installing invisible fence

[hoghead]

well ill try again

Hoghead

 

[BigDan]

Where we live, having a hole or trench in the ground is a valuable thing -- because of the rocks. It's almost so bad, that, when we have a hole, we save it just in case we need it for something later.

Because of that, we installed our invisible fence through the woods just laying it on top of the ground. There's only animal traffic, so it is safe (so far). It was just laid on top of the gravel driveway for 1-1/2 years, until I had a chance to get a piece of conduit under the gravel (it broke every time that the drive way was snow-plowed and having to find the ends of a piece of yellow wire was fun - ha-ha).

 

[shade2u2]

I used a sidewalk edger to make my trench. It made a nice clean narrow "slit" in the ground to place the wire and covered back up easily. It does not have to be all that deep.

As already mentioned, they work as well as you train, followup retrain when needed, & keep the batteries replaced. One of our dogs actually had a dead battery for a long time because she was so well-trained, or old & retaining no interest in being loos. This is just an easy way to teach your dog a "boundary" that can also be done with pups in other ways... if you have the time & patience.
Again, as already mentioned, they do not keep out offenders or victims...

 

[rmorgan]

Billman--I hate to suggest that any job is not perfect for a new tractor, but I think using a middlebuster or other 3. attachment (except maybe for Hoghead's custom wire-dropper) will create a lot of unnecessary mess. Invisible Fence wire only needs to be down about 3-4"--much more and it loses effectiveness (in fact, it works best if it's not buried at all; in our woods, we just lay it under the branches and bushes). I've rented a gas-powered slit-trencher for, say, $55 a day that opens a slit, lays the wire, and closes up the slit, and we did about 5 acres with IF in a day. The machine was not self propelled, so the hills were a pain, but the result was much neater than the furrow from a sodbuster. As to "do they work," you mention a puppy; I think about five months is the earliest you can expect good results training to an IF (and I agree with Richard; you have to really pay attention to the training so it's clear to the dog what the rules are). we have had exceptionally good results using IF to contain our Australian Shepherds. It seems to depend some on the breeds; roaming dogs will test it, while territorial working dogs, I think, like having firm boundaries they can patrol and enforce. And some of 'em are just dumber than others; we had a neighbor who had an Airedale that appeared to love the stimulus provided by the shock and would just stand by the antenna quivering with the "thrill" of it! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Rick

 

[BILLMAN]

Thanks for all the suggestions , we have a 1 yr old Lab and my wife has a Bichon. They both like to chase rabbits,deer, anything that moves. We are just concerned that they are going to wander out to the road. And we all know what that means. We keep a very close eye on them when they are outside. But, wow are they fast.

 

[TerryinMD]

Billman,

I used a middlebuster to install my hidden dog fence as mentioned in previous postings.

I had about 1200-1300 feet of wire to lay. Some of it across my driveway. The driveway was the easy part. Used a Carbide cutting disk in my circular saw to notch the driveway about an 1" deep and backfilled with asphalt patch.

Used an edger for about 150 feet and decided that it would take to long. So, I attached my middlebuster to the JD 4100 and had most of the trench dug in about an hour. Roots and rocks were no problem. If your ground is fairly level, you should be able to set the blade to cut in about 4 inches and you'll just peel back the sod. Just lay your cable and push in the sod over the cable. In about a month or so, you'll hardly notice the work.

You won't eliminate all hand work, but it will save you hours of backbreaking work. I would say that it took me and the wife about 10 hours total to get the job done.

Terry

 

[kiphorn]

Invisible Fence is about training. My labs collar has been broken for about three months but he will NOT cross the boundry. When he chases a rabbit he goes full tilt till he gets to the end of the yard where firmly applies the brakes to the point that he almost turns cartwheels. Best investment (other than the dog) that I ever made!

Moving to a new place in the spring. Find out then if you can teach old dogs new tricks and boundries.

Installed my last IF with a roof cutter (work for a roofing company). Has a 12HP engine and cuts a little wider trench than the edger. Carbide blade cut through the small rocks. Worked fine on small lot. At my new place (15 acres), I'll have to follow one of the ideas posted here. Don't have the tractor YET but looking hard.

Good luck with your dogs.

 

[looch]

I used my single bottom plow to make my trench. I set it up to remove 4" of sod. Lay the wire in, flip the sod back over and that was it.

I keep my two German Shorthairs in the yard with it. I never leave them unattended, though. That's what the kennel is for.

 

[RoMo]

I used one of the scarifiers on my boxblade to install mine. that was almost perfect.

RoMo