Invisible Dog Fence
|
|
| A quick check reveals two other topics starting with "Invisible Fencing"
http://www.oes.org/page2/818~Invisible_Fencing.html http://www.oes.org/page2/1194~Invisible_Fencing.html |
| My in-laws live in a wooded resort where no one has a fence so many of them with dogs have invisible fences. They all swear by them. We have considered installing one if we find out that we can't have a fence in AK. Well, ...we probably will if the fence thing doesn't work out with the home owner association. |
| Funny this came up because last night on America's Funniest Home Videos, they showed a cat proud that it got outside and then WHAM! ...well, the invisible fence brought him towards the house. |
| Many of our friends have and like the Invisible Fence.
One drawback is that other dogs and animals can get into the area. We are installing a stockade fence along the side of the house. We are also on a farm and the reason we did not go with the IF is that we have had packs of coyotes this year in the woodlands roaming 4 sides of the property. There is a lot of building going on so they are ever in transition. In Massachusetts there has been several people attacked and bitten by coyotes. Also a few dogs killed by them. We feel a closed in fence was a safer option, and Bogart will never be unattended. Best wishes ! |
| The thing with IF is that the dog gets punished, but often doesn't connect it with what we want him to. For example, if he ran out to greet the mailman every morning, and got zapped for doing that he would relate the shock to the mailman, and bang, you have a dog who hates mailmen. And that is just an example of how it could back-fire. very hard to undo a precedent like that. Other critters can get in, and sometime, the dog does get out, then cannot get back in.
I don't like them at all, but then that's me who prefers a more positive approach to problems and training. |
| I feel like I need to chime in about the fence again since I posted in the couple of links that Ron posted.
Bosley's mom - the main thing about the Invisible Fence is all about the training just the same as teaching your dog behaviors that you want. The dog is not going to get zapped going to the mailman because he knows where his boundaries are and if the mailman is outside of them then he won't greet him. Our pup got zapped only one time during the initial correction training with the Canine Fence man and that was it. I do not consider it a non-positive approach to training. Our pup knows exactly where his bounderies are with or without the training collar on. There are some breeds of dogs who instinctually do not conform to the fence like huskies who will just run right through. I can say from experience it was much easier to train a puppy on the fence vs. a 5 year old dog. I live in a historic town which do not permit fences due to certain ordinances so a physical fence was not an option for me. We do not leave the dogs outside unattended so we do not worry so much about other animals running into the yard attacking our dogs plus we don't really have to many aggressive dogs around here either. Bottom line is whatever works for you and your family. If you do end up getting the fence, please just take the time to do all of the necessary training steps. You can't just install the fence and put the collar on the dog and just expect it to work. It's all about teaching your dog boundaries. |
| Kim, with Merlin being like his sister Dancer, it would most likely work for him.... and if Avalon is anything like her sister Sky, lol, she will stay close to home to be with her family, furry and not, but if the idea occurs to her to go near the edge of the property I doubt the invisible fencing would stop her. LOL
I would suggest finding somone who has it and try the dogs out with it before investing... Congrats on putting an offer in!!! I can't wait to see which one you chose!  |
The people down the street from me have an invisible fence and a very large doberman. I was walking Luke, then about a year old, across the street. The dobe went right through the fence and tried to attack us. Lucky for us there were lots of people out so no damage was done. The dogs owners later told me the collar didn't give enough shock to stop him from leaving the yard  Several weeks later they had a chain link fence installed. |
Quote: The main thing about the Invisible Fence is all about the training just the same as teaching your dog behaviors that you want. No. This is punishing for behaviors you do not want. Not the same thing at all.Quote: The dog is not going to get zapped going to the mailman because he knows where his boundaries are and if the mailman is outside of them then he won't greet him. This was an example. If the mailman is just outside the boundary during training and the dog ran up to it and got zapped,,guess what? Same thing if a kid on a bike drove by, or a motorcycle zoomed by and the dog went to chase it. Sure it would stop the chasing, but at what consequence? Quote: I do not consider it a non-positive approach to training. It is certainly a non-positive approach. What is positive about hurting your pet? And it is not positive reinsforcement. It is positive punishment, which is the complete opposite.
I guess we can agree to disagree, but invisable fences can cause a lot of problems in that your dog may not interpret thngs the way you want him to. There are a lot of people who swear by them, but personally, I would never use anything to train my dog that would scare or hurt him. And a lot of people swear by that, too. |
Just my two cents here.... but we had an IF installed many years ago, and our lab at the time refused to leave the house! Now, I know this may be an exception, especially since she was a very passive dog, but we decided to deactivate the fence. Now 7 years later, as we have added 2 new dogs to household, I thought we train the new dogs with the fence. I had the company come out to check the fence. The tech arrives and told me the fence should never have been installed because it was WAY TOO close to our back door where the dog exits the house and most likely our lab was getting the warning signal or zapped as it left our home. Be sure your pet has ample clearance. I guess this post is more about the installer than the actual fence! Sorry!  Our neighbors have an IF as well - their lab has responded beautifully and to my knowledge has never escaped or "charge" the fence. The personality of the dog should be seriously weighed when considering an IF. A very dominant dog may not respond as well as a more "willing" personality. |
| Thanks for all the tips about the IF. My first choice is to NOT get that kind of fencing. But since the dogs can get thru the horse fence...It would be used in conjunction with another fence. The property(pasture) is fenced already with horse fencing...and the back yard is fenced with the same fencing...right now there is no side fence attaching the house to the horse fence, this we will have to install (in December or January-whenever the closing date is---still negotiating)
I would need the IF to keep the dogs out of the pasture and I would also put it nearer the road in the front of the house. But...I know that hubby will like to run the dogs in the pasture...wont that give them confusing messages that sometimes they get zapped for going in the pasture and sometimes they dont? My idea was to line the horse fence with chicken wire. I cant imagine it would cost more than getting the invisible fence...that is quite pricey here. But first thing is we have to GET the house LOL... On another note on the same topic. My 7 year old left the gate open last night when he took out the trash to the curb. Dogs were let out later on in the evening...we could see them but cant see the gate. I am getting ready to go out and they hear my daughter in the garage, I open the front door and in runs Avalon with Merlin chasing her! We were SO lucky. My 7 year old was in tears over what could have happened...I didnt need to even say anything...he for sure wont do that again. |
Quote: It is certainly a non-positive approach. What is positive about hurting your pet? And it is not positive reinsforcement. It is positive punishment, which is the complete opposite.
I guess we can agree to disagree, but invisable fences can cause a lot of problems in that your dog may not interpret thngs the way you want him to. There are a lot of people who swear by them, but personally, I would never use anything to train my dog that would scare or hurt him. And a lot of people swear by that, too. You may think I scared and hurt my dog in order to get him to learn his boundaries, but I really think that maybe you're not familiar with how Canine Fence Brand works. Plus what about people who's fence gates accidentally get left open, or maybe they get a hole in the fence and their dog runs into the street and gets hit by a car? I guess that would hurt worse than a static charge. In case you're wondering...I tried the collar on myself before putting it on our dog, and I would say it's more of a shock than pain. Certainly there are problems with people who do not train their dogs properly on the fences. I am only speaking about the Canine Fence Brand, not the $40 fence you can buy at PetSmart. First the Canine Fence people come out and evaluate your dog to make sure that the fence will work. Then there is approximately a month of training on leash before you let your dog off leash. The Canine Fence trainers also come to your house to be a part of this training to make sure you are doing it right. The training consists of audible beeps and boundary flags. The goal is once the audible beep sounds, you teach your dog to run back towards the center of the yard with you and then PRAISE him when he eventually retreats on his own. When the time comes to let your dog off leash he does have one "correction" shock to make him understand what happens if he tries to go through the audible beep boundary. Most dogs, all it takes is one correction, as it was for us. After the initial correction you introduce all kinds of distractions to see if the dog will go through the boundary. So now every time the UPS man drives around the block, a friendly neighborhood kid runs along with our dog down the sidewalk, a squirrel runs out of our yard, a ball accidentally gets kicked out of bounds, the reaction is always the same. Our dog, Frank gives a playful chase and then slows down to a comfortable stop. There is absolutely no body language that ever indicates fear. It is just the way it is here at the house and I am happy that he gets to have such a variety of stimulation from different aspects of the neighborhood and I think the dog people in the neighborhood are happy to see him having such a good time. |
| I just did a quick search on IF's, and pulled these links out in between all the advertisements.
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18209 http://www.heroswaggintrain.com/miscell ... encing.htm http://www.americanwhippetclub.net/whipfenc.html http://keeshond.nonprofitoffice.com/ind ... BASIC&SEC={55880275-A801-44B4-9EA0-C5D773EB5A49} And this text: Quote: 1. An electronic fence does not prevent other animals or people from coming on your property and attacking, teasing, or stealing your dog.
2. Your dog can become so excited that it dashes through the fence, despite the shock, and then may be frightened to come back into your yard because of the additional shock it would receive. 3. There have been cases of dogs being called or enticed by a friendly passer-by to come and say hello, then *ZAP*, resulting in the dog becoming either fearful or aggressive towards friendly strangers. 4. Dogs can generalize pain or fear to the location it occurs in, so the zap from the fence can be generalized to the yard, resulting in a dog that is very stressed, which can lead to other behavior problems such as digging, barking, chewing etc. 5. If the collar malfunctions, your dog could receive accidental shocks. Think about these factors before you consider an electronic fence. A "real" fence is much safer for your dog. Most rescues and many reputable breeders will not place a dog where there is invisable fencing installed. I know that my rescue won't for sure. Question: Why do people use them for a dog but not their toddlers? People can make thier own choices once weighing the pros and cons. I have made mine and you have made yours. |
| I will chime in as well and say the Invisible Fence (or whatever brand) has worked great for us in the past. Yes, there are issues that arise that don't with a brick and mortar fence, but with proper training it does the trick.
And to respond to "Question: Why do people use them for a dog but not their toddlers? " : Probably the same reason you do not crate train a toddler. But seriously, making a comparison to a human toddler and a dog is apples to oranges. |
El Gato wrote: And to respond to "Question: Why do people use them for a dog but not their toddlers? " : Probably the same reason you do not crate train a toddler. But seriously, making a comparison to a human toddler and a dog is apples to oranges. I agree. If we get one, it will be used to let our dog out the back door in 0 degree weather to potty. We wouldn't be leaving our dog outside unattended at any given time, but we would like her to pee somewhere I don't have to go outside. Especially since my husband will most likely be in Iraq (unit is already scheduled to go AGAIN), I have raynaud's (condition that makes it painful to be in cold weather), and to take care of a toddler and possibly be pregnant again (military wives have a tendency to get pregnant before a deployment). For us, if Yuki darts outside the boundaries of the IF, I will be right there to say "her goof.. whatcha doing?" But hopefully this is extremely rare or won't after the correct training. She will accept her boundaries, sniff around, pee, and come back inside while mommy is waiting on the otherside of the screen door to let her in. I would never tell my toddler to go outside to pee in 0 degree weather.  |
Quote: Probably the same reason you do not crate train a toddler. But we do, only they are called "cribs and playpens". And for those who don't use crates they are called babygates. We use a crate for longer periods of time, though, because dogs sleep for longer periods of time than young children nap in thier cribs or playpens. Quote: But seriously, making a comparison to a human toddler and a dog is apples to oranges
Funny you would mention this. When I was teaching obedience classes many of my students would remark how they took some techniques and used them successfully with their children. Karen Pryor wrote an excellent book called "Don't Shoot the Dog" where she describes how to deal with training in 10 different ways, from the least to the most positive ways, and she relates it to how they can be used in relationships at work, husband/wife, with children and dogs, chickens, horse.... We deal with a dog the same way as a child in many ways, and we need to. They are both dependent on us to protect, feed, nurture and train. A dog has the same mental capacity of a 2 yr old, all things being equal, so we need to do a lot of thinking for them, as they do not know any better and are not capable if it. Just like a fence is used for children to play safely in, so they do not run off or get stolen, or get into something dangerous we like our dogs to be safe, and stay safe. And if the dog got out of its boundaries, and would come back when you called it, then I guess you wouldn't need one. But that is the point, It would not come back if there is a potential for negative results. So why are they not used for kids? If they are designed so that the dog is always supervised, so that a coyote or another dog or whatever cannot come into the area and hurt it then why not for kids? Always supervised? Because it would be considered inhumane for kids, and dogs are not human so don't deserve the same consideration, I suppose. If this is not it, please explain it to me, because I just don't get it. Sorry. We are getting a bit off topic, I think, but someone asked about the fences, so I just feel that folks should make an informed decision on whether what they are investing in is in thier dog's best interest or not. Some people think they are fine, and they might be the best thing for the humans, but I don't think they are the best thing for the dog. IMHO  |
Bosley's mom wrote: IMHO
That's funny! |
| Ya know what hurts more then the shock? When your dogs gets hit by a car. We weighed the pros and cons and decides we like our dog alive rather then worry about a tiny shock. |
| The problem with invisable fences is NOT the shock, it's the fact that they are not reliable. You are fooling yourself and endangering your dog if you thinkg that an invisable fence will keep your dog safe from cars.
I can't tell you how many dogs I have seen and heard about running right through invisable fences to get to an animal or to chase a car. Invisable fences DO NOT KEEP YOUR DOG SAFE and should not be used unless the dog is supervised. If you want to keep your dog alive then keep him on a leash or use a chain link, or fence he cannot jump over. |
| We ended up not getting the IF and instead we lined the pasture fence with farmers fence and also building a dog pen 20ft x 50ft (out of 'pet fencing' its sort of like chain link but smaller openings) so when we are not outside with the dogs they are safe in their pen. I am so glad we did not go with the IF because the neighbor lady across the street lets her dogs out unattended and quite often they come over and make my dogs crazy....since we live on a fairly busy street in the country, I decided that the IF was not going to give me peace of mind that re-fencing the yard does. Re-fencing and building an outdoor dog pen and and indoor dog pen in the garage cost us about $2500 and we did all the work ourselves that was just for materials....money well spent as now when I let the dogs out I dont have to worry about them, they are safe and they can choose to be inside or outside.
P.S.I told the neighbor lady her dogs frequent my place and she didnt believe me...if she is out they dont leave her side....but then they came once and we had to 'return' them to her...I told her I was worried about her dog getting hit by a car...one came pretty close to it..she is a bit better about not putting them out in front now |
WizardMerlin wrote: P.S.I told the neighbor lady her dogs frequent my place and she didnt believe me...if she is out they dont leave her side....but then they came once and we had to 'return' them to her...I told her I was worried about her dog getting hit by a car...one came pretty close to it..she is a bit better about not putting them out in front now
I think that is funny...why would you lie about something like that? Maybe if you were complaining that her dogs were doing something to your property, but if you were just letting her know they came over...some people get so defensive |
Her dog was pooping on my lawn....but I never said anything to her....I just picked it up...I have 3 dogs...what is one more poop to pick up  |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|