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Invisible fence for dog.
taeric
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Long story short, my dog is quite capable at jumping the fence we have around our back yard. Because of that, we are likely looking to get an electric fence now. Are there any caveats I should know in looking to buy one of these? (Any alternatives people would recommend instead?)
taeric on
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We had a dog that jumped our backyard fence, but she didn't do it very often so we just tried to discourage her and lived with her taking herself for a walk from time to time (often comming home sick from eating god knows what
EDIT: I don't know how much you know about dog training, but if you want some tips on how to do that, I'm sure there's plenty of advice that could be given here as well. It's cheaper than buying a new fence, and you gain the assurance that under any circumstances your dog will be under control. I could go on for days about dog training and psychology.
I'd prefer the whole "training your dog" approach instead, it takes some patience, but it is probably much cheaper and annoying than an electric fence.
The problem we have is our dog can get over the fence rather quickly and easily. Combine that with the fact that we have such a large fence, I don't know any good training methods to keep her from jumping anywhere along the perimeter. (I think we could easily keep her from jumping a single section, but that doesn't do much good.)
I realize this is a little off-topic, but how? I mean aren't the collars not only not connected to the fence directly, but only capable of a certain non-lethal charge?
1. Leash
2. Choke collar
3. Pinch collar
Depending on the size and temperament of your dog, you'll have to figure out which of these will work best. Ie. I have a very stubborn German Sheperd, and when we were training him the choke collar was useless. He'd choke himself and peel off all the fur around his neck before he'd even think about heeling properly. Enter the pinch collar, and he learned how to heel with almost no effort at all.
There are also these little gizmos you can find that emit a very unpleasant sound that's inaudible to human ears. They can be very useful as well, especially if you're trying to train without a leash (as you might be in your frontyard).
I can imagine a few different methods of teaching your dog not to hop the fence, and they're all pretty much the exact same methods I taught my dog not to run onto the street (as a pup he liked chasing cars).
For starters, if your dog likes to play fetch, play fetch with him in the backyard. If you don't have one of those sonic emitter thingys you may need something like a 12 or 20 foot leash. Once in a while, toss the stick or ball OVER the fence, and as soon as he thinks about jumping, snap the leash (you could also do this with treats instead of just playing fetch). Be sure to reward the dog if he doesn't jump. Positive reinforcement is important.
If your dog hops the fence in order to chase other dogs or people, make him sit and stay on the inside of the fence, and force him to watch people walking by. Do this on a daily basis and he'll stop caring soon enough.
I'll post more ideas if I think of any later.
We do play with her out back a ton. And, amusingly, if I am back there, she is perfectly safe. Will not jump a fence or even go through an open one. It is only if I leave her that this changes. Not sure if it is a boredom thing or not. (This makes it pretty hard to temp her to jump the fence.)
Just cook up some hot dogs and toss those. I don't know of any dog that wouldn't chase them down.
Having you leave the area is important as well. You'll need to find a place from where you can hide and watch the dog in the yard, and be ready to spring out at the exact moment she's thinking about jumping. Of course, this is easier said than done, but you can help yourself either by watching the dog's shadow or using a mirror to watch from around a corner.
Second, I think a 20' leash and couple of weekends of training will probably work. I've found that sometimes you have to trick the dog, or act like you're not paying attention to get them to be bad, because in order to correct bad behavior, you need to be right there to catch it. Maybe leave her in the yard and stand behind the fence to catch her in the act. There's all sorts of possible solutions, but if in the end none of them work, you may have to go the fence route, just seems like a lot of extra money to me.
Do you think this will work for the entire fence? We have about a half acre back yard. While I think I could come up with places where I can surprise her on parts of the fence (particularly near the house), I am not so sure on the rest of the fence.
And I may have mis-named the collar we got. It is the one that is basically open chain pieces that point in.
I sat my dog down in front of a very busy road during rush hour daily for a couple of weeks. That did the trick.
Sounds like a pinch collar alright... If the dog is ignoring sharp points stabbing into her neck I'd say you might be using it incorrectly. Most people have a tendency to just pull the leash back and the dog will push forward and fight against the collar. A fast and strong jerk backwards is more effective.
As for being effective throughout the whole fence, it should be! You could also do some training with different types of fences or barriers to strengthen the "don't jump over stuff" thought process.
That lightning bolt story goes against everything I know about how the fence works, so I'm calling [citation needed] on that. Although, I'll tell you something about lightning: if you chain your dog to a tree with a metal chain or cable, and lightning strikes the tree, it's not going to go well.
I'd be surprised if very many neighborhoods had a regulation about that, and I can't imagine any way in which it could kill a dog. The only danger in it I see is a dog being determined and just walking through the fence while being zapped, which happened to one of my dogs, occasionally.
I thought the system worked fairly well, but it depends on your dog and the kind of traffic you have in the area, and getting a higher fence is probably a better idea.
1) Buried wire
Pros - Allows more control in defining the area the dog has to move around in. Cheaper
Cons - Some dogs will learn they can break through the fence. Takes a lot of work to bury all the wire around the property.
2) Radius
Pros - A lot easier to install (just plug into an outlet). Will keep sending shocks once the dog goes out of range so there is no breaking through.
Cons - Less control over the area (a circle). So may be a problem if you don't have enough room for the minimum setting. More expensive.
With either one you need to really spend the time properly training your dog to make them effective.
Woah, hey now. Radius fences are bad. Yeah, they're easier to install. In exchange for making it easier on you, if you ever have a power failure, your dog will get a continual shock until you take the collar off. Just say no.
1) They only shock the dog for a set amount of time no matter how long they stay out of the boundary.
2) The collar can differentiate between power loss and being out of the boundary and will not shock the dog at all.
Frankly, dogs run away because they are bored. Large dogs need 2 walks a day, its just not fair to throw a frisbee around for 20 minutes after school or whatever. Small dogs may be able to get away with one. Dogs need to be walked so they can smell new things (it is best not to use the same direction every time), so they can solidify their pack feeling of movement and for good exercise. If you have a hard time tiring the dog, a bike or rollerblades will let you exhaust doggy more easily. Also wearing a backpack will help with tiring him out.
I don't know your situation but I find it really sad to see so many dogs in the backyard with a walk once a week for 10 mins around the block. The reality is that everyone (and every dog) needs mental stimulation, obstacle courses and training can also replace one of the walks per day.
Also, dogs need to feel part of the family, for most people that means having them indoors whenever you are home and minimizing the time they are alone, 8 hrs for work should really be the max.
You could consider crate training if you are still having problems. I think if you are doing 2 or more walks per day for at least 45 mins you will see improvements.
Our golden retriever figured it out pretty quickly. The jack russel however did not. He ran up the entire fence line getting zapped the whole way and wouldn't go outside by himself for awhile.
I actually work from home, so I do get a lot of exposure to the dogs. (We have two.) The problem comes in when either myself or both me and my wife have to travel. Essentially, it culminated in the dog jumping the fence while I was away and freaking out the girl we asked to watch her. I thought it was just a boredom or possibly trying to find us sort of thing. She did it right away when we got home, though. Poor girl literally ran into a car when she saw me trying to find where she was. (Luckily, both her and the car driver were perfectly fine.)
And she is crate trained, I just hate leaving her in the crate for long periods of time when we have a good 1/2 acre back yard that is fenced.
As for the type of fence. Yeah, we are talking about the underground wire thingie. I don't even really plan on leaving the collar on her at all times. I just want something that can help in training her, and can be a somewhat "last resort," security thing for when I'm not in town.