Underground Dog Fence?

[mustangcy]

Got a new pup (7 months) and am thinking hard about getting some kind of dog fence to keep him in the yard. Wondering if anyone out there has used any of the local companies (Dog Guard/Invisible Fence) or put a system in themselves? Pro's/Con's?

Also, has anyone used the wifi systems and have you had any luck with them?

 

[KnappShack]

Got a new pup (7 months) and am thinking hard about getting some kind of dog fence to keep him in the yard. Wondering if anyone out there has used any of the local companies (Dog Guard/Invisible Fence) or put a system in themselves? Pro's/Con's?

Also, has anyone used the wifi systems and have you had any luck with them?

Everyone in my neighborhood has one including my family

It seems to work fairly well, but so many of my neighbors leave their dogs out front unattended. I don't have that level of trust.

Especially since we found a dog with the Invisible Fence collar just walking down the sidewalk. The dog was walking up to the pool to find his people and left his yard.

My dog hard charged right through it to confront the neighbor.

So I have it, but I'm not really sold on it

 

[Isualum13]

If you get one, I would get one that has a center unit and a set radius rather than a buried line just for the ease of use thing. Also, make sure you keep the collar charged. And if the dog is excited or chasing something the shocks will likely have little effect as noted by the dog running at the neighbor.

 

[CycloneVet]

As a veterinarian I suggest invisible fence. They are a little more expensive but they install the wire. They also come out many times to train your dog and they teach you how to train too. To me it’s worth a little extra money because if you train incorrectly you can make your dog apprehensive about being in the yard which is the opposite of what you want. I am currently having my puppy trained to our existing fence that we had for our previous dog. Our previous dog was a 160 lb Great Dane so it never got old to watch people walk by wondering if he was going to charge into the street at them

 

[BCClone]

Neighbor has one. His company must be morons. Every time that the cable company or anybody does something his fence quits working and needs repair. They buried it in the easement area. Well, he is a moron so it would seem natural he would hire a moronic company.

 

[knowlesjam]

Invisible fence user myself...works great with our German Shepherd. They install the wire and provide the training. The dog loves it as it gives her free range of the yard. I will say that we have had a couple of very vocal complainers in the neighborhood that yell at us every time they walk their dogs because they are apprehensive about seeing a free roaming shepherd that runs up to the "fence line" and barks. We do have signs that say Invisible Fence and try to educate folks. I do see the concern...the shepherd could quickly get through the fence if she wanted to...but that was the purpose of the training. She broke through once in the first week of training...now at 2+ years...no escapes.

 

[NotJustMagic]

I have one of the burried types, no idea which one. The system is not in place to stop your dog, its a training tool. I used a shock collar (beep, vibrate, shock options) to train my dog from early on to walk off leash so this was an easy lesson. If you train your dog correctly with this, they won't get close to the line and won't have to worry about him/her running through it. I have a 60lbs german shepard and she has never crossed the line. Our company came out, installed and then spent an hour or so with each dog doing basic training.

I (my wife) has a pomeranian and her hair is too thick to make contact, and given she is around 4lbs, we don't want to turn it up. I'm sure we could figure it out if we wanted to, but a dog that small hasn't been any issues.

My uncle has 2 labs w/ a wireless radius fence in the country and it works well for them as well.

All in all, I would 100% reccomend. Just know that there will be some training that you will need to do to get the most out of it.

 

[mustangcy]

As a veterinarian I suggest invisible fence. They are a little more expensive but they install the wire. They also come out many times to train your dog and they teach you how to train too. To me it’s worth a little extra money because if you train incorrectly you can make your dog apprehensive about being in the yard which is the opposite of what you want. I am currently having my puppy trained to our existing fence that we had for our previous dog. Our previous dog was a 160 lb Great Dane so it never got old to watch people walk by wondering if he was going to charge into the street at them

I talked with Invisible Fence yesterday...they are indeed a lot more expensive. Got a price of about $2500 from them and $1300 from Dog Guard. Dog Guard come to the house, installs and trains as well. Seems the big difference is Invisible Fence comes out another 2-3 times.

So is that extra 2-3 time training worth a $1200?

 

[RedDog]

I have everything but the wire ordered from eXtreme dog fence. I live in the country and hope it keeps the kids' beagle from chasing rabbits into the timber. I can get underground 14ga tracer wire for half the price of what comes in the kit.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

I talked with Invisible Fence yesterday...they are indeed a lot more expensive. Got a price of about $2500 from them and $1300 from Dog Guard. Dog Guard come to the house, installs and trains as well. Seems the big difference is Invisible Fence comes out another 2-3 times.

So is that extra 2-3 time training worth a $1200?

Holy crap. A few years ago I bought the invisible fence setup package and installed it myself. Just used an electric edger to form the trench for the wire around the perimeter of the yard and then pushed the wire into it. Then put the flags in the ground....boom, done. $200 for the kit.

My dog, a lab, never really warmed up to it, though. Did a lot of training but he didn't like it so he stayed in one area of the yard for the most part. But meh, he never escaped.

 

[Cyfan1965]

Bought it, installed it and trained the dog ourselves. We did more training than was recommended and it works great. I would recommend a collar that beeps and does not shake before the corrective shock. My brother in law had a golden retriever that would lean just to a point where the collar would shake but not shock. Once the collar quit shaking he would take off.

 

[IcSyU]

It's a great tool in your toolbox but don't be one of the idiots who leaves your dog unattended just because it's there. It isn't going to stop your dog if your dog loves chasing every squirrel or rabbit it sees.

 

[somecyguy]

I talked with Invisible Fence yesterday...they are indeed a lot more expensive. Got a price of about $2500 from them and $1300 from Dog Guard. Dog Guard come to the house, installs and trains as well. Seems the big difference is Invisible Fence comes out another 2-3 times.

So is that extra 2-3 time training worth a $1200?

I can't compare, but the Invisible Fence training sessions were quite good IMO. They start out with flags every 3 feet or so and each training session they remove half the flags, so the dog doesn't use the flags as a visual cue. It worked great for our labradoodle. I think a big part of the multiple sessions is to establish some consistency in the training. Like most anything with dogs, consistency is paramount.

The one recommendation I give everyone is do the training as early as possible. Our dog was around 3 months when we started, so it's all he's ever known. He doesn't even think about testing the boundary, even with people walking their dogs down the street. We set the boundary about 6 feet from the road.

 

[Frak]

I actually had a relative who built something to install these. It's basically a small blade with a tube behind it that mounts on the lawnmower hitch. You drive the lawnmower and have someone stand on the thing and it trenches the wire. Then all you have to do is drive over the trench with the lawnmower tire and it's done. $200 for the unit and wire and a couple hours and it's done. I feel like the guy could make some money selling these or at least renting them out, but it's definitely easier to hire a professional.

One thing that needs to be said...this wire is NOT buried very deep, so if you have lawn people come to do a hard rake or aerate or reseed, you need to mark where the wire is and let them know because it's a pain in the ass to dig up and splice if the wire gets cut. And you would need to buy the detector to even find the break.

 

[3TrueFans]

I would just consider getting an above ground dog instead, much less hassle.

 

[Aclone]

What’s an underground dog?

I thought those were just in South Dakota...

 

[srjclone]

Friends have an invisible fence that is moveable. they place it in the center of their house and it sends out a radius of 50 feet (or something) and they've loved it. Just recently moved and all they had to do was turn it off and plug it back in at their new home.

Not positive on the name of it. But i'll look into it

 

[cy4state]

I used PetSafe Wireless System when I rented a place. We had two dogs and once we trained them, it worked great. I did have to make sure the battery was charged because once it got low, one dog would listen for the beeps and if he heard non, would run around the farm. I liked it because it doesn't have wires, just a radius. You can take it camping or to a new place if you move.