Petsafe Wireless Containment System - Training Advice Needed

[Stella]

As we recently moved to the country, our land is not fenced.  We decided that we needed some kind of containment system for the dogs.  We regularly go out and play fetch with them with no problems.  But, if we are outside puttering around they can sometimes get distracted and wander off!!  As we have a lot of wildlife on our property - deer, coyote etc we don't want them to wander too far.  I should add that they would never be outside without one of us with them.

 

A couple of people I work with recommended the Petsfe Wireless System.  They use the system with good success.  Rather than following the training advice from Petsafe, they put the correction collar on, sent the dog outside and just let him out to work it out for himself.  We purchased the system and began training over the weekend.  I tried to follow the advice in the manual, but we didn't have much success.  Our one dog was struck by such blind panic that he did not make the connection between the audible tone and the correction at all, and then would not leave my side to even try and learn.  Our other dog seemed to be beginning to understand, but as I had them on a leash for the training, he connected the correction with me, and then wouldn't come near me for a while after we abandoned the training and went to play.

 

Has anyone else used this system?  How did you train your dog to make the connection between hearing the tone and the correction, and that they need to turn around and move in the opposite direction and not keep going into/ through the signal?  Did you use any verbal commands to help? 

 

Any advice would be gratefully received!!  By the end of the session with each dog I was feeling quite fraught!!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We originally got invisible fence and it was the same type thing. We were taught to train them by walking the perimeter on leash (which was marked with white flags for the first couple months) and as they neared the flags we would hear a beep and we were to yell "back" and pull the leash and run back towards the house. Once they were off leash in the yard if we saw them getting near the fence we would yell "back" and they would always move away. Does the tone have an adjustment level? You have to remember that tones/noise to dogs is much louder than to human .... could be it needs turned down.

[Stella]

This system is made by the same people as the invisible fence and I think works on the same principle - we have the flags too!! There is an electronic perimeter transmitted from a unit in the house. The training you describe is what we have been trying to do, but I am having difficulty getting them to focus on the tone and the following "static correction" rather than on me!! I turned the static correction down after the first dogs reaction - he lept four feet in the air squeeling - very stressful for me!!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

We would show Haley the flags a couple of times a day. After several days we would walk Haley (on leash) straight at a flag (like one was going to walk straight through the fence) and when the tone sounded pull him back and say "back". We would walk around the yard doing this at various flags. After a couple of days doing that we started with distractions first with one of us walking through the fence (without looking back). Then we put things he liked outside the fence to see if he would go after them ie. balls, frisbee etc. After each training session we would play with Haley for 10 to 15 minutes to reinforce that outside was fun. We did two training sessions per day.
The first mild correction did not make an impression on him but he was afraid of the receiver collar so we suspended training for a couple of days and just took him out to play. After we though he was completely trained (but still watched him all the time) he ran through the fence trying to chase a truck and did the four legged dance in the air due to the strong correction. Now he won't go near the boundry but absolutely loves the receiver collar and gets excited when we put it on him as it means going out to play and do "dog" things.
I think we probably took longer than the instructions indicated but so far nothing gets him though the fence. We can walk outside the boundry and Haley just will not follow. I hope this may help you. When they are trained to the fence it really gives you peace of mind and not have to worry about your doodle in the road or neighbor's yard.

[Stella]

Thanks so much guys for your advice. I am feeling better about beginning trianing again! I wanted to give the dogs (and me) a couple of days off and then start again with a new plan. I think I am going to turn the correction off, so they get used to hearing the tone and moving away for a couple of days while they are on leash. Once they really have got hte idea then I will turn the correction back on again. I now feel much more confidant that I can do this!!

[BG and Gavin]

So what if you want to take your dog for a walk,and you have to go through the circular boundary to get to the road? Does the dog understand that once you take the transmission collar off he can walk through the boundary on lead? Do you leave the collar on until you almost get to the boundary and then take it off and leave it before the line to take him out? I am curious as I am considering the same system as Stella.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have a neighbor who has an invisible fence. Her dog refuses to leave the property except in the car. I also have cousins whose dog was okay as you suggested. He would leave the property only when someone walked him on the leash.

[Nugget's Family]

Hi.

When you begin the training process, if you plan to take the dog for a walk, you walk to the same place each time (for us it was the end of the driveway) take off the electric collar then walk out across the end of the driveway.

That said, I think our electric fence was a waste of $. We don't use it...I'm not comfortable with it. Too many neighbors of ours have had dogs go right through them to chase something. Since these dogs really don't have any fear of traffic, I have seen them run through their fence right out in front of an oncoming car. Thankfully nobody or no dog got hurt. However, Nugget and I were chased down by another neighbor's dog who went through their electric fence while we were walking by. The dog almost got a good chunk out of Nugget before I was able to intervene. My pet peeve (pardon the pun) is that owners get a false sense of security with electric fences and leave their dogs outside by themselves. If something or someone is more interesting than the shock can discourage, they've got a problem. And my BIGGEST concern is that something else can cross the border into your yard (coyotes, mean dogs, etc) to possibly harm your dog. A lot of people think electric fences are just as good at keeping dogs safe as real fences and the truth is that they are not. When Nugget is out in the yard at least one of us is with her at all times and she is on a leash or playing fetch with us under our very watchful eyes. She does respect the electric fence border while we're playing fetch, but then as soon as the game is over, she's back on leash exploring with us.

I know I'm probably in the minority on this, so you'll probably read lots of good things about electric fences, too.

[Stella]

We live in the country, so can't have a physical fence. I would never leave the dogs outside on their own - too much local wildlife!! But, I want to be able to have them outside with me when I am puttering around outside - gardening, washing the car etc. And I really would like to have them off leash when we do this. The wireless fence that bought corrects for a full 30 seconds, so I figured that the distraction would have to pretty amazing to go through the fence!! I'll let you know how it goes!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

The instructions are that in the first 30 days if you leave the property for a walk you do it in the car! We didn't do that, we would take the collar off and then carry them over the end of the driveway where the wire was. After a while, since I didn't leave the collar on all the time, they started associating that collar with getting to go outside and play. They associated their gentle leaders with getting to go for a walk. Sophie would stop at the spot in the driveway where she wasn't allowed to pass. I would run my hands around her neck and say ok and then she would be ok to cross the line. All of that being said, we no longer use our fence either!

[Diana Goodwin]

Have just bought the wireless system and plan to use it at the cottage where there are no fences. Did not have it last year when she was a puppy and spent the end of the summer running after her . Every time someone walked on the beach she decided to visit them and probably planned to go home with them if we didn't intervene. We used the buried wire type on our golden years ago and she got the idea of the boundary lines in one day. The only problem was when we took the path to the beach we had to put a leash on her and she would jump in the air like jumping a barrier before we could take her to the beach. Hope our doodle Molly is as smart as the golden, I hate to see them get shocked but cannot think of any other way to keep her safe.

[SarahJ]

I’ve been looking at wireless fences for my new dog. I’ve heard good things about the Radial-Shape wireless dog fence from Havahart Wireless. Its boundary can expand up to one and a half football fields in all directions!