Info about lgds

[Trefoil]

"You people" ( yes, I'm talking about you,Zaz and Elly) keep posting adorable pics of your dogs and peas. So now I need some information. I read where Ellie said her mother had to use invisible fencing to keep her dog from "straying". My worry about letting my german shepard free range with the birds is that he would get in the road. Do you have problems with your dogs staying on your property? Will it take a fence to keep them off the road?

 

[zazouse]

I do not live close to a road and i don't have but one kinda close , he ain't never home but my dogs have never been see there they pretty much stay with the birds anyway unless they are chasing something coming in and they stop at the creeks and fences

Road plus Dog = Fence

 

[casportpony]

Our neighbors tried that invisible fence with their dog and it had zero effect on him.

-Kathy

 

[zazouse]

Yea i have read when some dogs are after something they blow right threw them and sometimes the dogs coat will act as an insulator and the dog will feel nothing,

 

[casportpony]

Yea i have read when some dogs are after something they blow right threw them .

The neighbors dog wasn't chasing anything, he just walked on by, lol. To be honest, I have no idea if they installed it correctly or not.

-Kathy

 

[DylansMom]

The neighbors dog wasn't chasing anything, he just walked on by, lol. To be honest, I have no idea if they installed it correctly or not.

-Kathy

At our first house, the neighbor had a Rottweiler that would walk right thru it. You could actually see him twitching when the shocks would hit him, it isn't a steady jolt incase they would somehow get caught on something while in the shock zone. He wouldn't cross thru to get back in his yard, he would lay at the end of their driveway and wait for someone to take the collar off, but he sure would cross it to get out and terrorize the neighborhood. I had 3 Rotties at the time and a 4' chain link fence, that none got out of. I think a lot depends on the individual dog.

 

[KsKingBee]

I had a four foot chain link fence that my Elkhounds never thought about crawling over until they saw me jump over it once, then I could never keep them in after that.

 

[cafarmgirl]

"You people" ( yes, I'm talking about you,Zaz and Elly) keep posting adorable pics of your dogs and peas. So now I need some information. I read where Ellie said her mother had to use invisible fencing to keep her dog from "straying". My worry about letting my german shepard free range with the birds is that he would get in the road. Do you have problems with your dogs staying on your property? Will it take a fence to keep them off the road?

How far are you from the road and does your dog tend to roam if given the opportunity? Obviously you are already concerned about the dog getting in the road so I think you've already answered your own question. If it is even a remote possibility and if you value your dog then you should fence him in. You also don't want your dog roaming around to any neighbors and causing problems.

One of my dogs is a velcro dog who has no interest in leaving my side or the home place but my other dog would wander if given the opportunity. We have perimeter fencing around the house and barns to keep my animals in and roaming dogs out.

 

[Trefoil]

I was afraid of that.

 

[Garden Peas]

Our neighbors tried that invisible fence with their dog and it had zero effect on him.

-Kathy

Yea i have read when some dogs are after something they blow right threw them and sometimes the dogs coat will act as an insulator and the dog will feel nothing,

The neighbors dog wasn't chasing anything, he just walked on by, lol. To be honest, I have no idea if they installed it correctly or not.

-Kathy

At our first house, the neighbor had a Rottweiler that would walk right thru it. You could actually see him twitching when the shocks would hit him, it isn't a steady jolt incase they would somehow get caught on something while in the shock zone. He wouldn't cross thru to get back in his yard, he would lay at the end of their driveway and wait for someone to take the collar off, but he sure would cross it to get out and terrorize the neighborhood. I had 3 Rotties at the time and a 4' chain link fence, that none got out of. I think a lot depends on the individual dog.

Okay, I've got quite a bit of experience with invisible fencing. All of these things are totally true, BUT it can still be a really terrific solution and I've had great results with it. It depends on (1) correct installation, (2) correct use, and (3) the individual dog.

First, it has to be correctly installed. There are two basic kinds of invisible fence (at least there were, the last time I checked). One kind uses a perimeter wire that encircles your property (like a big loop). It can be buried. It doesn't carry any current (it's not "hot" wire, like an electric fence), but it has to have a "good" circuit -- there can't be any breaks in the wire. Also, it should be a fairly simple geometric shape, without a lot of ins and outs. That wire basically carries a radio signal. The sending unit has to be somewhere that there is electrical power (like in the house), out of the weather, and the sending unit has to be properly sized for the area that you plan to cover so that the signal will be strong enough. This first kind works by transmitting a signal over the wire, which is received by the collar on the dog when it gets within a certain distance of the wire.

It is critically important to TEST the system to make sure that it is working properly BEFORE doing anything else, but some people try to shortcut and skip this step. You also should check once in a while to make sure that there aren't any breaks in the circuit, since connections can go bad, or critters can damage it. I still like this kind the best.

The second kind of invisible fence doesn't use a perimeter wire, and it has a different kind of base station. It transmits a radio signal which is received by the dog's collar, and the collar activates when the signal is too low, i.e., the dog has exceeded the allowable distance from the base station. So it pretty much defines a circular area, the radius of which is set by the signal strength, and which can usually be changed (within a certain amount) on the base unit, which is the center of the circle. It's not going to conform to the perimeter of your property unless you happen to have a circular lot, but if you are trying to keep dogs, say near a house on a big piece of land, it will work okay for that. Again, it is essential to test to see if it is working properly before trying it with the dog.

The invisible fence has to be used properly to get a good result. The collar has to properly fit the dog, the electrode "prongs" (which are really just rounded electrical contacts) both have to reach the dog's skin (i.e., reach through the fur), and there has to be a good (not dead) battery in the collar. There are different length prongs available, so if you have densely coated dogs like Zaz's beauties, you need the longer length prongs, otherwise the collar can go off all it wants, and the dog will have no clue. Collar batteries last quite awhile, but not forever, so they need to be tested occasionally. Some collars can be set to vary the signal strength of the correction. Obviously, the correction level for a chihuahua will not be the same as a rottweiler. One of the funniest things I ever saw, dog-wise, was when we put new batteries in the collars after the old dogs had decided the fence didn't work anymore and they didn't need to worry about it... 80 pound dog actually slid to a stop from a dead run in a total panic when he realized the collar was working again and he was about to bust through the line

Before turning a dog loose with an invisible fence, the dog needs to be trained with it. Generally the collar can be set to beep or buzz at a certain distance from the perimeter wire, and then, if the dog gets closer to the wire after that, then the dog gets a shock. The distance from the wire that these things happen can usually be set on the base station. If the dog is heading for the fence at a dead run, it may not be able to stop in time, even with the warning, so the distance should be set based on the dog itself, and the dog needs to be taught where the fence is. Usually the best way is to flag the fence line with temporary flags, put the dog on a leash, and get close to the fence, so the dog gets the warning, and run backwards, away from the fence, praising the dog. Repeat that all over the yard. How fast the dog figures it out depends on the breed and your willingness to train. Generally allow a couple of weeks.

Avoid doing stupid things like driving the dog out of the yard in the car without taking the collar off first, ditto going for walks... And yes, if the dog gets out, either inadvertently or intentionally, it will probably not be willing to come back through the shock line, and will wait outside or run off, depending on what the dog takes it into its head to do....

And yes, it does depend on the kind of dog and the dog's individual temperament. A "hard" breed (physically insensitive or resistant) might be so interested in whatever was on the other side that it chose to deliberately ignore the correction for a big enough reward. I don't want to generalize, but I don't think I would try it with a pit bull -- that said, there are undoubtedly pit bulls that could be trained quite well to respect it.

(So if you adore pit bulls and think they are the best dogs EVER, don't shoot me...) One of my current crop of dogs is a scottie, and she is sweet and adorable and totally terrific. And it has taken a couple of years of work and a number of years of getting older to get her to mostly peacefully cohabit with a cat, because she really, really, really thinks she should eat squirrels, rodents, cats, birds and stuff like that, and she will sit there for days, watching them. It's just how she is built. And I have never ever seen her start a fight with another dog, but I've had three instances when other dogs started fights with her (literally attacked her), and two ended up with the other dog at the vet, and one ended with a human at the ER, because she doesn't let go. Again, that's just how she's built. So I probably wouldn't try that particular dog with an invisible fence. I also have one velcro dog that doesn't need a fence, one dog that finally learned to stay home 10 years ago after I tried every other kind of fencing ever made and eventually installed an invisible fence along the real fence line (back then, he was the reincarnation of Harry Houdini) -- he could scale anything, climb chain link and dig like a backhoe, and one dog that would be fine with it. I've used it extensively with Belgian Sheepdogs, and they adapt to it incredibly well.

@Trefoil , in your case, with a German Shepherd, you could have really good results, depending on the individual dog. Most German Shepherds are highly trainable and if you work with your dog, it is likely to quickly learn where the fence line is, and that you want it to stay within the fence. Likewise, you may be very successful teaching a German Shepherd to leave your birds alone, but I wouldn't leave it to chance, I would definitely be working on serious training, and I would anticipate there might be some mishaps (which could mean a dead bird). Also, you need to assess the risks nearby... it's one thing to keep a dog off of a rural or semi-rural road (even a fairly well-traveled one), but if there were a freeway a block away, I'd opt for different fencing.

There is a version of the invisible fence available (or there used to be) that also came with a remote control -- that would pretty much be ideal in your situation. So not only does the dog learn the perimeter of the property and to stay inside, but you can also use the remote to signal a correction to the dog if the dog is engaging in unwanted behavior, like snapping or biting at the peas or whatever unacceptable thing the dog is doing. (I first used a shock collar for a Belgian that went bonkers around livestock and despite lots of work, wasn't getting it ... she learned with exactly one correction, and was totally reliable thereafter

which probably saved her life, since we were in "ranch" country... I thought it was "horrible" until I tried it. I also shocked myself to see how bad it was before I used it.)

Anyway, this is a very long way of saying that I do really like invisible fencing, but you have to make sure you do it correctly, and don't forget the training piece of it. Hope this helps