Anyone have experience with an underground electric fence to contain a Dog ?

[brin]

We have a new dog, a Brittany and he takes off on occasion...we live in the country and do not want him hopping in the car with someone who wants to take him or get lost so I was thinking of buying one of these underground electric dog fences. If anyone has experience with them and how good they work or any tips I would sure appreciate hearing..Thanks...

 

[mbohuntr]

I bought a cheapie from radio fence, and my dog quickly learned how to beat it. (run at it REAL FAST and you are thru it before it shocks you.) My BIL bought an invisible fence, and his hardheaded rottweilers could not get through it. It set him back over a grand.

 

[schmism]

we bought one shortly after we moved to our property 3 years ago

we didnt get around to installing it till untill a couple of months ago.

most of mine is above ground stapled to the bottom of existing fence that surrounds the back 1/2 of my property. The front 1/2 runs through my hay field and didnt want to burry it out there so we stuck it above ground on cheep metal sticks and plastic insulators.

my yellow lab is a bit hard headed and would grit her teeth and run for it a few times when she was uber excited that i was home etc. It didnt take long for my labs to figure out were the boarder was and give it a good 15' clearance despite the fact the sensitivity is set to start beeping at about 4-5'. In theory if the transmitter is set to low, then the warning period for the fence is to short because it warns then shocks. so if your warning area is only about 2' or less then the dog can easly run across it before the collar shocks (due to the time it takes for the collar to warn beep then shock) increasing the transmitter output to give a larger warning radius will ensure the dog does get shocked as it runs past thus decreasing the probability they will try it again. For my 75lb labs we use the heavy shock collars.

I have 1500' of red wire on mine and the transmitter set on 8. on 10 the collars start beeping about 10-12' away from the wire so it puts out quite a strong signal.

currently my fence offline due to a break in the line someplace that i have yet to track down. but the dogs lived with it on for about 2 months. Even now without them wearing the collars they dont generally venture any farther out into the feild than they do when the fence is on.

 

[dex3361]

I have used them before and some dogs will resist the boundaries and some will quickly learn. the key is to train them and use the flags so the associate the boundary with the sound before the shock. The Lab I had would test the system for weak spots. I had it run around about 3 acres and he went around that looking for a place where it wouldn't beep. I had the wire running on top of the ground and hung it across the creek and he could crawl through the creek and get out. after tightening the places where he could get out the Black Lab would run as fast as he could and just roll through it. then when he wanted back in he would stand at the border and bark till I turned off the fence. I began to think the dog had me trained. To sum it up the do work though.

 

[brin]

Thanks Mbohunter, Steve and Randall....Jake, my Dog is only about 1 yr. old and full of spirit and fast as lightening...he came wandering up one day and we fell in love with him so he's ours now...anybody see the movie " Marley and Me " ? Well Marley is back as Jake..LOL...he took a 3 lb. eye of round roast thawing on the counter and we had it pushed way back but he ate 1/2 of it before we tossed it...chewed the arm of a wing back chair..we still love him...thank you for the information...helps a lot..Here is the unit I have ordered...hope it stops him in his tracks..
Innotek SD-2000 Smart Dog In-Ground Electric Pet Fence - FREE Shipping.

 

[jinjimbob]

These fences only work ALONG with training. Without training they do not work and are cruel, not as bad as a shock collar though.

 

[brin]

These fences only work ALONG with training. Without training they do not work and are cruel, not as bad as a shock collar though.

Oh he will get training...but what is cruel is me chasing him for an hour or so when it is 27 deg outside...Jake was a stray..that is cruel..we took him in and we have rules, Jake will learn to play by the rules. We have a shock collar and for walks it works great he responds to just the vibrate function most of the time but yesterday he got shocked several times...he is a Marley. When we first got the shock collar the first thing I did was hold my fingers on the contacts and shock myself ...no big deal..not a serious shock at all, in fact I have had much worse shocks from static electricity touching the handle on my car or truck, My big worry is he will be like other dogs mentioned on this thread and charge the fence and grit his teeth ..he is smart, stubborn and tough..but to know Jake is to Love Jake.

 

[keegs]

Brin.

We've had the "Invisable Fence" for about 7-8 years. IF installed the system and provided 6 45 minute training sessions. They set the collar power and flag the perimter. The traiing sessions involve teaching the dog about the perimeter, the audio signal that sounds when he gets near it and the consequences for getting too close. When we take the dog through the perimeter he's always in the car.

We have an airdale terrier which is a pretty hardy breed. He's never attempted to run through the fence no matter who or what walks by the house. He gets allot of exercise running around the yard that he would otherwise probably not get since we live on a somewhat busy road.

It was pricey...I think about $1.5k for the whole package.

 

[Reg]

Most of it seems to be about training.
The neighbor had a pro company install his, my son knows a few of the guys that work there.
The dog(s) need to be led up to the line of little white flags showing where the cable is, they need to get the warning, get a shock and associate that with the line of flags (their property line).
They quickly learn that the warning precedes the shock and how far back from the flags they need to be to avoid the shock.
I think the neighbor probably walked the property line with his dog for a couple of weeks, the flags were pulled out after about 3 months.

I can walk my dog past his property and his dog will come out barking at yapping at mine up to maybe 4 ft from the sidewalk. It will follow along the property line like that until we are passed.
My dog seems to have picked up the message that there is a line there that must not be crossed, she doesn't try to go after him.

Supposedly dogs that learn to rush it can be scared to come back in, hearsay from the guys who work the the installers.

 

[keegs]

My dog seems to have picked up the message that there is a line there that must not be crossed, she doesn't try to go after him.
.

The neighbor's cats often sit on the perimeter while Harry runs back and forth six feet in.

One more thing is you have to keep up with the poop. I let it go during the winter and in spring after the snow melts the lawn is a thousand mounds of very green grass.... no need to fertilize.