To invisible fence or not, that is the question?

Carla, do you own your house or are you renting?  Do you plan on staying there for awhile?

We own, but we don't plan on staying there for too long, probably another 2-3 years.

I honestly don't like the invisible fences...a dog with ANY prey drive will go right through one....and maybe NOT want to come back and be zappped again.  If it were me, I'd go with a picket fence.

 but I was informed that it is illegal for us to have her off leash at all if our yard is not "confined". 

 
Sorry to be sort of off topic, but I'm really glad you mentioned that.  I recently had an issue.  Thanks. 
 
As for invisible fences, personally I really like them but some of the dogs I sit for don't respect the boundary and go right thru it. 

We have a chain link fence and it's great. Maybe a wood (privacy) fence along the border
between your house and curmudgen. If she can't see him......
Our dog is  a 53lb lab/pit mix and there's no way she could jump this fence.

Pam

We own, but we don't plan on staying there for too long, probably another 2-3 years.

 
If it were me, I'd fence the whole yard with a regular fence, if you can swing it.  I know that you probably don't want to put that kind of investment into a house that you don't plan on keeping for long.  But that's 2-3 years of piece of mind and peace with the neighbor.  Plus, having a fence is a good selling point when you get ready to put your house on the market. 

Lori has a point. I also do like the fence thing and if you do not have a barrier around the property like a chainlink fence, they will bust throught the barrier and as Glenda pointed out very rarely will the want to come back through it to be shocked again.
Minimom and Pam both have a wonderful idea and is a great selling point to the home when you do go to sell.

Invisible fences do nothing to protect your dog from outside (your yard) ests in the form of animals or people.  They do nothing to prevent access to your yard.  I really like my cedar four foot fence.  I have also had chain link.  Aestically the wood is more pleasing but requires periodic restaining.

I have to go along with the solid fence idea.  It will add value to your property when it's time to sell - and like mrv pointed out, even if your dog respects the boundaries it won't keep other animals or people out. You could have kids in the neighborhood (or stupid adults) who will make it a point to torment your dog once they realize she can't come after them.

Joyce & Max

I have a PetSafe Radio wireless fence.  I love it.  If the dogs venture out of the radio circle, they get continuously zapped for 30 seconds or until they come back into the circle.  You can control the level of zap to 6 levels (vibrate to pretty beefy).  After a while, all they need is to hear the reminder beep to back off.  I have two very high prey level dogs.  A field bred English Setter and a Field bred English Pointer.  The circle is adjustable up to 180' in diameter.  It is also portable!  You can ever put your transmitter in the car during a picnic (there is an adapter).  We also use it at our cabin. []

The cons are that it is true that the electric fence is not a barrier for outsiders and this wireless fence can not be contoured to fit around your yard perfectly.[8|] 

The pros are that there is no "in" and "out" zap, just the correction for not being inside the transmitters circle - once they step back into the circle, the zap quits.[8D]

My pointer is a fence escape artist and I think it would take a tall chain link fence to contain her.  This one they both completely respect and it gives them a lot of freedom..  We love it![]

what does DH mean?  ive never seen it anywhere except on this forum and its used a lot here.

i always thought it meant "designated hitter" [8D]

but that doesnt seem to be the case here, not sure myself what it refers to []

what does DH mean?

 
The H stands for husband, the D usually stands for Dear or Darling...although depending on the poster's mood, it could probably stand for other words.

I have to add my 2 cents here -- I dislike invisible fences intensely. (and they are outrageously expensive for a 2-3 year 'investment') and DON'T forget the huge training thing you have to keep up on an ongoing basis.
 
I fostered a dog who had been reared with an invisible fence.
 
The barrier is only going to hold if the dog's fear of the barrier is greater than the dog's desire for whatever is on the other side of the barrier.  That sounds cruel, but it's true.  That why there are so many 'levels' (and try it on your own neck and see how YOU would like it). 
 
Tucker would see a squirrel or kid or whatever he wanted to chase and simply zap himself silly running thru the fence.  I suspect the owners never took the time to do a thorough job of conditioning, or they may have simply 'trained' him to avoid one thing (i.e., you can't just do this for ONE neighbor -- when it may be the squirrel across the street that taunts your dog that trips the dog's trigger *enough* to break the conditioning).
 
But once across the barrier, Tucker (who wasn't the brightest light in the box anyway) wasn't THAT dumb ... he sure wasn't about to go back thru the barrier for a prolonged shock again, only to get scolded for breaking the barrier!
 
And remember -- no dog is going to stop mid-barrier and think 'gee, I bet if I back up this will stop hurting!!' because their mind is on whatever caused them to break the conditioning in the first place!
 
So once 'out' Tucker would roam the neighborhood.  Several neighborhood kids with parents who complained about the 'darned dog' decided to use Tucker as target practice for their BB guns (dog was in the wrong ... right??? they thot *sigh*)
 
The second time Tucker came home with a face full of 'shot' they dropped him off at our rescue saying he was incorrigible. 
 
What we wound up with was a dog with a scarred face who was unbelievably gun-shy and who took my hsuband and I about 6 months to re-train.
 
Certain breeds (ones with strong prey drives) typically never do well with an electric fence. 
 
I've seen dogs with burns on their necks -- the collar gets worn or frayed and gets wet and it makes a nasty burn on the neck.  And rain makes it downright dangerous. 
 
Sorry -- I've no good experiences and a ton of bad ones.  And like I said -- I've picked up the rescue pieces on this one too many times.
 
And frankly?  The curmudgeon neighbor will likely not be above taunting the dog to see if he CAN get him to break conditioning just because the man can't SEE the fence, so in his mind the 'border' will never be exactly where the fence is, and it will always be him who complains when your dog never DID leave.  A visible 'real' fence will cure that problem in a heartbeat. (well, or as long as it takes to build the danged fence)