Electric fence under ground

[Charlie De Gregorio]

Has anyone used the under ground electric fence?  If so what is the best one on the market and what are the Pro's and Con's about them?

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

My doggie trainer had one, due to home owner property restrictions, and her dog ran through it to chase a deer, was hit by a car and lived his life with three legs. For some dogs being shocked causes them to fear even going out into the yard! (according to Virginia Stillwell on Animal Planet). Twenty years ago when I had a standard poodle, the installer came out, met the dog and told me that she was so fast that she would soon learn she could run through the signal. He did not recommend one for us. My neighbors Lab's would just walk through theirs, after they learned it wouldn't kill them. I don't have one so I am only dealing in rumors. Perhaps an installer could give you the pros and cons of one for your specific dogs. Good luck with this.

[Sharon & Monty]

Several years ago a friend gave me a setup for free. After watching my goldens' reaction to the shock collar, I immediately took it off and put the box of stuff in the basement. It may or may not keep your dog in your yard, but it does not keep anything or anyone out of your yard. Personally, I'm more in favor of real fences.

[Gina and Finn]

I know that people have strong feelings about these fences. We have one due to the covenants regarding fencing in our neighborhood and it has been a good thing. Finn is somewhat timid and very compliant so he might not be the best example. We went with the Invisible Fence company and the training is a key issue. I found the trainer to be really good . The "shock" is disabled for the initial few weeks and a sound emits when too close to the fence. We spent a few weeks-every day,several times a day and incorporating it with both play time and nonplay time- approaching the perimeter and traing Finn to runn back to the centre of the yard when he heard the sound ( not to the door/house as you don't want him afraid to be in the yard).It was also a pain to have to drive him down the driveway to go for a walk so he wouldn't get confused about crossing the line. You can control the strength of the shock and at the end of the training period the trainer came back to check on us ( also took calls whenever and offered to come by if I wanted ) They put the shock on low and took him to the line one time.Was very hard for me but I did feel it first and knew it would surprise him but not at all hurt him. It has been great. He doesn't go past his boundaries and can run freely on our property. We don't need to put the collar on him anymore.In a perfect world I would have a physical fence but we couldn't and they are also very expensive. This has worked well for us but I believe he has a compliant personality and the training is really critical to it's success. If he was constantly being zapped I think it would be neither effective nor humane. Hope that helps...

[Ann Kendig]

We have an underground electric fence too. It was already installed when I moved here. Would I trust an electric fence 100 percent....heck no!!! I am always outside with my dogs and even though they have been trained properly sometimes they are running so fast and playing so hard that now and them one of them ends up on the other side and gets shocked.
We also have deer that enter the yard and lots of cats. My Sheba doesn't chase our cats much but she will chase a cat that belongs to one of the neighbors. Some dogs will honor the fence, some won't, just depends on the dog. We are hoping to move within the next year...we will definitely have a 4-5 foot fence, no doubt!!!

[Susan, Coby & Chloe]

We had Invisible Fencing installed around the perimeter of our property as well as in the dining room (Casey, as Lab was a chewer by nature and I didn't want her destroying the furniture or rug in there, not to mention begging for food while we had company nor running through to get to the front hall from the kitchen) of our home in NJ shortly after getting that puppy in '95. It functioned well the remaining 11 years we lived there. The installer provided initial training which we only needed to reinforce briefly with Casey who caught on quickly as to her boundaries. I tried the shock myself (admittedly more than once by accident!) and while I certainly felt it, it wasn't terrible, so I don't believe the dog was injured in any way by the effect.

That said, there were times she ran outside the perimeters, esp. when the battery was running low. Even though we had a sign on our property that the dog was contained by the electric fence, passers by sometimes reacted in fright when this 85 lb. dog was running along the grass and barking at them while they passed - one jogger would consistently run up near my driveway but as soon as he saw Casey he'd abruptly change direction!

There were also times there were deer in our yard, as others have noted. People asked us how other animals got through the fence or why it didn't shock people walking past....they didn't realize it's the collar around the dog's neck that delivered the shocks. Duh....

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

There have been many previous conversations on here re invisible fencing. There are people in favor, and those completely opposed. I have personally been on both sides of the Fence (lol). When we got our girls we had "Invisible Fence" brand fencing installed to the tune of about $1200. My girls quickly learned the perimeter and were good about staying in the yard. However, they were never really tested with a squirrel or cat or anything like that. The problems that I encountered were that it did not keep other dogs out of our yard. We had a small wiener dog move in next door and I could just see him coming over and one of my 60 pounders jumping on his back. I had never seen a stray dog in the neighborhood until after I installed the fencing. My dogs were puppies at the time and I panicked when I saw the stray coming and had trouble getting my girls inside (their recall was somewhat selective at the time). So, we opted to bite the bullet and install regular fencing ..... WANNA BUY AN INVISIBLE FENCE SYSTEM?

[Robyn, Greg and Snickers]

We have one due to neighborhood restrictions on fences. 

Snickers learned really fast. I never leave him
completely unattended however we will be in the house while henis in the backyard. 

We have it set up so he henis restricted from going from the back to the front so we know which side he is on. 

We and many of our neighbors use Dogwatch not sure if they are only local. 

The installation comes with training and reinforcement training if necessary. I held the collar and walked through the fence and while not pleasant it was not that bad. 

Now he rarely gets shocked if he gets to close to the perimeter the beeping warns him and he backs off. 

Overall we have been really pleased. Sorry for any typos it is hard to respond on the mobile version. 

[Robyn, Greg and Snickers]

Also regarding crossing the line for the walk we lay down a small throw rug and he crosses if the rug is not there the "magic" door to the
Outside of the perimeter is closed. I was skeptical at first but it actually works!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

We have Innotek UltraSmart which DH installed and we trained Haley ourselves. We have about two acres under the fence and love it. Haley is never left alone in the yard for more than a few minutes during which he is usually at the back door waiting for us to come back out.

During training the support at Innotek suggested the strongest correction due to his speed running. Haley did run through the fence one time trying to chase a truck just after training and got the strongest correction. Now he WILL NOT GO NEAR THE BOUNDRY where the beep warning occurs.

We have not had a test with deer in the year and a half we have used the fence but he is not outside during the time of day that deer are usually stirring. (Our house sits in the middle of serveral hundred acres of crop land but deer do occasionally pass through the yard.)

We do have the battery back up (lots of power outages out here in the country) and the lightening protection. Having to put him in the car to cross the fence for walks is a little bit of a hassel but it's worth it.

If either DH or I even look at the collar Haley gets real excited. He knows the collar means he gets to go outside to play. If he thinks it is time for "outside" he will go over to the collar and look at it then look at one of us. We call it "fun collar" and just mentioning it gets Haley excited.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I don't know if you have had to use Innotek's customer service at all but we have a few times and they were awesome! Incredibly helpful.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Yes. The first year I called them alot. Always very helpful. A few weeks ago I called because the "box" was makeing a noise and I didn't know what it was. It turned out one of the switches had accidently been moved. Thanks to the support I received from Innotek Haley and I were able to go about our afternoon outside. Otherwise I would have had to wait for DH to get home and figure out the problem.

[Charlie De Gregorio]

I love this DoodlesKisses site. Thanks for all the good infomation on all of my question that I have asked in the last few weeks. Being new to the doodles it is nice to know there are great people out there ready to help in any way. I am sorry if I have asked question that where posted in the past but remember I am new and soon I could be answering some of these question. Thanks again!!!