Any experience here with the Invisible Fence?

[Raven]

I had it installed two weeks ago because my two dogs were bolting into the woods and staying gone for hours. I live in the country and hunting season has begun so I needed to do something. Along with the Fence, I bought the training package. The trainers have come 3 times so far and I am just amazed at how fast my dogs are catching on.

I often have deer in the backyard and the dogs take off after them. This will be a challenge for the trainers but they say they can train the dogs to ignore the distraction. We'll see!

Anybody here have experience with this? How has it worked for you?

[IndianaJones]

1. Is this their first hunting season? nt.

[Raven]

3. Yup, and what a sight to see two dogs at breakneck speed

and three deer at breakneck speed...amazing!

[IndianaJones]

4. I will warn you that many hunters will shoot dogs that they see running deer.

I have seen this and talked to people that have and will do it. Even if you have to chain them during hunting season, I would prevent it at all costs.

[Raven]

5. I know, I've heard the stories too. That's why I did the Fence. Hunting

season lasts until December which is a long time to keep these dogs in or on a chain. It better work.

BTW, why would someone kill a dog for running deer? What kind of a person would do that?

[IndianaJones]

6. You should be able to determine when the firearms seasons are...

when it is much more dangerous for dogs. Archery should be safer, but that is a long time. If you are confident in their training, it should not be a problem. Our dog is untrained and stays chained during firearms seasons.

Hunters do it because if interferes in their hunting, which is more precious to many of them than their families, let alone someones dog.

[China_cat]

9. Funny, here in SC, that's how they hunt deer. Run them with dogs.

[IndianaJones]

10. the practice is being outlawed in many states. and there are usually designated

areas where it is allowed.

[China_cat]

13. I think it stinks, personally

but they're never going to change it here.

[Greyskye]

2. Neighbors on both sides of me use it.

Seems to work well. Even keeps that big vicious brute in his own yard. My cat will go up and sit on our side of the line, taunting him. :rofl:

[BOSSHOG]

7. My father

was in a very nice nursing home in Missouri about six years ago. The director of the home had an invisible fence put up in the front of the building and let her two small dogs run. It was very nicely landscaped with benches and birdbaths and many of the patients could go out and sit with family and the dogs presence was very therapeutic. The director said her dogs were fine with the fence, didn't even go close to it.

[China_cat]

8. If the dogs have a high prey drive, the fence will NOT

stop them from taking the hit to get out, but it will stop them from coming back. It also won't stop the deer or other animals from crossing the line and being on your property...where the dogs are more likely to give chase and not even notice the fence hit. Training only goes so far and I don't care what yours say, they can NOT guarantee that your dogs will ignore the distraction. Especially if the distraction happens to come within the confines of the 'fence'.

It also won't keep other dogs or people away from your animals. Only a physical fence has at least a chance of doing that.

[Raven]

11. Thanks, I think you are probably right. Since hunting season started I've

kept the dogs inside quite a bit and I've noticed that the deer have gotten braver. I think that once the dogs are out again, the deer may stay away. But, I don't think I'm going to let them out unsupervised during hunting season even with the fence. Actually, I have never left them outside without keeping an eye on them. It will just be nice when they don't bolt into the woods anymore.

[cobalt1999]

12. Depends on the breed

My huskies have a high pain threshold and a high drive to chase, so it doesn't work for them. The German Shepard and Lab don't go anywhere near the boundaries.

I fostered a highly intelligent border collie once who would get close enough to set off the warning beep and then she would lay down with it beeping until the battery charge died, then she'd leave. I wasn't so sure I would have thought of that. :)

[DemReadingDU]

16. How long does it take for batteries to die out?

I'd go nuts having to listen to some kind of beeping for a long time.

[jberryhill]

19. There was a counter to that in more recent models...

...that would only beep for so long if the dog stayed in the vicinity of the boundary.

The counter was also used to stop the correction charge if the dog stayed at the boundary, on the assumption that the dog was accidentally trapped there.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. I have many invisible friends. They are very nice.

Wait, what was the subject? ;-)

[Burma Jones]

15. Don't use them on your children

That's all the advice I have

[BensMom]

17. It has saved my dog

We have an invisible fence because we really love our dog, and the stinker could climb the fence like a gold medal winner.
We trained for maybe a good month. One key was to never let the dog make an exit from the fence area except in the very same location every time. We also left the warning flags up for a month or more. The flags were another signal for Dog to stay back from the area.

It's been about 2 years with the invisible fence and we have learned to always keep spare batteries. The first installation of the fence was neatly buried. What a pain when the wire broke. Now we just have the wire above ground and secured with mulch every so often.

Dog has a path along the perimeter of HIS yard. My flower garden is all MINE. I do not worry about the dog getting out.

[jberryhill]

18. OMG, Deer, Have I got a story for you

I used to do patent work for IFCO and years ago I was called out to discuss a product improvement they were working on.

They started by telling me that they wanted to have a product that farmers could use around entire fields and orchards to keep deer out. This raised a number of problems because the existing units couldn't handle a perimeter that large, and they had to solve these problems in a number of ways.

After going through the technical details for about two and a half hours with the engineers, I understood exactly how the system enhancements worked. But I was still puzzled.

"Okay, I get everything you are saying, but there's, I think, a pretty basic point that I just don't understand."

"What's that?"

"Farmers want this for deer control?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, but... How do you get the collars on all those deer?"

The engineers looked at each other, looked back at me, and then the room erupted in laughter. They were pounding the table, slapping each other, turning red faced, and just howling while I sat there dumbfounded, saying, "What? I mean, it seems like a tough thing to do."

When one of them could catch his breath enough to speak, he leaned over, put his hand on my shoulder, and with tears streaming out of his eyes, said...

"You don't put the collars on the deer."

"Then how do you keep the deer out?"

And then there was another round of laughter. One of the guys couldn't handle it, and had to leave the room doubled over in pain.

"You put the collar on a dog. The dog keeps the deer out. The fence keeps the dog in."

And one of the other engineers said, "John, are you sure you understand how these things work?"

So, bottom line. From one of the most embarassing moments of my professional life, I can assure you that your dog can probably be trained not to cross the line, even if there are deer on the other side, unless your dog is unusually determined.

Here's the patent I wrote:

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5870973-description.html

A desirable application for electronic animal control systems is to confine dogs or other carnivores within an agricultural area, such as a farm or orchard, for the purpose of discouraging rodents, deer, or other herbivores from consuming crops in the area. Such agricultural areas tend to be larger than residential areas, and hence require longer boundary antennae. For example, a typical residential installation may require a boundary wire antenna of a few hundred meters, while an agricultural installation may require several kilometers of wire.

[merh]

20. I had one

and I used to help train dogs when my friend installed the fencing.

It works so well that eventually you won't need the collars. Word of advice, DO NOT HOLD THE COLLAR when approaching the fence.

:eek:

[mentalsolstice]

21. It has been wonderful for us!

We have a yellow lab that was bolting out into the street to chase cars and smaller dogs and cats (our neighbors' pets). We live in a historic home in a nationally registered historic district, so we didn't want to put up an ugly fence. We put up an "invisible fence", and got a lot of criticism that it was cruel, from certain "friends".

In the three years we had it, we've only seen her get shocked once (when we first out it up). She has 1/4+ acre to run around, and she knows she can't go past a certain point.

When she gets tired of her limitations, she comes in and spoons with me on a rainy afternoon.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

22. I knew someone who had one- and a pair of GENIUS dogs.

Those dogs sussed that fence out, and came up with the following solution- they knew where the line was, so they'd lie down close to it and creep forward until their collars would begin to trickle the juice into them. Then they stopped, willing to tolerate the mild jolt until the batteries in their collars simply ran down and died. Then they slowly crept forward again to test it, and when they knew they wouldn't get shocked they simply crossed it and went on their merry way.

Yes, this is a true story. Happened in Nashville.

[DemReadingDU]

23. Curious, how long does it take for the batteries to run down?