Fencing Requirements of your dog.

My husband checked that out the first year we had the fence by taking a collar to the boarder and testing it and it worked fine.  Truthfully, I have no idea unless I test it that it is working anymore because the dogs never go by it and get corrected.  The fence has an alarm on it in our basement, if the line breaks the alarms sounds letting us know.  That has happen a couple time in the winter because the fence runs in the woods too and they couldn't bury it a tree branch fell on it or something and broke the line.  All three of my dogs collars are set on the softest correction but it dosen't matter becasue the never get corrected - they just keep away.  My Cathoula chased a deer this afternoon at full speed and stopped right at the bridge where the fence is.  I watched her and though to myself is she going to run through it?  It looked that way given the speed she was chasing them but.. nope she just stopped in plently of time and watch them scamper off.

We have a pond in our front yard and our fence is run in-front of it so the dogs can't go into the pond.  We originally had the fence set up to run behind the pond with a second fence in the front with an on and off switch.  We did that so in the summer the dogs could swim and in the winter we could turn on the front fence and keep them off the ice.  But we quickly realized we didn't want them to have access to the pond.  They were muddy and wet all the time and my pug was eating the snail shells.  So we hooked up the front and left it that way.  Last year I noticed that River was walking closer to the pond than usual.  The beep generally happens around 5 feet from the pond shore and he was walking around 2 feet to the shore.  Now the dog didn't realize the fence wasn't working he just wasn't getting warned and strolling very closely to the boarder.  My DH took his collar down and low and behold it wasn't working.  We took the other dogs collar down to test and it was working fine so we new it wasn't the fence.  We changed the batteries but we also just changed then but tried anyway and it still didn't work.  The fence company came and had to put a new device on because he cracked his somehow, maybe banging it while playing or something.  We are also on a service plan with canine fence and they automatically send the batteries every 3 months so we don't have to keep track of the battery life.  Although the dogs don't go by the fence anymore if we were to remove the collars then they would eventually expand their boundary, not on purpose just because they had no reminders and then eventually they would have no more boundary so you have to keep it on them as a gentle reminder.  Once in a while if the dogs are rumping by the pond playing one of them will come into the zone and hear the beep and all three of them run into the yard even though it wasn't there collar they just know to run into the yard when that beep sounds.

janet_rose

mollymoo

If you are thinking about a underground fence you really have to make sure the batteries are good at all times. I have a friend in town here that has one and they have a problem with the two dogs running around town because the batteries are always going dead.

LOL!!  Some bright dogs figure out that, if they sit close to the fence (close enough to make it beep, but not close enough to get shocked), they can run down the battery and deactivate the fence.  This is particularly true of primitive breeds whose close ancestors depended on their wits to survive.

I don't beleive that, trained properly the beep is as scary as the correction.  None of my dogs have any interest in leaving the yard I couldn't imagion any of them allowing themselves to get beeped - they avoid that beep at all costs.  My batteries could be dead for two months and my dogs wouldn't even know it. 

Freedom and fun:

luvmyswissy

janet_rose

mollymoo

If you are thinking about a underground fence you really have to make sure the batteries are good at all times. I have a friend in town here that has one and they have a problem with the two dogs running around town because the batteries are always going dead.

LOL!!  Some bright dogs figure out that, if they sit close to the fence (close enough to make it beep, but not close enough to get shocked), they can run down the battery and deactivate the fence.  This is particularly true of primitive breeds whose close ancestors depended on their wits to survive.

I don't beleive that, trained properly the beep is as scary as the correction.  None of my dogs have any interest in leaving the yard I couldn't imagion any of them allowing themselves to get beeped - they avoid that beep at all costs.  My batteries could be dead for two months and my dogs wouldn't even know it. 

DH has a friend whose dog did that. 

As far as the beep goes--one of my more unpleasant experiences with an invisible fence involved a yellow lab that lived next to the horse trail we used to ride.  I heard the beep on more than one occasion when he was trying to get at the horses.  He would not go so far as to get shocked, but he did not seem to give a hoot about the beep.

luvmyswissy

janet_rose

mollymoo

If you are thinking about a underground fence you really have to make sure the batteries are good at all times. I have a friend in town here that has one and they have a problem with the two dogs running around town because the batteries are always going dead.

LOL!!  Some bright dogs figure out that, if they sit close to the fence (close enough to make it beep, but not close enough to get shocked), they can run down the battery and deactivate the fence.  This is particularly true of primitive breeds whose close ancestors depended on their wits to survive. 

I don't beleive that.  None of my dogs have any interest in leaving the yard.  My batteries could be dead for two months and my dogs wouldn't even know it.  If trained correctly they are just as afraid of the beep than they are of the correction. 

Glad the e-fence works well for your dogs.  However, I don't see a primitive breed among your pack.  The primitive breeds are not as domesticated as other dog breeds.

Not all dogs can be trained to fully respect an e-fence!  There are dogs that will continually challenge such a fence and there are dogs whose prey drive is too high for such a fence to work well. 

Basenjis have been known to run down an e-fence battery.  They have also been known to walk on their hind legs to lessen the shock.

Basenjis are a primitive (not for the novice dog owner) breed and many Basenji owners simply resign themselves to outsmarting their dogs rather than commanding them.  A small pack of these dogs have even been known to hold off a lion for short periods.  The independence, intelligence, and cunning required to survive in the African bush make this breed unlike the more domesticated breeds. 

 It's interesting that so many people have e-fences. I believe you can get them over here, and I'm reasonably sure they are legal, but I have never seen one in use.

 Penny is quite over roaming, if she was ever into it in the first place. She doesn't really need a fence, although she will wander a bit when she's new to a place. When we moved in Canberra, she would pop out of a hole in the fence and turn up in the front yard, but never went further than that. Once I'd patched up the hole sort of, she never even tried to see if she could still get through.

Back at home, Jill could jump the 5ft, chain link fence around the backyard, but never does it unless Pyry has dug out and is taking himself for an adventure. If Pyry is out, all bets are off for Jill and she will get out. Pyry is nimble, but digging is his thing. The yard is not Pyry proof at this time, but I'm told it's getting close with all the sunken bricks in his usual escape points. My mother says she's going to get concrete put down under the fence, or bricks.

I'm currently designing an outdoor enclosure for my rabbits at the new house. I have seen Kit jump 2 metres straight up in the air when he's felt a bit pressured, and I'm nervous about predators getting into the yard, so I'm going to net a small area so there's no way anything can get in or out. I'm using a pre-stretched, tough cat netting. I'm not going to use it within rabbit reach, though, as I suspect they'll chew through it. The rest of the yard of the new house is fenced with a solid, 6ft steel fence. It's got established gardens right around, so no way under. The previous owners kept a JRT in there.

Incidentally, if you keep dingoes, the licence says you have to have a full enclosure complete with cement flooring and a roof. That's because nothing else will keep a dingo in if it decides to go. And if a dingo decides to go, you can say goodbye to every cat, rabbit, rodent, chook, sheep and goat in the neighbourhood. And possibly some small dogs if the dingo hasn't been well socialised. Should I ever do the inevitable and commit to having no small animals for a decade or so and get a basenji, I'd probably get a similar enclosure for when I'm out. I know some basenjis are okay with fences, but who's gonna take that risk?
 

Shadow is a mix of Siberian Husky and Lab, with a Sibe temperment, metabolism, and some structure. He's not pure Sibe, of course, and he would be disqualified from either breed for AKC requirements. At some points, depending on the grade of the soil, the fence is only 4 feet high, other places, it's higher. He is big enough and fast enough that he could get over the fence if he really wanted to. In a few places where he would dig, I placed cinder blocks and other items and he would leave those spots alone.

my Beagles will and have gone UNDER most fences so we use pavers along the entire perimeter. I have found the UNDER to be more critical than the OVER in our house.

Cleo is farm dog all the way. I can tell when she is older she would be trustworthy in the FRONT yard off leash once she learns the perimeters (but why would I want her off leash?). But the Beagles? nope.

I am seriously considering an e-fence. The main reason for me is that half of my yard, the nice wooded half, is deemed by the subdivision to be a "natural zone" and we aren't allowed to put anything up on it, primarily fences. By putting up a regular fence, I would be basically chopping off half my yard because I'd have to stop at the natural zone instead of going all the way back. I think my dogs would be good candidates for it, they have low prey drives and are not stubborn and generally do not test the rules.

My shelties are easy to contain in general. They would be fine with a four foot fence and are easily contained by a three foot baby gate indoors. The BC is trickier. I've seen him try to jump the fence at the park. It's 8 feet, but he got pretty close to the top. He also paces the boundry of the fence (chain link) like someone else said, looking for an opening. He found one once too, he squeezed through a tiny gap, I couldn't believe he even fit. Fortunately DH remained calm and walked outside the fence, sat down on a rock, and calmly called him over. He came right away.

I am sure there are some people who can't contain their dogs with a efence.  But by me becasue we are very rural and the most fence you see is horse paddock they are very pupular and everyone I know has good luck with them.  The couple of stories I have heard on the internet were clearly training related no training, fast training.  As far as primitive breeds you talk about I imiagion that there are many things that are hard to train.  I'm not trying to sell them, I am just telling of my expierence with each dog I get, big or small they are all trained on it and they are all safe with it.

 I agree with you luvmyswissy because of the no fence restriction in our neighborhood there are tons of people that have e-fences with various breeds/mixes.  I don't know of any that escape regularly or at all.  The key is really the training the VAST majority of dogs that are unreliable with e-fence is going to be due to the trainer.  I have spoken to people that essentially get a week's training from the company that puts the fence in and then that is it.  Even with that most are extremely successful.  We spent a lot of time training Bugsy with it and as stated before he is very FAR from the ideal candidate yet as you described your Catahoula he will chase something and put on comical brakes.

He wasn't overly responsive to the sound at first and I added a 'listen' command - I would think that gun dogs are generally going to be less responsive to the sound than a sound sensitive dog.

Another advantage as others have said is that he is a large dog who loves to run and roam so I wanted him to have as much of our acre as possible.  

I will never say it is the right decision for all dogs or all situations but for us it was our only hope and training worked 100%.  Our life would be miserable if we couldn't let him out to do whatever it is he does for several hours a day  

Ron, you are a very lucky guy........my dogs would clear that from a standstill.......I see it all the time how easily they get in the back of an Excursion......no effort there at all....

Shadow has never attempted to jump that fence?

 I would imagine that if I had an acre or more to fence in,  the Efence might work, even with Crusher.  As it is, I have a fairly small yard measuring 21'x84'  with lots and lots of distractions on the other side so to speak.  The idea of training without distractions for the first bit is laughable here as even in the middle of the night the cats are roaming.  Still it might be something to think about to accompany the wooden fence I'm planning on.  When Crusher jumps a fence he typically lingers under it for a minute while contemplating whether or not to jump.  He doesn't do the run and jump so perhaps if there's something that won't allow him to do that, he won't jump it.  And I could use all the help I can get with the digging thing too.  Though, the digging will still happen in other places unless I'm right there.  Digging is fun, don't you know?

Anyone have any input on the snow thing?  How well does it work under the snow?  Is there interferance?  

Oh and if you move can take the fence with you?  I think I heard that you can just leave the wire in the ground and get new wire for the next place?

ETA One last thing...what brands do you recommend?

huskymom

The other purpose of this thread is to see what others need from fencing.  Can anyone out there get away with a 4 foot fence?  Is a nice little picket ok for you?  Did you have to build a stone wall to retain your dogs?  Are there other animals that you need to keep out and therefore require a type of fencing that your dogs would otherwise not need?  Who has an Efence and does it work 100% of the time?   Anyone just plain not need a fence...forget it I don't want to hear from you, I'm jealous...lol Just kidding.  What training did you have to put into that and do you believe it could work for any dog?  or breed?  Namely Huskies? wink wink....

Kenya does not require a fence b/c she sticks to me like glue.  Since the day I got her I have never really worked a formal recall with her b/c she does not usually move more than 10 feet away from me unless given permission to chase prey or I've instructed her to go out.  In fact, I have spent a LOT of time training her to to do distance work and move away from me (distance work in agility, sending her out and around objects, sending her to fetch, sending her out to search and area, very long down/stays....).  German Shepherds jump 1 meter (like 4 feet I think) in SchH with a 4lb dumbbell, so she can clear a 4ft fence, but like most agility dogs she will only jump on command so I have never ever seen her try to go over or under any fence of any height.

This is the left side at the back of my yard.  It's very big and joined to the adjacent yards (which are just a big or bigger and have fields or wooded areas).  The only fence is a 6ft chain link along the back, it runs along the mall parking lot.  Kenya knows enough to stay within our yard and if she chases prey I can call her off.
 

Coke is another story.  He will not stay put without a leash and has no interest in coming when called.  His foster family had the same problem with very little improvements.  He was likely left outdoors on a tie-out, so he has no reason to understand that it's necessary to come when called or be under a human's control while outdoors.  So far he has not tested a 4ft fence.  I think that unless he sees another dog jump, he will not jump.  We have 4ft chain link fences around the baseball field and the field at our training club.  I don't think Coke really wants to run away, he's just not a velcro dog and really likes to explore.  I think if we lived in a rural area, I would be OK taking both my dogs for off-leash walks through fields and the woods, but the reality is that I live in the city, less than one mile from one of the busiest streets in the state.  If Coke took off, he could be there in about 10 seconds and get creamed in the road.  Hence, we are taking the training of recall and staying in the yard very slowly.  He has never seemed to mind being on a long line; he still has the freedom to run and play with Kenya.  I don't feel I need to let him off b/c some people think every dog should be reliable off-lead.  I'm sure in time he will, but given our current location, it hasn't been a priority for us.  The dog's safety takes the first priority, along with our zoning laws about dogs and the leash laws.  As a renter, I can't push those limits, and as a city dweller, I won't compromise my dog's safety when he is happy and knows no different anyway.

I've thought about trying an e-fence for Coke, but our yard is so big it would be very expensive.  I'd rather just work on training him to stick around or simply be diligent with a long lead and save up for a real fence later on.

Here is a web site you may want to look at.

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/fences.html

Here is another one that talks about lean in arms for a chain link fence and dig guards.

http://www.inetdesign.com/wolfdunn/containment/barbarms.html

As far as snow and Efences. Where I live we get a lot of snow in the winter and no one here that has that type of fence have never complained of the fence not working because of the snow.

How deep does the wire have to be buried? Or does it even have to be buried? Anyone have any idea how much the wire costs per foot?