electric fence, stay boo boo stay

[juanbenae]

i am at my wits end with my dog. he continues to get out of my yard over the fence. i have put lattace extensions on the fence top yesterday. i even got his nuts whcked this past weekend. today was the 1st day with the new fence extensions and i get a call from my neighbor at about 9 am this morning that he was out front again.

any of you guys recommend an electric fence sort of thing? i really dont want to run wire all along the top of the fence, i am thinking one of those beam type. any recommendations.

[goat]

Sounds like a wild Beast!
If your dog has long hair the electric fence may not even work.
The shock collor might work I know it Works for many people I know yet I have never tried it.
If you want to try an electric fence I have a brand new unit and all the stuff in the garage.

[Bailey]

I had an electric fence installed this past fall. My yellow lab is 7 years old (I have another dog now as well). I should have done this 7 years ago. It is great. Other dogs can walk by and they will hardly budge. I think they even bark a bit less.

The electric fence is a continuous wire around the perimeter of the area you want to enclose. They have a system that buries it about 4 inches. Along one fence that is behind shrubs they tacked it along the bottom (exposed). If the wire is broken somehow there is an alarm that sounds in the basement on the control box and apparently it is easy to find the break and repair. The package I got included training for the dogs by the company. Good luck.

[Tricky D]

Try an Invisible Fence, like Bailey recommends. We had a Cocker Spaniel who would regularly clear our 4' fence. After the installation and training, she didn't get out again.

[Mike Bonkalski]

We have an "invisible fence" system with the underground wire. It is great. The collars emit a warning beep before they shock the dogs. It only took one shock to train the dogs. If they hear the beep, they scatter. It keeps our akita and two retrievers (plus 2 cats) in the yard.

However, we have given a scare or two to people walking by the house. 3 dogs come flying around the corner of the house barking and then suddenly stop 15 ft. short of the sidewalk.

One thing to consider though, it doesn't keep other animals from entering your yard. At our old house we had some problems with people letting their dogs run loose around the neighborhood and coming into the yard and the akita was very protective of his yard.

[Bailey]

Mike makes an interesting point about scaring people. I had enough frontage so that the wire is approximately 30 feet from the sidewalk, and the dogs stay at least 10 feet back from where the wire is. When the invisible fence is laid they put out flags as training tools. We have left a few of the flags in as visual reminders. Will probably remove them in the spring when the dogs are thoroughly trained.

[juanbenae]

tim, is a burial type? what will it run me? how far into sonoma for pick up?

[cegerer]

Shock collar (less than $200). They learn very quickly. Invisible fence works well also, but the shock collar also allows you to train the dog so he obeys no matter where you are. I can take my dog (Doberman-Coonhound mix) to a public park and he'll stay right by my side no matter what. I actually hardly put the shock collar on him anymore. Once in a while just for some simple reinforcement.

[goat]

Mine is the electric fence type. No burial type.
When My dog started to jump fences I was going to put it up but the exposed wires & the fact that it ate up space along the fence stopped me from using it.
If you are still interested I think I paid 100 or so, 35 is fine.

[juanbenae]

tim you have a PM.

[goat]

Tried to pm you but your mailbox is full.
email me at
tim.hensel@sonoma.edu

[juanbenae]

tim you have an email!

[Reg]

Years ago I delivered some lumber to a farmer with a dually flatbed truck. The man backed me around to the bank barn and stood on his cow fence (with rubber boots) while I backed over part way. I got out of the truck and he stepped off the fence. While were were offloading his dog came over to sniff my tires and then decided to have a whiz. ZAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!

Perhaps you had to be there. I'll never forget it and I bet the dog didn’t either!

[RickM]

OMG, I was going to ask this very question on Monday.

Here's what I found out.

Two types of systems: Wireless and wired.

Both are good but for "stubborn" dogs and sloping, irregularly shaped properties wired is the way to go.

Petsafe seems to be the most popular retail brand out there. They have a new stronger version of their wired system for hard to train dogs. Best price I've are here:

http://petstreetmall.com/advanced.aspx?id=3945&cat=481


Things to consider:

- progressive correction
- standard batteries if possible
- power low indicator
- waterproof collar
- sizing collar to dog weight
- long haired dogs need the longer probes
- if going wireless buy where there is no restocking fee if returned. The newer wireless systems state that they can be effective on larger/fairly stubborn dogs.

Well priced wireless with decent return policy: http://mightypets.com/product.asp?3=277

[juanbenae]

wow rick thanks. i found a couple sites yesterday but the shipping time will kill me. i spoke with (tim)goat last night and will go to check the system hes got he may sell me.

thought i could wait until the weekend but i got a call this morning a hour after leaving the house from a neighbor informing me he was out again! this time he went under a cyclone type gate i have in my back yard. he did not dig because there is concrete gradebeam affair under the gate, he actually slipped under a space no more than 5" tall. this is a 75lb lab we are speaking of here. i am ready to kill him!

i want a system with the voltage @ 220, so he never goes near the fence again. lucky for me a friend who lives about a mile away has gone and gotten him yesterday and today taking him back to his house to play with his dogs.

this is driving me NUTZ.

[kstylianos]

For those interested, my girlfriends mother has an Invisible Fence for sale as their beloved Lucy just passed. They have no desire to own another dog, so either the unit will will stay burried and powered on indefinitely, she'll get rid of it.....which means I'll have to dig it up, disconnect and ship....not a biggie if someone on this board wants it. Comes with one collar, flags, perimeter wire and power unit.

I'll second the thought about scaring folks. I've seen Lucy run full bore, barking and carrying on, only to stop 10 feet from the sidewalk. This happened everytime she saw/heard someone. But will tell you this, she never dared cross the line, as much as she liked people. She was the neighborhood alarm clock as there is an elemantary school right down the block.

BTW: And yes, it does not prevent dogs from entering the property either. She had an Akita come into the yard (over powering the 14y.o. dog sitter) and attack her, ripping a nice gash across her back, requiring stitches, etc.

May she RIP

[Mike Bonkalski]

Charlie,

Just sell the control unit and the collars. Invisible fence will install just the wire if you have the rest of the system. This is what we did when we moved. It was only a couple hundred bucks for them to bury the wire in the perimeter of our 1/2 acre lot.

[Serge914]

Does it work with kids also ?

[RickM]

Originally posted by Mike Bonkalski
Charlie,

Just sell the control unit and the collars. Invisible fence will install just the wire if you have the rest of the system. This is what we did when we moved. It was only a couple hundred bucks for them to bury the wire in the perimeter of our 1/2 acre lot.

If installing yourself 500 feet of wire with flags is only $29 at Home Depot.

Burying is not hard and if you can't deal with you can rent a ditch witch to cut a slit into the ground.

[jgbnm]

While my dog was just a puppy, I started getting reports of her being seen roaming around the neighbourhood. She was always in the yard or in the house when we got home however. Turns out she would climb over the chainlink part of our fence in the backyard at will, then climb back into the yard before we got home.

I thought about an electric fence, but didn't like the collars much. Instead I built a 2 foot extension to the current fence in the back yard which wouldn't have fazed her at all except for the fact that it was overhanging by 20-30 degrees. Worked perfectly while we lived there.

Most people have good luck with an electric fence but I have a friend who's two dogs too it as a challenge and would sprint for the electic barrier and keep right on going until they were out of range.

Good luck,
Jon