Dog fences, wireless or buried?

   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #1  

Green_in_MI

Silver Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
104
Location
Michigan
Tractor
JD 4200, JD B, JD 50
I need a fence to keep my brown and black Labs in the yard. Does anyone use those radio dog fences and how do they like them? I am considering either type(wireless or buried). While I dig the idea of burying the wire because of more tractor time and having to buy another implement. I really have no shortage now of tractor work to do. If I go the wireless route I plan on using two so I can stretch out the coverage to about 180x300 feet. With buried wire I could let my dogs run on a much bigger area. How well do the wireless systems work and has anyone had problems with either? Thanks for any comments.
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #2  
Green in MI,

I have no experience with the wireless.

As far as using the buried wire and receiver collars, it depends on the dog. Some dogs are more prone to ignoring the collar than others.

Our Border Collie is extremely sensitive to the sound and stimulation. Once he hears the beep emitted by the collar, he cringes and comes to us. So it depends on your dog.... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

Based upon our experience, the buried system works very well. I bought and installed a Innotek Contain and Train and it works very well. In fact, our dog broke the receiver in his collar but did not know that it did not work. We were successful in keeping him contained for several months until he overcame his fear and decided to visit the neighbors. I bought a new collar and he immediately recognized the beeping and has stayed in the yard. In fact, we now use the training portion of the system to reinforce verbal commands when he "forgets" what he needs to do.

The cost is a little steep - around $450 for three acres. I believe our system will cover up to 25 acres.

Hope this helps...

Terry
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #3  
I've owned two wired systems.

The first was a system that I bought at Lowes. It was a Radio Fence. It was relatively inexpensive but I found that the collars did not always work. If the dogs held there heads up the collars didn't always deliver the correction. The angle was about where the dogs head would be when he barked.

Later. I bought an Invisible Fence. This collar would deliver the correction no matter what position the collar was in. Invisible Fence isn't cheap. The collars that they sell now are garaunteed for life. The collars are also adjustable so that the correction can be set high or low and the delay time can be chaged from immediate to 15 seconds. I think the system I have will cover 5 acres.

No matter what system you buy, training is the key. My Lab wouldn't need his collar. He know the boundries and doesn't test the system. He hasn't left the yard in 9 years.

My Golden Retriever was harder to train. He will chase an occasional squirrel. I'm moving soon and figure I'll retrain when I move.

Good luck with your purchase.

Kip
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #4  
Green, Don't know what your area is like. The buried fence might work OK for your dog, but it won't keep out the neighbors dog, nor the strays that come around sometimes. Not to mention coyotes.

If you are in a fairly civilized area, where all your neighbors keep their dogs at home, & wildlife doesn't pose a problem, it should work.
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #5  
For our farm, we got a PetSmart system (NorthernTool.com) and put in 1500 feet of buried wire (not sure how many acres that is - about 4.5?) and it took about two days to train our black and tan coon hound. I walked her around the whole area on a long rope, so she could wander close if she chose, or stay away. The system lets you set it on beep only at first (while training her to the flags they provide) and then ratchet up the juice as needed. We did about five circuits around the perimeter. Since then she has run through it about three times and I have ratcheted the power up to the mid-point. She now stops short, regardless of deer, our other, less wander-prone, dog or the kids. As she learns the boundaries better it seems like it will work great.

Neigbors here in the city have their dog loose on a very busy road, constrained only by the electric fence. Not sure I would do that, but it has worked...so far.

Problem I had: I didn't need the tractor. The trench for the fence only had to be about 2-3 inches deep and I ran it along the edge of the field....too small a job for the tractor or at least for the implements I have (FEL). My pickax easily turned up the grass and in the woods portion, tractor would not have gone. Wire got buried by hand. And for that portion where there is old fence I ran the wire along the backside of the boards or barbed wire. System is supposed to work for up to 25 acres....I'd want to have some sort of a machine for that much...at our place you'de need to cut into the shale, cling to the side of some bluffs, muck through some wet bottoms....this in addition to the easy parts in the soft pine forest floor or open fields ... aw hell might as well do it by hand.

Ran it through an old pipe to go under the driveway and tried to stay into edge of woods so tractor weight won't cut wire driving in fields.

Good luck.The dog loves being freer.

Chas
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #6  
I checked out the systems at northerntool.com. Both the 5 and 25 acre systems come with only 500 feet of wire. Is this a special wire, or can you bury regular electric fence wire? Also, has any one had a dog that gets so excited when he sees another critter that he runs right through the fence and then can't get back?
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #7  
Not much of a an of wired or wireless fences. They are not going to keep a dog in if he wants out. If he is running after someting he will get past the fence. Now that he is out he cant be in because as he approaches the fence he starts to get corrected again.
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #8  
The wire is just wire--12 ga., I think; take a piece to the big box and they'll sell you spools of it. Our Aussies have never gotten trapped outside. A neighbor's wire-hair did. You can rent a machine that trenches, buries, and covers in one operation and get the whole thing done in a day. Our antenna wire just lays in the ground where it goes into the woods. We have an Invisible Fence system and both the vendor and the system have been trouble-free for eight years, except that a box blew out and they replaced it immediately). We ante'd up for lifetime replacement policy on the collars and each has been replaced with no question. Like everybody said; training is key.
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #9  
Any wire will do. Extra spools of 500' are cheap at northerntool.com, as are extra flags to alert the pup to the wire.
 
   / Dog fences, wireless or buried? #10  
This may seem like an odd question, but here goes...
Does snow depth decrease the signal from the antena wire?
David
 
 
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