Invisible Fence for pets

[MJ5150]

How many of you have an Invisible Fence for your pet or pets?

I put a small one around our garden this past summer to keep our puppy out and went through the training they recommended. The dog picked up on the zapping part fairly quickly, the warning beep never stopped her. The problem we ran into though was when we had the IF unplugged, she would walk right into the garden after approaching slowly to see if it would zap her.

Then we had some friends who spent a large amount of money for a professionally installed IF and all the training by certified handlers. They had an Ibizan Hound. After all the training, the dog did good for a few days. One day it picked up a visual on a small rodent, and off it went. It ran right through the IF without even stopping. The dog never came back, but the IF people did refund their money.

We have other friends who bought the IF from Home Depot, like the one I have, and used it around their large yard to train their German shorthair. It works awesome for their dog. It won't get within three feet of the border, even when you approach with another dog and stand on the outside. It just sits there and waits for you to come into the yard.

We are about to move to a home on four acres, and no fence. My wife and I thought about the IF option for our bloodhound, but we fear she'll go right through it when she picks up a scent or visual. So now we feel like our best option is to build a real fence, or always leash her when she goes outside.

What are your experiences?

-Mike

[PSPookie]

They work for some dogs but not others. "High drive" dogs may have trouble respecting the fence's authority and will just run through the zap if they're onto something.

I have one installed inside my physical fence(and I trained my dogs) and it keeps my 2 escape-artist beagles contained.

[Funky Ghost]

I have no experience with these devices Mike, but I will say that instincts are something that can never be trained out. I think the example given with the Ibizan would be the norm, not the exception.

Sigfried and Roy know first hand about instincts showing up eventually.

[iamlowsound]

A friend has one and it works great for his collie cross, but as soon as he turns it off, the dog finds out and takes off.

lowsound

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

How many of you have an Invisible Fence for your pet or pets?

I put a small one around our garden this past summer to keep our puppy out and went through the training they recommended. The dog picked up on the zapping part fairly quickly, the warning beep never stopped her. The problem we ran into though was when we had the IF unplugged, she would walk right into the garden after approaching slowly to see if it would zap her.

Then we had some friends who spent a large amount of money for a professionally installed IF and all the training by certified handlers. They had an Ibizan Hound. After all the training, the dog did good for a few days. One day it picked up a visual on a small rodent, and off it went. It ran right through the IF without even stopping. The dog never came back, but the IF people did refund their money.

We have other friends who bought the IF from Home Depot, like the one I have, and used it around their large yard to train their German shorthair. It works awesome for their dog. It won't get within three feet of the border, even when you approach with another dog and stand on the outside. It just sits there and waits for you to come into the yard.

We are about to move to a home on four acres, and no fence. My wife and I thought about the IF option for our bloodhound, but we fear she'll go right through it when she picks up a scent or visual. So now we feel like our best option is to build a real fence, or always leash her when she goes outside.

What are your experiences?

-Mike

They don't work well with sight hounds (Ibizans, Greyhounds, Whippets, Afghans, etc.) or other dogs with high prey drive.

[Barkless Dog]

Some dogs around me it works great, but hunting & high prey drive dogs (Sight & Scent hounds) it usually will not. I'm sure there are execptions but can you take that chance?

[RosieB]

I don't know about bloodhounds, but bassets are very willing to take the zap to chase something. Either willing, or it just takes that long for them to realize they've been zapped.

[Hollow Man]

When I was younger (middle school/high school age), we had an IF at home for our two dogs, a young lab/beagle mix (Janna) and an older Scottish terrier (Max). Janna was a sweet, submissive pushover, and Max was very kind, although more dominant and headstrong.

After installing the IF, Janna immediately picked up on how much it sucks being shocked, and that the beep was a warning of impending shock. Max didn't particularly like it, but he was willing to endure it to get what he wanted. Janna figured out what areas were off-limits based on the beep, but Max never seemed to care.... he would go where he wanted, shock or no shock. Janna would sometimes escape if the battery in the collar died (particularly when Max had already escaped, and she had further incentive to be bold).

Ultimately, I would never depend on an IF for a dog's safety, although I could potentially use it for things like keeping dogs out of a flower garden. It certainly can be effective with the right dog, but I'm not interested in limiting my choice of future dogs to ones that are likely to respond to the shock collar. Although I'm not a homeowner now, when I am, my dogs will only be permitted off leash if they are in a fenced-in yard.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Barkless Dog

Some dogs around me it works great, but hunting & high prey drive dogs (Sight & Scent hounds) it usually will not. I'm sure there are execptions but can you take that chance?

No, we sure can't.

Originally Posted by Hollow Man

Ultimately, I would never depend on an IF for a dog's safety, although I could potentially use it for things like keeping dogs out of a flower garden. It certainly can be effective with the right dog, but I'm not interested in limiting my choice of future dogs to ones that are likely to respond to the shock collar. Although I'm not a homeowner now, when I am, my dogs will only be permitted off leash if they are in a fenced-in yard.

This is where I am leaning too. Build a fence, and leash her until it is done. I don't want to come home from work one day and find out the IF doesn't work after all.

Thanks everyone for your input. TBOT is most excellent.

-Mike

[sloasdaylight]

I read a thing a while ago about these things and from what I read another reason not to use them is that if your dog gets caught in the "zap ring" as this website called it, s/he could be getting constantly shocked and not have anything they can do about it, and it could be some time until the owner realizes what the problem is.

[fhm555]

Had a large black german shepherd that would go after anything on 4 legs so I put in a 4 strand electric fence to keep him out of trouble.

He got a few jolts right off so I thought all was good.

One day while we were cooking out a fox broke cover at the edge of the woods behind the house. Buster picked it up, locked on and charged, yelping all the way, I imagine in anticipation of hitting the fence, which he did at full gallop, taking out the two lower strands of wire and never even slowing down.

Never had an IF, but after that experience I don't have much faith in the idea of a momentary shock deterring a dog totally focused on something and determined to catch it.

And FWIW, the fence charger was a super 98, a mighty powerful example of it's type, so not enough jolt was not the problem.

[J. Crawford]

After our neighbor put rat poison out for my 6 year old pup because he had wandered into his yard once to get a toy and killed him, I'm all for IF. We ended up getting a new pup (depression kicked in for my mom and she couldn't function..) and along with him came an IF. Best decision we have made in a while.

[MatticusMania]

I prefer visible fences. An invisible fence would make me feel like Im in a box, like a mime. And who doesnt hate mimes?

[coreyfyfe]

They can definitely be tricky and will depend on the dog - a fact that sucks considering the upfront investment to figure out the answer. My mom had 4 jack russells (might have been 3 at the time) at one point and decided to go the IF route. One (two?) took the training well, one got scared of the zap and would never go near the front of the yard, and one was too stupid to get the training and just walked across the line and stayed there doing whatever it wanted. Now she keeps them in the back yard with a visible fence.

[Jonyak]

I am all for boundary training dogs, and not using pain as a motivator.

It took me about 2 months to train my dog not to leave my property, and where she can and cannot go on said property, without the use of shock collars or food.

[PSPookie]

It's a tool just like any other. Whether or not it is the right tool for you and your fur-baby is hard to say.