Invisble Fencing

[kbenz]

had a lab mix and a shepard mix on an innotek system for 12 years. worked great. male dog would go through it now and then til we got him fixed

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Adding female was method hoped to keep male's interest inside fenced area. Periodically confining one or other will hopefully keep them inside.

 

[dainerra]

Quote:
Adding female was method hoped to keep male's interest inside fenced area. Periodically confining one or other will hopefully keep them inside.

are they both going to be spayed/neutered? If not, then you are going to have 50X the problem when she comes into heat. Male dogs will pack up on your male to get to the female. If your dog is neutered and she isn't, then she could likely join in the attack on your dog if he tries to chase off the intruder.

You said that the terrain is too rough to be able to put in a fence. How are you going to mark the boundary for the dogs? They need a clear and precise border for the training to be effective.

I used to use an IF. One dog it worked on, the other not so much. He would actually stand at the inner boundary of the fence, studying, then charge through. He yelped loudly when he got the shock, stop on the outside of the boundary (after they get X feet on the other side it won't shock again) and shake it off, then continue on his merry way. When he was finished with his wandering, he would sit outside the outer limit of the fence and wait for someone to come and get him. Only a couple of times did he brave the shock to come back in alone.

Besides that, here are the other problems I had with the fence:

burying the wire. OMG it was a freakin' nightmare!! You can't have the line too deep or you risk losing signal strength. You can't have the line too shallow or you increase the risk of breakage from heat/cold expansions. There can't be any rocks or roots in the trench or you risk wire breakage.

Checking the wire. Not too bad when you have a small, clearly defined area. Just have to do it on a regular basis, testers are fairly cheap. When the weather is bad, you have to check it more frequently. Even the tiniest break anywhere and the whole system is down.

Batteries in the collar. Those things aren't cheap. And if your dog has a tendency to approach the fence and trigger the warning beep, the batteries will wear out faster.

The collar needs to be checked daily for snugness. If you have an active dog that is running through brushy areas, I'd check it more frequently. If the collar is too loose, then the collar won't make contact at all or at least at a reduced strength. Collar too tight and you are going to create sores on the dogs neck.

Weather. If it rains, you are going to have to take the collar off and allow the skin underneath to dry completely. Otherwise, you run an even greater risk of sores on the neck.

 

[centrarchid]

Dainerra,
Your predictions concerning behavior of dogs when female is in heat are not supported by observations during a good 30 years of raising black and tans coonhounds and dalmations. Males will be calling but female will be caged (not penned) for duration of heat. Owners of said dogs will be contacted to have dogs collected. If not done so in reasonable amount of time, then owners will have to pay small fee at county animal shelter to get them back. Female will present a problem as such as this only once or twice annually.

I am unable to find what you refer to concerning terrain being too rough. Boundaries can be marked by not mowing area with wire leaving a highly visible strip of vegetation from eye level of dog. Does not look good in town but fine for rural setting.

Version I am looking into uses 9-volt batteries for collar. My initial investment maybe reduced to determine if it will work. Short-term area will be limited to six acres around house. System will be expanded if found to work. If problems encountered at first, then tweaking will follow. If it takes a decade of two to work out kinks, then it will.

Otherwise other fencing options will be pursued, preferably one that will also keep my spawn on property.

 

[dainerra]

I may have misread. I was reading the majority of the thread from my phone while at work. I know that you said you couldn't put up a conventional fence.

I must say your experiences with females in heat are different than mine. I've had neighborhood dogs trying to climb in my windows here.

Not saying it's impossible to confine a female in heat, but I know that most people don't know the length that a female will go through. My co-worker who breeds yorkies had a female climb out of her 6ft chainlink kennel, go down the hallway of the kennel building, and then climb another 6ft chainlink to get in with the male. My female GSD had to be kept crated in a locked bedroom because of her escape attempts. We couldn't even let her free in the house because she was relentless with her harassment of my neutered male, trying to get him to breed her.

You might have some trouble with expanding the area later, if the dog is truly attentive to the boundary.

It may be possible that IF will work for you. I hear of much more problems than success stories though.

 

[centrarchid]

Problems will be had but confinement outside of heat still biggest issue.

Both sexes go to great lengths to get together. That is why cage will be used which includes overhead protection as well.

Not neutering for short-term will increase potency of territorial marking and hopefully resolve when dealing with larger wild canids. Hope is most will be bluff on that end and having pheromones of breeding pair will be better repellent.

 

[bagendhens]

if you have coyotes in your area, a female in heat (even with a male marking) WILL attract them, in droves...same wiht domestic dogs...
unless your dog has the urine of a lion or a bear...a single male marking territory will Not keep wild canids away especially when theres a femal in heat around.

also dogs can and do breed THROUGH chainlink... youd need to use something like 1inch hardware cloth to be breed proof.
just somehting to keep in mind.
it sounds impossible...but ive witnessed it!
youll also have to put a floor on the females pen if you planned on doing that as ive also seen females dig out in minutes!

 

[kbenz]

Quote:
Adding female was method hoped to keep male's interest inside fenced area. Periodically confining one or other will hopefully keep them inside.

your male will still be attracted to other females in heat

dogs can and will mate through chain link. my hot box was elevated (3') off the ground and had no accidents when I had hunting dogs. the 2 I mentioned earlier where just yard dogs and were both fixed