Terrier/terror and Invisible Fence

[msj]

I recently adopted a senior Shar-pei/terrier mix from a no-kill shelter where she had been for at least 6 or more years. She is an absolute darling girl and very energetic for her age (11). Her terrier mix definitely shows in appearance and ‘go get-em’ attitude. :yes:My concern is whether she will adapt to Invisible Fence or just blow through it when she sees a neighbor cat or a rabbit or even deer. Last night about 7:30 she just about took my arm off trying to chase 3 deer in the yard. That really caused me to seriously worry about adapting to IF.

Has anyone dealt with successfully training an older terrier/terror to Invisible Fence? I’ve been on the farm for 22 yrs and during that time have trained 6 previous dogs with only 1 real failure.

So far I’ve just set out flags designating her territory and walking her well within it. I haven’t put on the collar yet but have ‘shaken’ the flags saying BAD, BAD and pulling her back from the flag in hopes she understands to keep away. I plan to start her next wk actually on the collar.

PS. While she is far from a real ‘terror’, at least in the house, I’m concerned she could be a real terror chasing wildlife here on the farm. Between rabbits, squirrels, deer, fox, coon’s, chipmunks and all sorts of birds, she will have plenty to go after.

[SquishTheBunny]

No advice, but we need pictures! Sounds adorable!!!

[msj]

[QUOTE=SquishTheBunny;6593408]
No advice, but we need pictures! Sounds adorable!!![/QUOTE]

She is a darling and, while very energetic on a leash, and occasionally rambunctious when encouraged, she just plops down and sleeps for hours. My heart won out over my head as I went looking for another barn dog with a decent coat, preferably short but thick. This gal’s got short down as it’s about 1/4" in length, and virtually none on her belly. She already has 3 coats/sweaters for when it gets cold.

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/20708908

[shakeytails]

I used to have Shar-Pei, and there’s no way I would have trusted them with invisible fence. Besides having a very high prey drive, for the most part they just weren’t that bright! :eek: My dogs hated to get wet (they would rather “hold it” than go outside in the rain), hated the cold, and weren’t fond of hot weather. But they loved artificial heat- one old girl I had to make get away from my Mom’s fireplace because I could smell her hair starting to singe, and her daughter would lay in front of the woodstove until she was panting and we told her to move. Great dogs, but definitely a little on the independent side.

[sadlmakr]

Even at 11 she would benefit from Obedience training. Same as a horse. Whoa means Whoa, NOW. Even a dim witted dog can learn. It takes time and every day work to accomplish the word command obedience. I drilled my horses daily on word commands. I used the round pen and when they did really well I rewarded them. Dogs can learn obedience to word commands as well. The Invisible Fence works on most dogs but there are always the ones who pay no attention to it. No matter how hot the shock collar is. They get one thing in their mind and nothing will change them.
My German Shepherd learned to be obedient But it took time and lots of repetition.But it worked.

[msj]

[QUOTE=shakeytails;6593604]
I used to have Shar-Pei, and there’s no way I would have trusted them with invisible fence. Besides having a very high prey drive, for the most part they just weren’t that bright! :eek: My dogs hated to get wet (they would rather “hold it” than go outside in the rain), hated the cold, and weren’t fond of hot weather. But they loved artificial heat- one old girl I had to make get away from my Mom’s fireplace because I could smell her hair starting to singe, and her daughter would lay in front of the woodstove until she was panting and we told her to move. Great dogs, but definitely a little on the independent side.[/QUOTE]

Oh my, shakeytails, that is not what I needed to read. I was more worried about the tenacity of the terrier part of her breeding than the Shar-pei. I guess the good news is that the terrier part of her gives her some smarts anyway. :sigh:

I will say she does move all around the LR/DR/kitchen following the sun streaming in.

[msj]

[QUOTE=sadlmakr;6593623]
Even at 11 she would benefit from Obedience training. Same as a horse. Whoa means Whoa, NOW. Even a dim witted dog can learn. It takes time and every day work to accomplish the word command obedience. I drilled my horses daily on word commands. I used the round pen and when they did really well I rewarded them. Dogs can learn obedience to word commands as well. The Invisible Fence works on most dogs but there are always the ones who pay no attention to it. No matter how hot the shock collar is. They get one thing in their mind and nothing will change them.
My German Shepherd learned to be obedient But it took time and lots of repetition.But it worked.[/QUOTE]

We are all ready doing some obedience. As soon as I can get her into a class I will but am currently working on sit (very good), down(you have to be kidding), and not pulling like a freight train on the leash when she decides she just has to check out something. Also working on NO and that seems to be a word she knows as well as WALK and LEASH. I’ve done obedience with all other dogs and, like you, I’m a firm believer in it.

[Guilherme]

A good fence does two jobs:

1. It keeps something in.

2. It keeps everything else out.

The “invisible fence” can never be a good fence because it fails on Job Two.

There are mechanical ways to teach respect for boundaries. With older dogs they will take more time and effort. But even teaching boundaries to your dog will not stop “intruders” and the “pack mentality” and “hunting mentality” have evolved over several million years.

A good quality, physical fence is a good fence. And good fences make good neighbors.

Good luck in your project.

G.

[StGermain]

My mother had a wire fox terrier and he was extremely good with his invisible fence. Once he was trained to it, he really never tested it. He was primarily an inside dog, though. He had a dog door, and all you’d have to do is whisper “squirrel!” and he’d hit that dog door at 50 miles an hour. But he always pulled up well in advance of the fence line.

StG

[msj]

[QUOTE=StGermain;6594159]
My mother had a wire fox terrier and he was extremely good with his invisible fence. Once he was trained to it, he really never tested it. He was primarily an inside dog, though. He had a dog door, and all you’d have to do is whisper “squirrel!” and he’d hit that dog door at 50 miles an hour. But he always pulled up well in advance of the fence line.

StG[/QUOTE]

This little girl is also a house dog. I just would like her to be able to enjoy being off leash when we head out to the barn or when I’m doing gardening or mowing. Right now she’s only off leash when we are in either the barn or the indoor with all the outside doors shut. I did have one dog that was afraid to come out of the house after the first and only shock. Poor girl wouldn’t get anywhere near where the flags were after that shock.

Glad to hear your Mom’s terrier was good and respectful of the IF. If my girl decides she’s going to blow through then she’ll have to be on leash most of the time. Considering she spent the better part of her life that way, it won’t be anything new to her but I certainly would love to see her off leash in the yard.

[msj]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;6594107]
A good fence does two jobs:

1. It keeps something in.

2. It keeps everything else out.

The “invisible fence” can never be a good fence because it fails on Job Two.

There are mechanical ways to teach respect for boundaries. With older dogs they will take more time and effort. But even teaching boundaries to your dog will not stop “intruders” and the “pack mentality” and “hunting mentality” have evolved over several million years.

A good quality, physical fence is a good fence. And good fences make good neighbors.

Good luck in your project.

G.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately it can also fail on Job # 1. I’ve had one dog that didn’t respect IF and he ended up back at the shelter, but not for that reason. I did have one other one that respected it initially but learned he could blow through to visit a neighbor’s little dog. He ended up with a friend who had 6 greyhounds and loved being a house dog 100%.

IF is not the end all for fencing and I think most people that have it do realize that. I’ve been lucky in the 22 yrs I’ve been on the farm and hope my luck holds out for this little girl.

[maybedog]

I rescued a free roaming beagle/lab mix when he was 10 years old. I had no issues with my Invisible Fence. I am surrounded by 65 acres of farmland with every critter you can imagine and only fenced an acre. I know alot of people don’t like them but the biggest problem I think people have is not taking the time to train a dog correctly to it. I just in the past month trained this 3 & 1/2 month old Sharpei/lab puppy to it also. (Hope the link works) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3539256524859&set=pb.1375790007.-2207520000.1349551588&type=1&theater

[msj]

[QUOTE=maybedog;6594345]
I rescued a free roaming beagle/lab mix when he was 10 years old. I had no issues with my Invisible Fence. I am surrounded by 65 acres of farmland with every critter you can imagine and only fenced an acre. I know alot of people don’t like them but the biggest problem I think people have is not taking the time to train a dog correctly to it. I just in the past month trained this 3 & 1/2 month old Sharpei/lab puppy to it also. (Hope the link works) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3539256524859&set=pb.1375790007.-2207520000.1349551588&type=1&theater[/QUOTE]

The link to your picture doesn’t work but you’re giving me a lot of hope with my little girl. Thanks for the kind words. I have no problem taking my time as long as the snow doesn’t start flying as my flags are white!

[maybedog]

Fixed the link! Good luck!! I usually put up more flags than they recommend for training and leave them up about a month instead of 2 weeks. I sometimes will go out and set up “bait” (a toy, a person etc) at different spots before taking them out for a training session. but only after at least 3-4 days of just flag training. 8 years ago I put flags around my parents property and to this day my 9 yr old lab/boxer won’t leave their yard.

[msj]

[QUOTE=maybedog;6594397]
Fixed the link! Good luck!! I usually put up more flags than they recommend for training and leave them up about a month instead of 2 weeks. I sometimes will go out and set up “bait” (a toy, a person etc) at different spots before taking them out for a training session. but only after at least 3-4 days of just flag training. 8 years ago I put flags around my parents property and to this day my 9 yr old lab/boxer won’t leave their yard.[/QUOTE]

Dang, link stills says this content is unavailable.

It’s been 7 yrs since I trained one to IF but I remember it seemed I had flags up forever. Removing every other one about every 4-5 days. I think somewhere I still have the original instruction book that came with it. Have to look for it.

[maybedog]

Ok, made the whole album public! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3368337411988.2131766.1375790007&type=3 FB can be so frustrating! Before this puppy it had been 6 yrs. since I trained a dog to IF. I was worried because all of the others had been adult dogs, 2 lab/beagles, 1 purebred beagle & a lab boxer. Training such a young puppy made me nervous but it was really no different than the other dogs. His attention span may have been a little shorter but it didn’t take long. The hardest thing was getting him to wander close enough to the flags to get a few shocks.

[SarahandSam]

Not a fan of the invisible fences. My friend who has one just took her Maltese to the emergency vet last night with lacerations all around his face because he tangled with a big dog. The Maltese gets aggressive around big dogs, so I don’t know if he ignored the IF in order to get at the passing dog or if he antagonized the passing dog from his yard and the dog came into the yard to get him. Either way, there was nothing to physically stop the two from coming into contact.

I have another friend with a Golden who blew past the IF on a daily basis.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=msj;6594244]
Unfortunately it can also fail on Job # 1. I’ve had one dog that didn’t respect IF and he ended up back at the shelter, but not for that reason. I did have one other one that respected it initially but learned he could blow through to visit a neighbor’s little dog. He ended up with a friend who had 6 greyhounds and loved being a house dog 100%.

IF is not the end all for fencing and I think most people that have it do realize that. I’ve been lucky in the 22 yrs I’ve been on the farm and hope my luck holds out for this little girl. :)[/QUOTE]

I would agree that any physical fence can fail under the right circumstances. But if the fence is properly set up for the terrain, the stock, and the environment you’ll get relatively few failures.

And even an imperfect physical fence will provide some barrier to outside animals; an “invisible fence” provides nothing in that regard.

G.

[msj]

[QUOTE=maybedog;6594766]
Ok, made the whole album public! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3368337411988.2131766.1375790007&type=3 FB can be so frustrating! Before this puppy it had been 6 yrs. since I trained a dog to IF. I was worried because all of the others had been adult dogs, 2 lab/beagles, 1 purebred beagle & a lab boxer. Training such a young puppy made me nervous but it was really no different than the other dogs. His attention span may have been a little shorter but it didn’t take long. The hardest thing was getting him to wander close enough to the flags to get a few shocks.[/QUOTE]

Aw, the puppy is darling. What an absolute cutey. My next door neighbor raises long coated German Shepards so I get a LOT of puppy kisses. Right now she has 3 producing females and a young one on the way up to replace her first female. I think she had something like 4 litters this year so I get my quota of puppy kisses.

The only young dog/puppy I did train to IF was great from 6 months to 2 yrs of age. That’s when he started blowing through it to visit a neighbor’s small dog on the other side. I didn’t want to find him flattened on the road so he’s the one that went to the home with 6 greyhounds and learned to live a life of luxury.

[maybedog]

Thankfully I don’t have any dogs close to me. Neighbors are too far away. The reason I have a IF is because I had a dog that would dig her way under everything else. The IF was the only way to contain her. If I were in a more suburban area I wouldn’t have one. Now, if I could just get this little “angel” to sleep through the night… hope he’s not having nightmares about the fence:winkgrin: