend to keep getting out), too many dogs figure out how to beat them, and in the case of the radio type that Misty Blue described, it’s a great way to send a more sensitive, reactive (think herding breeds) dog fleeing for the hills in blind panic to the point of exhaustion.

I’ve also seen a number of dogs that build unfortunate associations between the zaps and other things: dog is excited and wants to go see the family friend coming up the driveway–>gets zapped–>fears not only family friend, but also anyone coming up driveway–>becomes defensively aggressive. One of my dogs panics when called towards the house on damp, misty days because of an IF mishap in her first home (went out of the yard after a bicycle on a damp day, got zapped on her way back).

We get too many dogs into rescue (I work mostly with Border Collies) that have developed IF problems. I would never trust my dogs’ safety to one, and recommend against them for clients’ dogs unless it’s a last resort sort of thing like a zoning or homeowners’ group issue, and even then recommend that they have one of the professional fence companies come and install and train.

Some wire mesh fence and t-posts can make a fine and inexpensive hard fence.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I have an australian shepherd with a very strong prey drive. I have the radio fence that Misty describes and it works beautifully. He reacts exactly as Misty described when he went outside the area, which has been once. He has not become more aggressive toward people. He is very aware of the boundary and never crosses it. He can be in full flight chasing deer, he hears the beep of the collar and his butt hits the ground. I think good training to it is part of the secret. The reactions you describe sound like the owners never properly trained the dogs to the fence and so things went wrong. Any tool, used improperly can cause problems. I suspect this is doubly true when dealing with any type of electric collar.

#25

Nothing will stop our coonhound when he’s on the scent, except for a car door opening. He’s right there, immediately, all ready for a ride.

#26

LOL…the magical car door opening works like a charm for many dogs!

My Mal would go walkabout once in a while at our last house. Only way to nab him was to drive by slowly, then stop, swing a car door open and say the magic words, “Wanna go for a ride?” :smiley:

Apparently the lazy bum would rather ride than walk.

And I’m sure it helped than many of his rides were with Mr Blue to go get a burger. :lol:

#27

I undertand training is a big part of it, but the bottom line is, will this type of fence effectively stop a running (chasing) dog from going on the road?

as you say, it depends on the training. Most people who have “failures” of these fences don’t put in the solid weeks to months of TRAINING required to end up with a dog trained to be reliable to the boundary. It should be thought of as a training aid, not a fence. A dog properly trained will experience very few, possibly no, shocks from the fence, because they’ve been trained to back away from the boundary, and the shock is only there as an aid for a dog who forgot.
The model you post has “run through” protection which means if a dog approaches the boundary at speed he’ll get massive, rapidly repeating shocks that will deter practically any dog, not the “brief single shock” some of the older models have that many dogs will happily run through without even noticing.

Our dogs would stop dead at the boundary even in full pursuit of deer, squirrels, cats, fox. They would stay in even without the collars on, and they stayed in during the two weeks the fence was off-line due to driveway construction.

We’ve had the wire partly buried and mostly just lying on the ground for close to ten years now and the only two times we’ve had a wire failure was once a tree fell on it and severed it, and once something decided to gnaw through it.

#28

It just depends on the dog and the training I think.
We had it for the family dog (Husky mix) and it was wonderful and worked for her for 13 years on several pieces of property. It was not feasible to put in physical fences and this allowed her to hang out outside, which she LOVED to do, without being on a leash.
She had a pretty good prey drive (chased, caught and killed most of the critters who came through the yard including, unfortunately, an entire skunk family over the course of one summer) but never once ran through the fence. The only time I ever felt bad about using it was when the cat would torture her by playing with her and then cross the line, stop and say “nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah” to the dog (I swear that is what that cat was clearly saying and he knew exactly how far the dog would go).
We trained her in a day and never saw fear issues. Eventually we stopped turning it on and then ultimately using the collar at all because she simply did not cross the line.
On the the other hand, I have known more than dog that would just blow through it. Again, I think it really depends on the dog. I have been told it generally does not work for northern breeds because of the combo of prey drive, thick fur and stubbornness, but it worked for our northern breed - shrug

#29

I have a hord core seriel escapee terrier mix. We bought the Pet Safe wireless radio fence system, and it works fantastic. I have one in the house and one in the tackroom in the barn.

You do have to do the training. My little guy pretty much figured it out the first day, but we did the full training cycle as recommended anyway.

The only issue I have is that he figured it out well enough that he knows as long as he’s not wearing that specifice collar, he won’t get zapped, so if I forget to put it on him when I go out the door, he’s off as usual. Also, you can’t store the transmitter long term in below freezing temps, so when we get a cold spell in winter, I lose my barn transmitter. :frowning:

#30

Lots of dogs do figure out Special Collar = Zaps and No Special Collar = Run Like Hell, I’m Free!!! :lol: :eek: :lol:

Stinks if one slips out the door on you. And that’s not the type of collar you want them wearing 24/7 in the house too.

Trev, have you tried a light box for your barn unit? Build a box large enoough for a light bulb and the unit, like folks do for hoses. Maybe that would work?

Does your barn unit and house unit overlap? That’s neat, I’d never think of overlapping two units for a bigger territory.

#31

I guess I’m just a bad dog owner as my girl and all my dogs for 20+ yrs have lived in their Invisible Fence collar 24/7.:frowning: :frowning: The only time my girl’s collar comes off is when she gets a bath but she still has a regular collar and leash so it’s not a problem. She has figured out, as the others did, just how to lie down and get the collar to shift so it’s not digging into her neck when she sleeps.

I’m lucky in that I don’t even have to take the collar off when I drive off the property OVER the wire that’s been cut into the asphalt. I think the setting from warning to zap is a very small region, therefore the 4WD truck is just high enough that she doesn’t get zapped.

#32

Ditto to the below. My two aussies understood the wireless petsafe on the first day of training. I have the younger dog on the lowest correction setting, and my older one is on beep only, because that is all she needs. My older girl loves her basketball and chases it with a passion, but when it rolls past the edge of the “fence”, she doesn’t chase it. I can ride my horse down the driveway, and the dogs stop at their boundary and wait. We have rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and foxes, and none of those entice my dogs out of the fence. I think the fact that the radio fence isn’t a shock they can run through makes the difference. I have two units, so my dogs have almost an acre of freedom. I think it is the BEST!

[QUOTE=cheval convert;5010979]
Actually, I have an australian shepherd with a very strong prey drive. I have the radio fence that Misty describes and it works beautifully. He reacts exactly as Misty described when he went outside the area, which has been once. He has not become more aggressive toward people. He is very aware of the boundary and never crosses it. He can be in full flight chasing deer, he hears the beep of the collar and his butt hits the ground. I think good training to it is part of the secret. The reactions you describe sound like the owners never properly trained the dogs to the fence and so things went wrong. Any tool, used improperly can cause problems. I suspect this is doubly true when dealing with any type of electric collar.[/QUOTE]

#33

Aw, I didn’t mean it made anyone a bad owner.
I always took the collar off indoors because my dog had a 6" thick coat. In order to wear the collar so it was close enough to his neck to zap him, it had to be pretty tight through all that fuzz. And his had the huge zapper thing on it for the extra large dogs.

Here’s what my Mal looked like wearing his collar:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1207302752058690718UvSBQv?vhost=pets
Not comfy for him to wear all the time indoors. :wink:
Other dogs could come into the yard, that’s a neighbor’s dog Tucker over for a visit. Kodiak and Tucker were buddies, it’s the only dog Kodiak ever liked. (he was quite opinionated, LOL)
To give you an idea on Kodi’s size, Tucker is just shy of 90 lbs. Kodi was 164 lbs in that photo and his summer shaved look was growing back in. This was early fall IIRC. He was even fluffier than that in winter:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1212399374058690718STPXaK?vhost=pets
Believe it or not, he’s wearing his zap collar in that photo too, LOL! You can just see the grey part of it under his chin, his coat usually hid it pretty well. :winkgrin:

Boy I miss that guy.

#34

It keeps my Jack Russell on the property!

Training was the biggest part…she figured out that one little shock wasn’t a big deal, so she got out several times. We cranked up the volume of the shock, and boy, she does not go near the barrier anymore. Doesn’t matter if the neighbor’s dog is out, deer in the woods, she runs up to the point where her collar starts the beeping warning and stops dead.

It was this or keep her tied up all day. I couldn’t risk her getting in the road or wandering off. She passed dog obedience school, but forgets her lessons when there is a distraction around.

#35

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;5012655]
Aw, I didn’t mean it made anyone a bad owner.
I always took the collar off indoors because my dog had a 6" thick coat. In order to wear the collar so it was close enough to his neck to zap him, it had to be pretty tight through all that fuzz. And his had the huge zapper thing on it for the extra large dogs.

Here’s what my Mal looked like wearing his collar:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1207302752058690718UvSBQv?vhost=pets
Not comfy for him to wear all the time indoors. :wink:
Other dogs could come into the yard, that’s a neighbor’s dog Tucker over for a visit. Kodiak and Tucker were buddies, it’s the only dog Kodiak ever liked. (he was quite opinionated, LOL)
To give you an idea on Kodi’s size, Tucker is just shy of 90 lbs. Kodi was 164 lbs in that photo and his summer shaved look was growing back in. This was early fall IIRC. He was even fluffier than that in winter:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1212399374058690718STPXaK?vhost=pets
Believe it or not, he’s wearing his zap collar in that photo too, LOL! You can just see the grey part of it under his chin, his coat usually hid it pretty well. :winkgrin:

Boy I miss that guy.[/QUOTE]

MistyBlue, that is one gorgeous dog! I’ve never had one with anywhere near that heavy a coat. The only one that really was bad was the Aussie/Ridgeback mix and his coat wasn’t long like an Aussie but shorter and thicker, more like the Australian Cattle dog /heeler that I have now.

I’m not upset about the comment about not wearing their collars 24/7 so don’t worry. :slight_smile: My first dog was a 24/7 outside dog. Even though he had a heated pad in the barn, with a dog door to get in and a straw bales made into an igloo so to say, he preferred to sleep on the manure pile (plenty of warmth coming from that) so he was NOT allowed in the house unless it was really bitter or a blizzard and then only in the mud room with the door closed. Second dog was outside all day with a blanket but in at night and she was a rottie/shepard cross so no really heavy coat like your Kodiak.

#36

Lots of dogs do figure out Special Collar = Zaps and No Special Collar = Run Like Hell, I’m Free!!!

well, don’t mean to point fingers? do I? but that is a problem created by people being stupid. Collar-wise dogs are created by people being stupid.
We very carefully did not create collar-wise dogs; by putting the “special” collars on and off at random, before the fence was activated, and after. So we ended up with dogs who respected the boundary and didn’t connect it to wearing a special collar, which comes in handy at 5 am when you realize you just opened the door and forgot to put collars on the dogs and they are out there…

#37

Ah, but it can go both ways. :slight_smile:
It’s also stupid to forget putting the collar on. It’s like taking your dog for a walk and forgetting the leash. :wink:

#38

I was also thinking about gettin a radio collar but did not know if it would work well in hilly areas. We are in E TN near the Smokies and the terrain is up and down - the house is on a flat area but slopes down pretty steeply on 3 sides.

#39

We recently installed the PetSafe invisible fence for Stubborn Dogs. We have had so much trouble! I am hoping some of you might have some suggestions.

We figured out where we wanted to lay the fence and the first thing we did was get the wire all laid out. We tested to be sure the fence was on and everything was working. Check.

Next, my husband carefully buried the wire, using one of those half-moon edger things. We tucked the wire in carefully. We tested the wire periodically to be sure everything was still working. Check.

When we finally buried the last length of wire, all the trouble started. A broken wire was indicated. We worked and worked and worked, trying to figure out where this could be. We went online and found some troubleshooting directions and followed them … no definitive answer. In the meantime, our dog is still chained up and we feel terrible.

We eventually discovered that the transmitter was bad. We switched the transmitter out and eveyrthing seemed fine.

We started working training our dog and boy was he impressed with the fence! We looked forward to when we could finally let him off the leash or the chain. The day came and he was wonderful … until he got to one point in the woods behind the house and whoosh – he was gone. We found him several hours later and back on the chain he went. We tested the fence in that area and the charge is good and strong. The transmitter does not indicate any problem.

Coby respects the perimeter of the fence everywhere except for this one spot. Any ideas? The fence runs through a wooded area for a very long distance and he will not even go near the fence anywhere except for this place.

Help!

SCM1959

#40

As soon as he’s unsupervised, my lab is gone from the fully fenced, 2 acre yard. I have gone over and over the fence trying to find a hole, anything, but my only guess is that he’s going OVER the split-rail/wire mesh fence. I hate keeping him tied up in the yard when I’m riding, so I have been thinking about a remote controlled shock collar to zap him with whenever he gets close the the existing fence. Has anyone done something like this?

Might be going out on a limb here, but guessing this is how this super sweet dog ended up at the SPCA to begin with…a perpetual runaway.

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $29.99 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse