littlejuniata
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Anyone here have any knowledge or experience with these gadgets? Are there different ranges and area coverage?? Thanks in advance.
jayL
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I don't know about the ranges and whatnot. A guy I used to work with had one. He said that certain brands have (very expensive) proprietary batteries in the collar. If you do a search on ebay, you can find a kit to convert a regular battery to do the job. It ends up saving >$100 a year, if I remember correctly.
Guest
Being dog breeders and owning a kennels, my bride and I have tried a few thousand, different, "containment ideas" for our dogs over the years. (We breed Cairn Terriers and Cestie Terriers).
The "In Ground", (buried wires), electric fence we've tried worked really well, IF THE DOG WALKED UP TO IT.
However, I became curious as to "What would happen, if the dog approached the fence at a "dead run"!?"
I simply stood on the outside of the fence, near the woods, with a hunting training bait toy and called one of my males to come to me.
"Baxter", literally "hit the ground running" at full speed................ yelped a little as he approached the fence with his electric collar on, but then kept right on running towards me............ free as a bird, (or, a Cairn!), once he'd cleared the "shock zone" of the fence's range.
Afterwards, he would NOT follow me back over the fence, since we we were both, walking towards it now, so I had to remove his collar, before he'd recross the fence and enter the kennel's enclosure again!?!
The fence, we tried, seemed to work very, very, well when the dogs were "on patrol" as they love being, and simply walking along the property line, where the fence was located. But, I still installed an "actual fence', to keep the dogs safe when out loose on the property. No matter how well trained, nor how intelligent a dog may be............... when their "hunting instincts", take over and they're mentally and physically, "in the zone", to hunt... nothing short of a 6 foot high chainlink, seems to deter them!!
I, did, "try this experiment" with several of my Cairns, and the results were all, exactly the same........ on a dead run, the dogs cleared the electric fence......... when slowed down, they stayed well away from the fence's power field!
Just, my experience, with these fences is all!?
The "In Ground", (buried wires), electric fence we've tried worked really well, IF THE DOG WALKED UP TO IT.
However, I became curious as to "What would happen, if the dog approached the fence at a "dead run"!?"
I simply stood on the outside of the fence, near the woods, with a hunting training bait toy and called one of my males to come to me.
"Baxter", literally "hit the ground running" at full speed................ yelped a little as he approached the fence with his electric collar on, but then kept right on running towards me............ free as a bird, (or, a Cairn!), once he'd cleared the "shock zone" of the fence's range.
Afterwards, he would NOT follow me back over the fence, since we we were both, walking towards it now, so I had to remove his collar, before he'd recross the fence and enter the kennel's enclosure again!?!
The fence, we tried, seemed to work very, very, well when the dogs were "on patrol" as they love being, and simply walking along the property line, where the fence was located. But, I still installed an "actual fence', to keep the dogs safe when out loose on the property. No matter how well trained, nor how intelligent a dog may be............... when their "hunting instincts", take over and they're mentally and physically, "in the zone", to hunt... nothing short of a 6 foot high chainlink, seems to deter them!!
I, did, "try this experiment" with several of my Cairns, and the results were all, exactly the same........ on a dead run, the dogs cleared the electric fence......... when slowed down, they stayed well away from the fence's power field!
Just, my experience, with these fences is all!?
Bruno
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I've actually shocked myself with one to see what it feels like. I was able to hold the shocker in my hand and was able to hold on for the entire shock with the unit set on high. Won 10 bucks doing it to boot !!!!!!!!!!
As flybinder stated it is not going to stop a dog if they want to go. My suggestion is train the dog to understand what the boundaries are.
I have two very large dogs. I think that dog ownership is a very serious responsibility . It takes a lot of time and patience but the rewards are many. I live in the city and am able to walk my dogs off leash by using voice commands. I also mountain bike with them and again they respond entirely by voice. We have a camp in the ANF and they have established boundaries there as well. They stay outside off leash for days at a time. It took a hell of a lot of work but I am thankful that we have done it. My three year old is harder to handle on a walk
As flybinder stated it is not going to stop a dog if they want to go. My suggestion is train the dog to understand what the boundaries are.
I have two very large dogs. I think that dog ownership is a very serious responsibility . It takes a lot of time and patience but the rewards are many. I live in the city and am able to walk my dogs off leash by using voice commands. I also mountain bike with them and again they respond entirely by voice. We have a camp in the ANF and they have established boundaries there as well. They stay outside off leash for days at a time. It took a hell of a lot of work but I am thankful that we have done it. My three year old is harder to handle on a walk
MKern
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just remember, if you do get an electric fence and your dog won't procede through on his own, please take the collar off if you are taking the dog in the car. Getting shoked while riding the car and feeling free isn't real fun of the dog, I imagine.
PennsCreek
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We have underground electric fence for our three beagles at home and have never really had a problem with them getting away. This even goes for when they jump a rabbit in a woodpile and it runs across the line. We do not even have the beeping feature of the collar turned on because they got used to it and would just patrol the boundary, wearing out the battery.
buffalo
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We just had Texas Holdem weekend at our hunting camp and since the Boys were going away for the weekend they had to take their dogs. We had 3 labs and a 6 month old shorthair there. The shorthair is used to and underground electric fence at his home. The owner brought just the flags they use to mark the fence and posted a boundry around our camp. ... It worked really well, the shorthair wouldn't go past the flags even when the other dogs did.
Buffalo
Buffalo
TimMurphy
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Dear LittleJ,
It depends on the dog.
I've seen a lot of dogs walk right up to the electric fence, hunker down, and just jump through it. One little shock and they are free to roam. It's actually kind of cool to see them realize they are on the other side and free, sometimes they don't come back to the yard because they don't want to get shocked coming home. ;-)
My neighbor's lab used to break through his electric fence all the time. He eventually got with the manufacturer and bought a big highpower collar that seemed to work better but in the end he wound up putting in a real fence.
Regards,
Tim Murphy
It depends on the dog.
I've seen a lot of dogs walk right up to the electric fence, hunker down, and just jump through it. One little shock and they are free to roam. It's actually kind of cool to see them realize they are on the other side and free, sometimes they don't come back to the yard because they don't want to get shocked coming home. ;-)
My neighbor's lab used to break through his electric fence all the time. He eventually got with the manufacturer and bought a big highpower collar that seemed to work better but in the end he wound up putting in a real fence.
Regards,
Tim Murphy
littlejuniata
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Thanks for the input guys, I learned a few things. Hope no wives read this they may want collars for their better half. Thanks again
FarmerDave
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****, I just checked in, and figured I'd give you my 2 cents.
There were some ligit concerns posted.
I use a Petsafe brand inground. Wireless is something else. Wireless puts out a signal from a central location, and when the dog gets far enough away from the signal, the collar is activated. I think this would work good in a small lot, and if your house is far enough away from the road (to keep the dog off the road). I wanted a larger area, and my house is too close to the road. the wireless might actually be better, because with the inground, once the dog is beyond the boundary, he is free. With wireless, I believe he isn't free from the shocks until it times out.
Petsafe is reasonable priced in my opinion.
The in-ground works pretty good, but like Tim said, it depends on the dog and the dog breed.
I have a Brittany that has two speeds, stop and full throttle. He occasionally gets out. More on that later.
The batteries for the Petsafe collar are not proprietary. You can get them at Radio Shack but they are fairly expensive. The good news is they last for quite awhile. Also, some companies that sell the Petsafe brand occasionally offer lifetime supplies of batteries.
The controller I got is good form something like 20 acres. Might be 10, but I think it was 20. I buried about 1200 feet of cable which is about 2 acres (a little less because of the shape of the containment). I may add more in the future.
I installed my own. It worked great for a few months and then something went wrong with it. I went back and forth with Petsafe service. The of course blamed the installation. I was able to get it to work for awhile, but it required a lot of tweeking. It eventually got worse to the point it was useless. I finally got a young lady on the phone at Petsafe, and was able to prove to her (with the help of a multi-meter) that the wire was good, and unit was bad, and she sent me a new one even though the warranty was up by then. They had a record of my earlier calls to prove I had problems while still under warranty. The new one works find. So, if you install your own, you might expect some grief from service if there is a problem. But they still made good on it.
I've watched my dog get out of the containment a couple different ways. Of course there is the obvious way, where he simply runs through at full speed. Sometimes he gets nipped, sometimes he doesn't. The only time I've seen him use this technique is when I am outside of the containment heading towards the woods. He loves those woods. the boundary area is adjustable, and making it wider helps. unfortunately, if I make it too wide, he gets shocked in the garage, or when he goes near the pool (above ground steel). That big hunk of steel somehow picks up the signal, as do the cars when he gets close to them. Be careful where you route the wire.
On Friday, we got another Brittany, so I guess I will need another collar.
There were some ligit concerns posted.
I use a Petsafe brand inground. Wireless is something else. Wireless puts out a signal from a central location, and when the dog gets far enough away from the signal, the collar is activated. I think this would work good in a small lot, and if your house is far enough away from the road (to keep the dog off the road). I wanted a larger area, and my house is too close to the road. the wireless might actually be better, because with the inground, once the dog is beyond the boundary, he is free. With wireless, I believe he isn't free from the shocks until it times out.
Petsafe is reasonable priced in my opinion.
The in-ground works pretty good, but like Tim said, it depends on the dog and the dog breed.
I have a Brittany that has two speeds, stop and full throttle. He occasionally gets out. More on that later.
The batteries for the Petsafe collar are not proprietary. You can get them at Radio Shack but they are fairly expensive. The good news is they last for quite awhile. Also, some companies that sell the Petsafe brand occasionally offer lifetime supplies of batteries.
The controller I got is good form something like 20 acres. Might be 10, but I think it was 20. I buried about 1200 feet of cable which is about 2 acres (a little less because of the shape of the containment). I may add more in the future.
I installed my own. It worked great for a few months and then something went wrong with it. I went back and forth with Petsafe service. The of course blamed the installation. I was able to get it to work for awhile, but it required a lot of tweeking. It eventually got worse to the point it was useless. I finally got a young lady on the phone at Petsafe, and was able to prove to her (with the help of a multi-meter) that the wire was good, and unit was bad, and she sent me a new one even though the warranty was up by then. They had a record of my earlier calls to prove I had problems while still under warranty. The new one works find. So, if you install your own, you might expect some grief from service if there is a problem. But they still made good on it.
I've watched my dog get out of the containment a couple different ways. Of course there is the obvious way, where he simply runs through at full speed. Sometimes he gets nipped, sometimes he doesn't. The only time I've seen him use this technique is when I am outside of the containment heading towards the woods. He loves those woods. the boundary area is adjustable, and making it wider helps. unfortunately, if I make it too wide, he gets shocked in the garage, or when he goes near the pool (above ground steel). That big hunk of steel somehow picks up the signal, as do the cars when he gets close to them. Be careful where you route the wire.
On Friday, we got another Brittany, so I guess I will need another collar.
R
RLeeP
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I know nothing about these invisible fences, but that doesn't mean I can't gas on about the topic anyway...
My brother put one of these fences in once. He had a Jack Russell he wanted to contain. But the dog seemed to actually like the fence and would go back and forth through it a few times each day, giving a little yip each time he passed through. I told my brother that this was probably like one of those Semper Fi things where the philosophy is that whatever does not kill us makes us stronger. Perhaps a characteristic of the breed or something. Most of the JR's I've seen have a strong tendency towards Kamikazi-like behavior
Eventually, the dog went through the fence and tried this philosophy out on the traffic going by on PA Route 8, which is what my brother was trying to restrain him from doing in the first place. This didn't go nearly so well for the dog, unfortunately and he learned the philosphy had limits.
That's all I know about these fences. Not much, I admit.
My brother put one of these fences in once. He had a Jack Russell he wanted to contain. But the dog seemed to actually like the fence and would go back and forth through it a few times each day, giving a little yip each time he passed through. I told my brother that this was probably like one of those Semper Fi things where the philosophy is that whatever does not kill us makes us stronger. Perhaps a characteristic of the breed or something. Most of the JR's I've seen have a strong tendency towards Kamikazi-like behavior
Eventually, the dog went through the fence and tried this philosophy out on the traffic going by on PA Route 8, which is what my brother was trying to restrain him from doing in the first place. This didn't go nearly so well for the dog, unfortunately and he learned the philosphy had limits.
That's all I know about these fences. Not much, I admit.
FarmerDave
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Bob, I know a couple people who have JRs, so i can actually picture one of them doing that. Those dogs are nuts. Brittanies are high strung and mine is no exception, but compared to the Jacks, my Brittany is downright laid back.
The collar that i have has 5 settings. First setting is tone only. 2 thru 5 are progressively higher jolts. I deliberately tested it on myself with it set on 2 or 3. It was like hanging onto a lawnmower spark plug. Knowing that dogs are less sensitive, I started this dog out on a 3. It took him only a few weeks to get used to it as a minor discomfort. He is up to number 5 now. He still gets out occasionally, but he definitely feels it when he gets nipped. They do also sell one for stuborn dogs, but it is quite a bit larger. I think it takes a 9 volt battery. It would probably be too big for a JR. Then again, to slow down a JR, you might need one that takes a car battery. :-D
ryanh
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My neighbor breeds red labs. Yah I never heard of them before either but they are awesome dogs. Anyhow he has an electric fence and about every six months the fence goes down. The dogs come over for a visit. I round them up and and drop them off.
Maurice
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Well last night I was sitting here wasting more time reading about dog fences while my wife carried in the groceries and when she finished, she yelped. Here while the garage door and kitchen -garage door were open, our neighbors cat leaked in and was eating our cats food. The nerve!
So I had to get up and shoo it outside...I don't think they feed that cat...it was glued to the bowl. Had to pick it up and toss it out. Landed on its feet too.
We're back to normal around here....she's bringin' home the bacon and I am keeping the stray felines out of the house. :lol:
Now, what were we talkin about....oh, dog fences. The folks who lived here before me had one, I know this because everytime I put a shovel in the ground I come up with a black wire. Thats all I know on the subject.
So I had to get up and shoo it outside...I don't think they feed that cat...it was glued to the bowl. Had to pick it up and toss it out. Landed on its feet too.
We're back to normal around here....she's bringin' home the bacon and I am keeping the stray felines out of the house. :lol:
Now, what were we talkin about....oh, dog fences. The folks who lived here before me had one, I know this because everytime I put a shovel in the ground I come up with a black wire. Thats all I know on the subject.
FarmerDave
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with the price of gas these days, can you blame him? :lol:
Maurice
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Thats funny Dave...I cannot believe I did it twice....and proofread it a number of times. :-D
FarmerDave
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OK Maurice, i see you fixed your message, but your neighbors should still fix that leaky cat before it ruins the carpet. They probably have drugs for that. :lol:
littlejuniata
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Heck this turned into a very informatie topic, lets have more stuff like this. Dave is there a way to test a collar with the wired system? (Other than grabbing the contacts) would an electric meter be able to measure the current from the contacts??
MattBoyer
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I just installed an Inotek in ground wire 2 weeks ago. Same story as above. If they want to get out they will. I think I'm gonna buy a fence. As far as testing the system, it comes with a little light that you can hold against the elctrodes to see when it goes off. Hope this helps.
Boyer
Boyer
J
JasonM
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I have the petsafe wireless model and it works great. I have a 65 lb basset hound and he doesn't even have to wear the collar anymore. The settings are 1 through 6 and number 4 seems to give him enough of a jolt that he lets out a pretty good yelp. Numbers 1 through 3 didn't seem to phase him. The first day he did walk right through the boundary at about 6 in the morning. It sounded like a house alarm going off. The wireless collar will keep shocking for thirty seconds outside of the boundary. It didn't take me more than 10 seconds to hear him howling in the front yard. The wireless works on the idea of the transmitter putting out a circular pattern. I have placed the transmitter in the center of my house and then adjusted the out edge of the circle to just touch my property line. It does not give you the exact layout of your property like the in ground systems. I get all of my batteries for the collar at pet smart. I think lowes is even selling the wireless unit now.
