Electric Fences

[stephlove]

I just recently bought a house, and since I no longer have a landlord telling me no, I can get the puppy I always wanted.

Unfortunately, with the house being on a corner lot, most of our yard is in the front/side of the house. Fence placement would just look strange and out of place there, so I've been looking into an electric fence. There is plenty of space in the side yard and some in the back of the house, so the dog wouldn't be in the front yard.

Who has experience with this type of fence? Is it cruel to use on the dog? Does it really hurt them??

[straymo]

I can't speak for if it hurts, but one major problem with them is that if the dog were to run out of the yard (and get shocked), he is very unlikely to run back into the yard. So now you have a dog who's afraid to come back into his own yard.

Also, it does NOT stop other dogs from coming into your yard. The problem I have with them is when I'm walking my dog on a leash and I approach a house with a dog not in a fence or leashed, I have no way of knowing if that dog is going to charge after us.

Personally, I'm not a fan of them and would never use them for my dogs (one of which is squirrel obessed and would run through it.....once and not come back).

[bullygirl979]

My mom has one as well as my sister. I am not a fan either. Like the PP mentioned, you can't stop other dogs from running into your yard as well as the potential for your dog to NOT want to go back into your yard if he does get shocked.

Plus, for some breeds they are not recommended (I don't know what kind of dog you have).

[punkybooster]

When our neighborhood was built, no fences were allowed. So most people have electric fences here.

My experience has been this:
1. It doesn't always contain the dogs. Half of them run right through them if they want something badly enough.

2. It doesn't keep loose dogs off of your property. This is a dangerous thing, IMO.

3. It doesn't keep kids from wandering into your yard. We recently had a big problem with a group of schoolaged brats in my hood taunting 2 dogs behind an electric fence, charging at the fence line, throwing rocks at them, etc.

4. When the dogs who are good about staying behind the fence feel the warning buzz, I can tell because they shake their heads like crazy. It always makes me feel bad.

With that said, I'm okay with these fences provided you are supervising 100% of the time. I don't agree with them being used as the sole method of keeping your dog contained.

[osulori]

We considered getting one for various reasons, but decided against it because 1. our dog (now dogs) could easily run through the shock (and our pit mix totally would) and 2. it wouldn't keep other things (kids cutting through yards, other dogs and cats, random critters, etc) OUT of your yard. So we ended up getting a regular fence, and don't regret it one bit.

[kellbell191]

Our neighbors had one and I would only use one supervised now. Every time the electricity went out their dogs would be running all over the neighborhood. As others mentioned, the electric fences didn't keep the skunks from coming and spray them either. yuck.

[momof2boys]

We have one, it has its pro's and cons. I would have preferred a regular fence but we didn't have the money to put one in. Our puppy learned the fencing system really quickly, it took less then two weeks. He really respects his boundaries, won't get near the boundary at all, except if we are all on the outside of the fence and go out of sight. Once or twice when he was outside and I took the kids around the corner on their bikes he broke through to follow us. Yes, he yelped loudly, yes it hurts (i've shocked myself). It was challenging getting him back into the yard afterwards. We have our system set up that when we are taking him out of the yard for any reason (daycare, walk, vet visits etc) we take him out the back door (after removing his collar of course) He has learned this is his "safe" door. Even if I remove his collar and try to take him off the property from the front yard he wont' do it.
I think it also depends on the area you live. I live on a dead end off of a dead end. My parents have a few acres next door that we let him off leash when we are watching him, so if he gets out of the fence its not a huge deal to us. We never leave him outside if we aren't home and keeping an eye on him.
If I lived on a busy road I would feel differently. As far as losing power and him getting out, I don't worry about it. Our dog does not equate the collar to the shock, he seems to think the grass beyond the boundary does it. We can let him outside without his collar on at all and he won't leave the area.

[thatgirl]

We have PetStop. Our dogs listen for the beeping and know to move back.
--We never leave them in the yard unattended.
--The backyard and the front yard are separate so they cannot move from front to back. The only reason we had the front yard contained was in case a dog got out the front door.
--We have never had a dog enter our yard??
--In reality I would not leave my dogs out in a fenced yard, they could easily jump, climb or dig their way out.

There are pros and cons to everything.

[SallySparrow]

I can see how using one supervised would be the best option for some people. I would never, ever leave my dog out unsupervised with an invisible fence, for reasons pp's have mentioned. Especially the fact that other dogs can still come into your yard.

I could never use one, even supervised, with my girls. Roxie is scared of everything. I have no doubt that one shock would keep her from ever leaving the house again. And Sable has a really ridiculous prey drive. She gets fixated and I have no doubt she'd run right through a fence, whether I was out there or not.

That said, as a runner, I HATE them if they're not well marked. The worst feeling in the world is some dog charging you out of nowhere while you're running, and the invisible fence not being marked. Not fun.

[patches31709]

Jul 28, 2012 9:40:11 GMT -5 SallySparrow said:

That said, as a runner, I HATE them if they're not well marked. The worst feeling in the world is some dog charging you out of nowhere while you're running, and the invisible fence not being marked. Not fun.

Holy crap, yes! The first time I ran by this one house a huge dog came charging at me. I had no idea if he/she was going to stop or not. Thankfully, they had an electric fence and he stayed behind it.


And to the person who almost sounded like it is unheard of for other dogs to come into your yard, it most certainly happens. Our neighbors' dog just loves to crap in our yard. Our dog likes to roll in her crap. It's a frustrating cycle.

And on a more serious note, there was a popular flyball dog who got attacked and killed in his own yard a few months ago by a pack of dogs.

[foundmylazybum]

We had one for our Shepherd Mix many years ago. Like others our HOA did not allow fences and ours was in the backyard--backing up to a golf course.

Our dog got shocked one time and that was it. He always gave it wide berth after that.

We never had roving other dogs come into our property.

Our dog didn't shake his head. 8-D

Honestly he didn't experience any adverse side effects from having the electric fence.

That being said, our dog did not have a strong prey drive, he wasn't aggressive--it wasn't in the front so at risk for joggers etc. I think placement IS important (why not put it in the back you know?)

I think knowing your dog is important: I believe that an electric fence is probably best suited for a well-adjusted, mellow dog. If your dog is sensitive--the shock can scare the shit out of them and make them neurotic. If they have a higher prey drive they will jump it and just keep going. Know your dog and be realistic or you will be disappointed.

Know your neighborhood: have you seen stray dogs or random animals in your hood? Does your neighborhood have a lot of joggers, walkers and or random children moving through it? If any of these, then having an electric fence may not be the best thing for you.

Sounds common sense but weighing these options seriously can save you money and keep you and your pet happy and safe.

We DID live down the street from a guy who had an E-fence in the street. His ass-holio dog charged the fence, and ran through--then ended up biting OUR dog--who was walking on the leash with my dad. The neighbor blamed my dad and our dog. He was crazy, and lucky we didn't press charges against him for having an aggressive loose dog.

[gbck]

Thi is the C&P of what I've written about this before, not all of it fitss, but, eh, it's easier than re-typing

, I'm gonna C&P myself, 'cuz it's to dang long to re-type, but feel free to page me w/ any questions!:

you should NOT get invisible fence if:

-your dog will be outside when you are not around. Invisible fence keeps YOUR dog in the yard; it doesn't prevent other animals/people/etc from coming in and harassing your dog. If you expect your dog to EVER be outside w/o you nearby, get a conventional fence instead.

-you don't have the time to train your dog. Some people just put the shock collars on and expect the dog to understand the fence--and sometimes that works, but more often than not, it doesn't. (The dog has a 50-50 chance of going the WRONG way the first time he gets zapped, and then he'll be trapped OUTSIDE the yard)--for us, we have a VERY headstrong dog, so in December, in a foot of snow, we had to spend 3 weeks doing training sessions outside several times a day with our dog...and she didn't catch on in 3 weeks, so 6 weeks later, we were still doing training sessions...and 2 weeks after that, she "almost" knew it, and 2 weeks after that, she understood (and hasn't set paw outside her yard)--if you don't have the time/patience to REALLY train the dog, it may not work.

-if people are going to be scared of your dog because they don't understand he's restrained. (if you have a sidewalk running through your front yard, and you prevent the dog from reaching the sidewalk w/ the fence you have 2 potential problems, the first being that people who are nervous about dogs will not see the sign for inv. fence, and may report your dog as being unrestrained, and second that they can easily bother (accidentally even) your dog, but he can't get to them--you'd be amazed at the number of people who will not realize it's there and try to call a dog out of the fenced area to them, undermining all sorts of training!)

-if your dog has a high prey drive. Some dogs, especially those that fall into the sight hound and scent hounds (as well as some other breeds like huskies) can be extremely driven by prey. These dogs will see a small animal, etc, and will run through the shock to get out of the yard. However, once out, they won't run through the shock to get back in, and will be trapped out of the yard. Sometimes these breeds can be trained too, but you know how I said I doubled the training time for my dog? Expect to double it again, and accept that it may NEVER work

-a very "sensitive" dog may get scared. There are stories of dogs who received a few shocks and then refused to go outside because they were afraid of another shock, or they got nervous when their owner put them on leash, after the owner had allowed them to get the corrective shock the day before. If your dog is extremely sensitive to correction, you may have to be VERY careful to create the "correct" associations in training.

-if you have a long furred dog and you're not prepared to spend more $ on a collar than normal and/or trim fur on part of its neck. (Very furry dogs require longer pronged collars and/or the part of the neck where the prongs need to touch to be trimmed a lot)

-if you're very concerned about power outages (sounds silly, but my parent's house looses power about 3 x a week...so, inv. fence wouldn't be ideal for them)--and we got the alarm on our system, so it lets us know if the connection is broken, and/or the power is out in the system

---now, with all of that being said, for US, inv. fence has been WONDERFUL. Like I said, we had it put in during December, once our pup was already housebroken. (I would NOT put it in before the dog is housebroken, it can associate the correction received with going outside). We considered a lot of options. We found petsafe and innotek were the most common "install your own" system. And "invisible fence co", was the mot common installed system in our area.

After a lot of thought, we went w/ having inv. fence co install it for us, for a couple of reasons:

1) they offer training (and a guarantee w/ it). While DH and I are pretty handy w/ dog training, it was nice having a professional come, especially since our dog is very headstrong (so if she was unattainable to the fence, we would get our money back!)

2) The collars had a warranty. The collars are the most expensive part of the systems, and since my pup is VERY inclined to chew things, we could imagine having to pay another $300 because she ate the collar (which, BTW, she has NOT eaten, because we got the one w/ the warranty :_)

the first several weeks of training involved no shocks. Dawg's collar had plasticky/rubbery "guards" on them, so she only got the corrective "beep", no shock. After the weeks of retreat training (many extra weeks because she didn't catch on ), we finally removed the guard, put a "reducer" on the collar (which reduces the shock received, they allowed us many settings for the collar's strength, and they had us start w/ her receiving 20% of a normal shock) and allowed her to get shocked.

She got shocked about 4 times total. To this day. And she is perfect with the fence. She LOOOooves people and she will edge up TO the fence to see our neighbor, but will NOT cross it. she Looooves her Frisbees, but she will edge up to the fence and sit, looking sadly at the poorly thrown Frisbee, but will NOT cross the fence.

We have about 2 acres, and we didn't include the very front of the yard (we keep her well back from the road) or the very back of the yard (where the wild critters live, she doesn't need to bother them), and it cost us a bit under $1k. (about 1/3 the cost of fencing that area)

and this offers some more/similar insight:
www.siberescue.com/Common/InvisibleFence/in
visiblefence.html

and other links (not all of which I agree with, BTW):

www.canismajor.com/dog/fences1.html

www.dogpatch.org/doginfo/invfence.html

www.k9care.com/Tip-ElectFence.htm

www.dogsinthenews.com/issues/0105/articles/
010513b.htm

www.hgtv.com/hgtv/rm_outdoors_fences_gates/
article/0,1797,HGTV_3757_1388825,00.html

[dr.girlfriend]

I decided to bump this thread up because I was looking for the same info, and I think there's a little info I can add having just got my estimate last night. Maybe I'll update again after we actually get the system.

We have a 40-pound rescue that is probably at least part Catahoula leopard dog. She very easily learned to climb our 4-foot fence, so we replaced it all with a six-foot fence. That worked for at least a few months, but then it all went to hell. First she realized she could dig under it, so I had to put giant paving stones over the whole perimeter. Apparently then, though, she had a taste of freedom and realized if she took enough of a running start she could sail right over the 6-foot fence. With her, it's purely social. Even if she's with us in the yard, if she sees a dog she knows (and our neighborhood is full of them) or hears kids playing she wants to be where the action is. She doesn't have issues with prey drive for the most part. Additionally, the more she is restricted to the house except for leash walks, the more desperate she is to get out, and tries to sneak out between our legs as we're opening the door. She's 100% compliant with "touch" command indoors and outdoors when she wants to, but in the wild she figures the social activity is more rewarding than the treat.

So, I think we are going to supplement our physical fence with an invisible fence. Having the physical fence eliminates a lot of concerns others had (people not realizing your dog is restrained, other people or animals wandering into the yard) although I wish I had kept my cuter 4-foot fence if this works. Plus, the invisible fence will cover the whole yard, so that if she does slip out the front door she won't go past our property line. The new sensors know when the dog is outside the boundary, and will NOT shock them for returning. They also have a small-radius sensor you can put indoors -- if we put it on our landing hopefully it'll replace the baby gate we have preventing our dog from going upstairs. The system also comes with a collar-activated programmable dog door, which is an additional advantage compared to our current standard dog door.

It seems like a lot of concerns about dogs powering through the shocks can be allayed with training, and with adjusting shock intensity, but I guess we'll see. The person who owns the company we are probably using is a certified dog trainer and even brings her dog with her for later training sessions for "temptation." They also gave us a pretty big discount for our dog being a rescue. The system does have a 48-hour battery backup for power outages. The cost for us (with the discount for rescue and having an existing dog door that just needs to be upgraded) is $1200. I'll keep you posted!

Here's the little stinker, looking all innocent.

[Deleted]

dr.girlfriend I think that getting an invisible fence installed in your situation is reasonable. You have to keep your dog safe, and that's what you are doing. There are definitely times when an invisible fence makes a lot of sense, especially when the dog will jump or dig under a physical fence.