GPS smart fence dog collar

[drssg]

Shoot, you must drive a car as old as my truck. Daughters Tacoma tells her she's in the wrong lane for the next turn.

I'm only beginning my research, but so far this is the one with the best reviews and I'm able to take advantage of several discounts...far cheaper than a fence but damn.

SpotOn Virtual Fence™

SpotOn's Virtual Fence system uses GPS satellites that allows you to create a wireless dog fence and contain your pup anywhere through your smartphone.

spotonfence.com

I'm curious. Are you sure that your daughter's car will tell her that she is in the wrong lane? My car is pretty new, and it will tell you what lane you are supposed to be in, but it's up to you to know whether you are in that lane.

I would also be leery about the accuracy of the collar, but I don't have any experience. It doesn't surprise me that it's expensive. Just a plain GPS collar is far from cheap.

My personal preference is just basic training to teach the dog to listen and not wander off. I have used a regular zap collar to support that training, but that is for later stages of training. It's for when the dog already *knows* the verbal commands, but he is not yet convinced that those commands are *always* more important that anything else in his environment.

Good luck.

 

[ponytug]

Ok, I admit one of the GPS units is over a decade old, but the other is only a few years old. Phones, in particular, use added inputs like local WiFi networks, and accelerometers to further refine the estimated location that aren't available on a dog collar.

I think that there are extenuating circumstances for the GPS, in terms of how they do the math to arrive at a fix, and some of the math approximations that are in use.

However, my basic point is that under ideal conditions, consumer grade GPS units are +/- 3m (9ft) horizontally, which is tough on a dog in a yard, especially when those limits wander with differing satellite constellations and geometric fixes. (Imagine the poor dog; "WTH? I could get to the rose bush this morning...")

The invisible fence solutions have the advantage for the dog and dog training, that the boundary doesn't wander. (Not pushing that solution, just looking at it from the dog's perspective.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[sea2summit]

I'm curious. Are you sure that your daughter's car will tell her that she is in the wrong lane? My car is pretty new, and it will tell you what lane you are supposed to be in, but it's up to you to know whether you are in that lane.

I would also be leery about the accuracy of the collar, but I don't have any experience. It doesn't surprise me that it's expensive. Just a plain GPS collar is far from cheap.

My personal preference is just basic training to teach the dog to listen and not wander off. I have used a regular zap collar to support that training, but that is for later stages of training. It's for when the dog already *knows* the verbal commands, but he is not yet convinced that those commands are *always* more important that anything else in his environment.

Good luck.

Yep, drives me bonkers because it starts like a mile out and reminds you every 20 or so seconds.

And as far as obedience, Pyrenees are not known for their abilities at obedience training.

 

[sea2summit]

Ok, I admit one of the GPS units is over a decade old, but the other is only a few years old. Phones, in particular, use added inputs like local WiFi networks, and accelerometers to further refine the estimated location that aren't available on a dog collar.

I think that there are extenuating circumstances for the GPS, in terms of how they do the math to arrive at a fix, and some of the math approximations that are in use.

However, my basic point is that under ideal conditions, consumer grade GPS units are +/- 3m (9ft) horizontally, which is tough on a dog in a yard, especially when those limits wander with differing satellite constellations and geometric fixes. (Imagine the poor dog; "WTH? I could get to the rose bush this morning...")

The invisible fence solutions have the advantage for the dog and dog training, that the boundary doesn't wander. (Not pushing that solution, just looking at it from the dog's perspective.)

All the best,

Peter

I think +/- 50 would be plenty for me, they've got a big buffer between the property line and where I don't want them to go so even if the "fence" was the property line and it was off +50 they'd be far from danger. I'd also assume speed plays a big role, not like the dog will ever reach 50mph, so the GPS probably get's a better chance at a good fix. My biggest concern is just that it works if I'm gonna dump that much money in one.

 

[Sigarms]

My biggest concern is just that it works if I'm gonna dump that much money in one.

The bigger question IMO is how it works after a couple of years use. The assumption is it will work when you first use it, because the manufacturer knows that if you have problems within in specified warranty time frame, they have some obligation to make it right.

You're the guinea pig

Please keep us updated.

Per the product you noted at looking at, it has a one year warranty. For that kind of coin, I'd be all over the performance vs expectations like flies on crap.

 

[NorTracNY]

I'm quite interested in this tread. I have someone looking for a system right now. I hate that the reviews in Amazon on getting worse. MANY of the pet containment systems there are giving free stuff for the 5 star reviews.

I worry about the details of these systems as I've heard many stories. Some systems will send a continuous tone when the dog gets close to the edge. That's a major flaw that I've heard of smart dogs getting around. The dog learns to walk till it hears the tone. Once it hears the tone, it sits down and waits till the battery dies then it knows it's "allowed" to go wherever it wants.

The wireless ones are relying on a signal strength. This is going to vary under lots of conditions. It seems the dog is not going to learn where it's boundary is. If the dog goes outside the range where the collar gets the signal, does the collar just start to shock it? What if the dog is near the transmitter and the transmitter gets unplugged? OR is it only shocked at a certain strength of the signal? Too many things could go wrong where a dog is shocked for no reason. THAT'S BAD!

I'd love to hear from real people that have these.

 

[cjoffutt]

We currently have an underground fence that works well for our home.

We are moving to a heavily wooded area and planning to try this and hope it works.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P68FCHJ/?coliid=I2LO64ZD7KC423&colid=EP3DLRUNZIJE&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Let us know what you do and how it works out for you.

This is what we use and live in a heavy woods. Works great for our (3) dogs. Lab/Pit mix, and (2) Huskies.

 

[ning]

BTW for wireless fence, use clippers on the dog's neck where the collar goes, especially for dense coat pups. Also note that some collars come with longer studs that you can swap in.

My experience with wireless fences is with cats - and I can tell you that cats won't respects a wireless fence unless there's something to slow them down at the wireless fence in the first place. I have the wireless fence to keep my cats from investigating the (often compromised) main fence, but there's one place where the wireless crosses a couple hundred feet of grassy area that has no fence. A few times I had one cat end up across it, unwilling to come back over (meowing piteously) - she'd probably run across in the bad direction chasing something.

The solution there was to double the fence - it goes across, over 10', then comes back, then over 10' more, and finally across again. Makes a zone of pain as opposed to a single line, and she hasn't crossed it again since.

More recently we adopted a stray, and to get him used to the wireless we had to put up a temporary "real" fence on that grassy area because even with the whole "zone of pain" thing he preferred to cross it rather than face one of my other cats... at least I hope the "temporary" aspect of it is temporary...

 

[newbury]

@ning - Do you herd cats ?

 

[ning]

@ning - Do you herd cats ?

That implies some level of control on them - I think you've got it backwards!

More seriously though, we lost too many cats (possibly to bobcats and mountain lions, but most probably just to coyotes) and so for the last 10 years we've had the radio fence which doesn't just keep them in the yard but it keeps them at least ten feet away from the fence as well so they're that much less interesting to something that may be able to come over the fence, too.

Adding a 7½' fence with a couple hot wires up high has helped to keep climbers out as well (and deer, too!).