Yet Another Fence Question: Keeping in the dogs.

[TwinWillows]

One trick I learned was to hold the staple with standard fence pliers & wack it with a heavy ball peen hammer. After the staple gets far enough in let go with the pliers & drive it down. This way your fingers never get smacked.

 

[Scrounger]

My Weim would walk thru the hidden fence even when it was on full strength. I tried it to see if was mild or not. As I walked into the path the beeping started and then WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM. I had to sit down it hurt so bad and I was sweating like a pig after I took the hit. It was amazing how much that freaking collar hurt my neck.

I said screw it and we put up 4' split rail and lined it with the green vinyl coverer wire. Worked like a gem.

 

[dholly]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I tried it to see if was mild or not. As I walked into the path the beeping started and then WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM. I had to sit down it hurt so bad and I was sweating like a pig after I took the hit. It was amazing how much that freaking collar hurt my neck. )</font>

Holy crap! You put the collar on your neck and went thru?!! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I got an inadvertant zap once on a finger once and that was plenty enough 'deterrent' for me to try it again. You're probably lucky it send you into cardiac arythmia or something!

One thing to note is that certain breeds such as our Labs may require a 'stubborn dog' collar. Not necessarily because they are dumb or untrainable, rather, the skin and fur on their neck is so thick they just need longer collar prongs and a bit more juice than the little poochies. I know a few folks who say the radio fence doesn't work, but seems to me they didn't spend enough time on the dog training part of things. A few weeks of training effort when they're young and it's amazing how good they are for years after.

If you've made some sort of contraption to lay Radio Fence wire, I'd be happy to look at your pics. Bummer nobody tried the above ground installation, I was leaning that way.

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One thing to note is that certain breeds such as our Labs may require a 'stubborn dog' collar. Not necessarily because they are dumb or untrainable, rather, the skin and fur on their neck is so thick they just need longer collar prongs and a bit more juice than the little poochies. I know a few folks who say the radio fence doesn't work, but seems to me they didn't spend enough time on the dog training part of things. A few weeks of training effort when they're young and it's amazing how good they are for years after. )</font>

Two problems with the invisible fence (besides the obvious issue of shocking your dog). One is it doesn't keep other dogs from coming into the yard, which can be a problem. The other is that if your dog does go through it, it can't get back home. Our neighbors had a young lab that, partly because other dogs would come in and go back out, would charge through daily to follow the other dogs, and then wouldn't take another shock to get back in. The dog had nasty blisters on his neck where the prongs repeatedly zapped him. I'm sure the owners probably didn't do the training required (I understand the shock is supposed to be a training device and not the actual daily function of the fence), so it probably wasn't a fair test.

We have two adult labs which don't dig or jump. We're using farm fence (stretched wire grid with braced wooden corner posts and metal T line posts) which works well for them, but isn't pretty and you can't use a weedeater to trim the grass near it. That HT fence might be an improvement. I'd like to put in 4-rail board "horse fence", and I think it would hold the dogs if I also ran a taut wire along the ground to discourage digging under the lowest board. They do not get through a metal farm gate with similar horizontal spacing.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I'm a big fan of PHYSICAL BARRIERS for a couple of reasons. First a strong fence (any type will do so long as it provides a physical separation from the outside & the inside) will keep the dogs in. It will also keep coyotes, racoons and other pests OUT. And while some wild critters can get in, and others will be fenced in when you put up the fence, the point of containing dogs is for their protection. You don't want them getting out so they don't get hit by a car, stolen, lost, injured, etc. Keeping wild critters out is a benefit to the extent that those that can't get in won't temp your dogs to chase them, nor will they fight them.

I have a cyclone fence on part of my property, very few wild critters have gotten inside that area. That is a good thing. None of my dogs has ever gotten out of that area (but the lovely Mrs_Bob's little yapping crap weasel has gotten under the gate, unfortunately he came back). Wire farm fencing, properly installed, is also a good barrier and it is far less expensive than cyclone fencing.

Something like a H.T. fence may work for your current dog, but will it work with a future dog? And what happens when that dog sees a rabbit scoot through the yard at high speed? Will that HT wire every 12" stop the dog? And will it stop anything from getting inside?

We don't have our property fenced, we have parts of our property fenced. The fence provides safety for the dogs by keeping them in and unwanted creatures out. Just a thought.


Scrounger . . . I loved that story. Were you sober when you wore the shock collar? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ocaj11]

Scrounger,

That's the best laugh I've had in awhile. I was belly laughing and my wife asked what I was laughing at. While trying to read it to her out loud, I laughed harder....

Got any more stories like that?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BillG_in_TX]

<font color="blue">2) Deer are amazing. They aren't even annoyed by the average fence. If I didn't know better, I'd say that deer have received special dispensation from the law of gravity. They clear a fence with the same effort that you or I would expend stepping over a crack in the sidewalk. I would not want to have to build a fence that has to contain both dogs and deer. </font>

Jim,

Your comment reminded me of a picture I saw on the Cottonwood Photography web site (posted with permission):

How high was that HT fence going to be, Dan? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[mwood]

Just a note from a fellow dog owner.

I have a Siberian Huskey. I've tried 6ft fence (jumped right over as soon as I was on the other side. NO problem for him). I tried electric fence along the top (still jumped over close to 7 feet at this point with a running start). Also tried the shock collar for training and found that either his fur is too thick or he doesn't feel electricity since it didn't even make him look up. And trust me. It was working. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif (and no, i didn't try my neck) Therefore, figured the underground dog fence was a lost cause.

In the end, I built him a 100 ft overhead run between a very large tree and a 4x4 sunk in 3 feet of concrete. Worked great for a week before he pulled the 4x4 post out of the ground with the concrete still attached. Granted it was wet soil from all the rain, but still...

I now have him on the same run between the same tree and a new 4x4 sunk 6 feet down with compacted gravel. It's holding but he's got the 4x4 tilted now. It's lasted close to a year.

Now on the other hand, my mom has a golden retriever mix which she can tie a brick to a leash and the dog won't leave. It could easily pull the brick, but as soon as it feels resistance, it just stops trying. Never had to train it either.

Dogs are all different. Fencing a dog can be like fencing goats or deer -- a nightmare.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[BB_TX]

<font color="blue">even after removing their shock collar, they won't even try and cross the line </font>
From recent experience, this is not always true. We live in an area of homes on 1 to 1 1/2 acres. We often walk the neighborhood for exercise. One house has a large dog that used to come into the street growling and showing its teeth. The guy finally put an invisible fence and the dog would not get close to the street. As the weather has been getting nice again, we once again started walking and the dog again began coming into the street growling. After a few complaints, the guy apparently fixed, re-enerigzed, new collar batteries, or did something to the fence. The dog again only watches us pass by and will not get close to the street. It only took him a couple months to figure out he was no longer restrained.

 

[Scrounger]

A weim has next to no hair so the length of the electrodes was not an issue. They are sturdy hunting - protection - companion dogs and are known to have a very high tolerance for pain and discomfort. She's a trooper so we went with a regular fence after I was zapped. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif