Pet - Electric fence
 

I was wondering if anyone has installed any type of electric fence to keep thier dogs on thier property, but allow for them o go on the dock and or the water.

If we put up an electric fence, it has to "circle the property. This would stop them from enjoying the water and dock.

Is it possible to put an electric fence line under the sand and water? I think this would short out the system.

If we get the wireless system , that will allow the puppies to wander onto the neighbors. We also have a cottage we rent out on our land, so the wireless would laso allow them to wander towards our tenanats.

We have a electric fence at home in Ct and works great.

Thoughts - suggestions.

We are not on the water but we do have the fence making a big loop around the house. Somehow the wire coming out of the garage which hooks into the loop does NOT trigger a beep or correction. I'm not sure how they do it but you can do it. Ours is made by Petstop and we are happy with it. We have 3 dogs and our Golden is testing it a bit lately but I need to do some training.

we bought ours years back from Home Depot and I installed the wire myself. It worked for a few months then stopped working (most likely an underground wirebreak). We had a pro come out and re run the wire (he said professional grade wiring holds up much better than what the consumer gets).

Anyhow the wire is sheathed so having it in sand (even wet sand) should not be an issue. The wire goes less than a foot under the ground so it may become exposed from sand moving or people digging/playing is sand.

As for allowing access to water...there is a technique of twisting the wire that will cancel the signal sent to the collar. A pro can help you with this (trust me you don't want to be digging a trench around your property for wire when they use a machine and finish in very short time). Watch it, if you aren't careful, the pro may cut the asphalt on your driveway to drop wire if you don't specifically say "no".

Ours worked great but you don't just turn it on and forget it. Good training so the dogs know when to turn back and what is "safe" is important. Once they learn the boundary, they will stop testing it and eventually the system isn't even used (as was our case) to keep your dog in the yard...they remember.

Canine Fence
 

Canine Fence installed mine on the island and it makes a complete loop around my property and even into the water right around my swim raft. Been there for 3 years now without an issue.

Good luck!

Dan

I have seen the dog fences run into the water before. Didn't know what it was at first ( my cousin was renting the house). Later that week I talked to the owner and they explained it goes around the house and out past the dock.

These systems send a wireless signal through the wire like an antenna not electricity so no danger of shock

Then what's the wire for?

Radio
 

It sends a radio signal...

Dan

It's the antenna. The signal extends in a circle from the wire, that activates the electronics in the dog collar. The most common setup is the collar beeps first then shocks the dog ( or human if he's holding the collar). It can be buried or hung above ground.

A friend has most of her 9 acre horse farm wired to keep the dogs in, most of it runs about a foot above the ground on the fence that circles the property. This prevents the diggers and fence jumpers. It's almost a mile of wire, I know because I had to rewire the whole fence line after the 2008 ice storm..

Dad sold, how come you had to rewire the whole thing? Wouldn't a few splices of been easier?

Good question, it had been patched and patched over a number of years. Really it was me being nice and saying I would do it before I had any idea how hard it would be. I found a thicker gauge wire, but the still breaks between. humans, trees and horses .

Garden Hose
 

We put the electric fence wire through a garden hose and placed it around our dock anchoring it in spots with garden stakes. It works great - even through the ice.

Great hints on running the dog fence through the water!
 

Thanks "Dad Sold" and "Winni P". That is great input. When I asked the Canine Fence guy, he told me the wire has to be in an uninterrupted loop, so it would be "tough luck" for having the dog go out onto the dock or in the water.

We improvised, and took some of the training flags we had from our place in CT, and just placed them around the yard and voila, she fell for it!

MM

We use the wireless and love it! You can move it anywhere you want then you can set the distance by turning up or down. At our last house I built a box for it to get the best distance I wanted out of it.

What cats think of electric fences...

Sounds like the guy you talked to needs some more training. He is correct that the loop needs to be uninterrupted. But you can configure it so water access is still available. I did mine myself a few years ago and it's still working fine.

It requires more wire (effectively double the amount) but the pro-grade wire can be purchased in spools relatively inexpensively. You run the loop in the shape of a large, wide, "U", with the sides and bottom of the U consisting of wires separated by about 3 feet. Another way to visualize it is by thinking of one of those long balloons they use to make balloon animals. Shape it like a U and imagine the wire loop running along the outside edges of the balloon.

I ran the top edges of the U into the water about 10' on each side. This keeps our dog on our lot but she can still jump in the water or come out on the dock any time she wants to do so.

The only downside we've discovered is when, on occasion, she has swum out far enough to get outside the boundaries of the U. But this has only been an infrequent occurrence , and usually only if one of us is in the water and she wants to join us.

We had a Dogwatch system that was done in semicircle. It started at the waters edge on one end of the property, went far out behind the house and looped back on the other side at the boundary back to the lakes edge. The dogs had unrestricted access to the dock and lake. We would have to keep an eye on the dogs occasionally to make sure they did not swim off after ducks because they could swim out and around the perimeter but never really had a problem.

If you do decide to get the wired electric fence, I would suggest doing it yourself. To have one professionally installed can cost big $$. I have over an acre, and did mine myself. I rented a machine from Taylor Rental that makes laying the wire real easy. It basically cuts a slit, and lays the wire down in there. I did have to cut into the driveway, but I bought a diamond asphalt cutting blade at Home Depot for $10 and did it. As someone said upthread, if you need to run a wire across an area where you will let the dogs go, just criss-cross the wire and it cancels itself. I paid about $150 for the Pet Safe kit, bought extra wire for about $30 for the spool. And the machine rental was less than $50 for a half day rental.
Make sure you plan ahead. Make a diagram of your house/yard, plan where you are going to plug in the receiver. Once you do that you can measure the distance around the area you want to cover so you make sure you get enough wire.

Thanks everyone
 

Some great ideas and solutions. We will be exploring all of them.

Sadly, Taco passed yesterday.

Just be careful of the electric fences. I know a few people whose dogs have escaped through their boundary fence after years of not doing so and getting killed. I would never trust them 100%.

Sorry to hear about Taco!

NHboat61, I'm sorry to hear of Taco's passing

I would second this. They are actually very simple to set up. One more point I would add. If you are running the wire(s) through wooded areas where there is little to no foot traffic, there is no need to bury the wire. Just place it on the ground and after 1 or 2 Autumns, the leaf fall will bury it for you.

PS: Sorry to hear about Taco

Invisible Fence
 

My installer put the wire in 3/4" garden hose around the dock area to complete the circuit. Works fine, but you have to remember to turn off the system when you take the dog out in the boat!

Watch it, if you aren't careful, the pro may cut the asphalt on your driveway to drop wire if you don't specifically say "no".


I'm not sure I understand this. I have an electric fence in Mass and it does go across the driveway. If you don't the dog will just walk out. The (small) cut was filled and never been an issue you don't even know it was done. The system is about 10 years old now. Do have to remember to take the collar off though if your dog goes in the car with you........oops........:eek:

We are on an island, and bought a petsafe one and installed it ourselves. We bought a large spool of heavier duty wire, and basically other than the paths we use (where we buried it) we laid it down and let the leaves etc cover it up. It goes out past the dock - it is deep where it is, and doesn't seem to bother the dogs any when we pull up.
Our only issue, since we did not bury it, is it has gotten blasted by lightening!

Did you install the recommended grounding rod?

I had problems with the wired dog fence and went with a wireless one at my primary house and love it. When it’s time to go to the lake we just take the unit with us and plug it in. You can place the transmitter anywhere you wish and adjust the radius of coverage from that point. Other benefits include knowing how far from the transmitter the dog is and that if the dog does run out of the fence coverage area they can get back in without being corrected.

What brand of wireless
 

fence do you have, Cowman? It sounds like it would be the perfect set-up for the lake. Thanks

The brand of wireless we have is Petsafe. It works really good. Just got the puppy using it this week. http://www.petco.com/product/6533/Pe...tsafeBrandShop

We picked up the wireless system as well. Easy to install and is portable. Which is good 'cause we just bought a condo in CT and we can use it there as well.

Not sure if they really work
 

My ex neighbor on the lake almost had his arm chewed of when a pit bull charged another neighbor's electric fence. It didn't work. The police had to get a court order for a 8 ft high fence to retain the dog as the dog owner refused to use to use anything but the electric fence.

If the pitbull didn't have a collar for that fence he won't get zapped.Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

Collar
 

The pitbull had a collar. Not sure how they work but the collar aggravated the pitbull and made the dog worst!

That collar usually aggravates me also. I try not wear it at the lake.:laugh:

The collars come with a sensitivity setting, it can be "turned up" if the dog keeps crossing. Although some may no matter what a well trained dog in the systems use typically shouldn't cross. I wouldn't exactly tease a pissed Pit Bull on the other side of it but just sayin...:rolleye1:

Has anyone tried the GPS based containment system by Invisible Fence? We just bought a home with 12 acres and would like the dogs to have a large area to roam. It would cost a fortune to wire off a field, but the gps based system they offer is all based on mapping.

Looks interesting, just not sure if it is more gimmick than anything.

Sorry, don't know about the GPS system, but I'm curious about the comment above.

I had a 6 acre lot prior to moving to the lakes full time. You can buy 14 gauge wire in spools that would more than cover the perimeter of your lot for less than $75. I ran 1600' of wire and the standard pet fence, wired system worked fine for us.

The expense you reference may be for others to install/bury. But in my experience, you only need to bury the cable in key locations. If most of it will be in non-traveled/forested areas, just place it on the ground and 2 seasons of leaf fall will bury it.

Wireless... way to go
 

Great thread, so we went for the wireless, picked up a unit at Walmart in Rochester. What a store !

Anyway, just plugged it in to the garage and then just adjusted the range and intensity in about 10 minutes. Kit comes with 1 collar, so we had to get a second collar(that was pricey).

The only thing is that due to the range circle, to get the dogs the maximum yard usage on one side of the house, it restricts them from going on the dock :(

I like the unit as it gives off a very loud noise about 5' from the area where is "zaps" Dixie just loves it as she hates to be tied up and now can tan herself just about anywhere on the property.

Unplugged the unit and brought back to Connecticut and set it up and adjusted the range in about 5 minutes. Jotted down the numbers so we dont forget and we are all set.

It seems the one big advantage to wireless is having "no run through". A wired system only shocks near the wire while wireless keeps shocking outside the set radius.

This is a very valid point. I have a husky that would run right through the wired fence b/c he knew that once he got past the shock zone he would be good to go. Now he uses the dog run.

What is nice, is that the sound continues and gets a buzz every 15 seconds after he escapes...so not to harm the dog. The one problem is that if you a a low spot on your property or something large ( metal) in side the range, the signal breaks up and they can get out.

Sorry to read that your dog passed away. ƸӜƷ

Wireless System - 2 dogs
 

I've enjoyed reading this discussion thread. We recently purchased a wireless system for 2 dogs. One is a golden retriever, the other a 45 lb. alpha female mix breed. The golden immediately picked up on the flags and is very skiddish to come even close to them, while the other could care less about the flags despite being zapped a couple of times. We're not sure how best to train them. Also, we'd love the golden to go in the water (with permission) and not sure how to allow that with this system. The other one hates the water. Your advice is appreciated. Thank you.