Invisibal Fences- shock!

I don't think we'd get one, but our neighbors have one for their tiny Yorkie and for them it's worked really well. She definitely knows her boundaries (they had a trainer work with her when they got it installed,) and since they don't ever leave her outside alone (they are very responsible and take great care of her,) there's less danger of, say, a random stray wandering in their yard and attacking her or something.

Also, in our area certain dogs (of a certain size or larger,) are not allowed to live in an unfenced (as in, real, actual physical fence) yard, both for the dog's safety, the safety of others, and because a lot of non-dog people are more likely to freak out if they see an unfenced, say, full grown Malamute, than they are if they see a little Yorkie unfenced! []

where i ride,there are two yards with these fences...both dogs run like a bat out of hell to get out to us as we go by,but pull up short every time and stop at the edge of the lawn and watch us pass...i dont think i could ever get my husky trained on one,but glad they are available for dogs who dont naturally want to run..

IMO, they are useless! I can't tell you how many dogs we get that have collars on that just ran right through.

Plus, they can have negative consequences. I read in Whole Dog Journal in their article about shock collars about one young Golden who was kept in a yard (mostly neglected) with a invisible fence and he would run to passing by joggers only to get shocked. He then associated the shock with the joggers and one day, the battery was low and he ran through the fence and attacked one of the joggers. Very sad. He was able to be saved though.

I suppose it may be okay to use with supervision, but I would not leave a dog (esp. a large one) in a yard unattended.

For some dogs, the reward of getting the squirrel or bunny or other dog or whatever is worth the shock.

Your dog may be able to be trained to stay in, but it doesn't stop other dogs from coming into your yard

It's not something I would use on my dog, just curious about them.

Right now, I'm not interested in them at all.  My foster child had one in her former home.  Sure she didn't get out of the yard but she developed this love of being shocked.  She would go to the boundary line stay there get shocked & bark her silly head off.  Not to mention that she's lost hair on her throat where the contacts were & was developing a hot spot or 2 from the contacts.  Not good.

I think that they aren't good for every dog.  Especially soft dogs who are easily frightened.  My breeder had one on her property and Scouts parents were trained on it. She thought it worked fine for them which it did. It kept the dogs inside the boundries.  However, she had a pet communicator come to evaluate her dogs.  The communicator said that the dogs are frightened of something on the edge of the property.  But they don't know what it is.  Now, I'm not saying I believe in pet communication, but it does kind of make you look at it from a different perspective.  Imagine getting punched in the face and not being able to see what it is.  That its something lurking on the edge of your property waiting to get you.  Not all dogs might be scared of this, but some softer dogs definitely could. 
 
I have heard of one dog who was frightened to even leave the house because of the invisible fence.  In my opinion they're not right for every dog. 

I had considered getting one a while back until the incident that happened across the street from me.  Our neighbors have two of the cutest beagles and they have an invisible fence.  One of them, Hunter, was constantly escaping the fence and wandering around the neighborhood and we would usually find him and return him.  Now, we don't live more than 2 streets up from a busy road where the cars are traveling at about 40+ mph.  One day he got out and my fiance spotted him just as he was headed down toward this street and was unfortunately hit by a car.  He was ok, but did have a broken leg.  The woman who hit him was crying and felt so bad about it.

The reason this dog was able to escape so much was because of the doggy door he had constant access to and not constantly wearing the collar.  There have also been instances where he would escape with the collar on.  I'm not sure what has changed, maybe the fact that they got a second dog so he is occupied or maybe the accident freaked hiom out, but he doesn't escape anymore.

That pretty much made up my mind about getting one for my dogs.  I would just be too worried about them escaping and making their way down to that road.

I am not a big fan of them either.  A lot depends on your dog and his/her drive level.  I had one for a brief time when I had my dal and he learned pretty quick he could run through it and the shock would stop.  I would see him walk up to the fence, take a few steps back, then run hell bent for leather through it.  [8|]  Our lab was much better, she never tested the boundries.  There is also the factor of not being able to control who/what comes into your yard.  I prefer a nice tall privacy fence. []

All invisable fences require training.  It's not something you can just put in the yard and let the dog out.  You have to train the dog where the boundries are.

I used to work for a pet supplies store that sold them.  I can tell you that the underwire fences work great. If you need an extra boundy, you can set up 2 sets of wire boundries with one 3 feet away from the other.  And if you put the wire through a hose, it can go under water.  I can also tell you that the satalite fence does not work.  That's the one without wires.  It will go off - meaning shock you dog - if there is a satelite disruction (police, powerful cell phone, even microwaves).  I've heard that people out in the boonies have had luck with the satelite invisable fence, but I never recommend it to anyone in an urban area.

Now the store owner that I used to work for went to a seminar on the invisable fence system and he had the experience of being shocked by it.  He said it is nothing more than static shock.  But you still cannot use invisable fences for dogs under 8lbs.

Another bonus to the invisable fences is that they are alot cheaper than putting up a real fence.  DH and I are looking in to putting up a fence - at least $600 for our size yard.  The under wire invisable fence is $300.

I have two dogs trained to our underground invisble fence and it works beautifully for us. I have shocked myself with the collar and it is not that bad. I don't think of it as a fence because it doesn't offer the same protection. They are never out in the yard without someone home and it they start to bark we check on them immediately. It doesn't stop other dogs, deer, foxes, or kids from comming into the yard. It is only in the back yard so they can't run up close and bark at people and animals on the street and sidewalk. One dog has not escape for over four years and the puppy only escaped once three months ago when he was first being trained. They are trained that is only safe to leave the yard when they have a leash on and we go through a special routine. They back up when ever they hear the warning tone. They love being in the yard and running and playing. They chase rabbits right up to the boundary and stop. Our neighboors are happy because they didn't want us to fence our yard and we are happy because the dogs can run and play off leash in the back yard.

we and most of our neighbors have the underground wire systems. They work incredibly well, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to train the dogs. Our dogs stay in whether or not they are wearing their collars. They sure don't act traumatized, and one of them is about as "soft" as dogs come.

A woman who lives a few roads over from me has her 2 dogs in a isivable fence. Chewy, and Dakota, a Mastif and a golden/ mastif mix. They get out ALL the time. I'm always finding them in the yard, and have to walk them back to her house. They're so big they probably don't even feel it. I use a remote trainer for Bailey, but I've never used a invisable fence, hes never outside alone so I don't think theres any need to. I think its mostly if they're trained right, they can learn the boundries fine, but if they get confused in the training it doesn't know what the shock means, and will just become fearfull.

Jackie is right ... even if you can train your dog to stay in, it doesn't keep other dogs out.  And if there are kids in the neighborhood who enjoy tormenting dogs (doesn't every neighborhood have a few of those?) they will most definitely take advantage of the fact that they can get to the dog but the dog can't retaliate.

Joyce