Gun Dog Forum

Hey I've got a young GSP and an older mutt. The GSP hunts anything and everything out here on my 160 acres in the country. I'm afraid that if I buy this 13 acres near city limits with neighbors, I'm going to get a lot of pissed off people calling me about their missing cats and Chihuahuas. Any input on invisible fences? Because of the layout of the property I'd prefer to go with a wireless unit....

I've got the wireless Petsafe unit for my Britt. It works fine. But keep an eye on the battery level (a red light will begin to blink when it's going dead). It doesn't take long for my girl to figure out when the battery is dead.

I've been considering one also. The downside I see to the wireless is that it limits you to a circular area so you either can't utilize the full extent of a rectangular lot or you may have some overlap onto neighboring properties.

Dakota, that is indeed a down side to the wireless. But I liked the convenience of the wireless. Plus, I've always got some kind of project going on in my yard, and didn't want to have to worry about digging up wires. Yes, there are corners of my yard where she can't go, and there is some overlap into two neighbors' yards, but I'm happy with it. The key is to situate the unit in a spot in your home where you'll get a suitable radius -- one that provides a happy compromise.
One thing I like about the wireless is that it sends continuous correction if she crosses the boundary. She knows that if she returns to her safe zone, she can make the penalty go away.
One neighbor's dog learned that if it got a running start, it could bolt through its wired fence with minimal penalty, then it was off to the races!

We've had several folks that we know who have lost dogs through the invisible fences. I don't know that I'd trust one 100%. I'm having to bite the bullet and put up a fence on our place - I hate doing it, but it's the safest option. If your dog has a high prey drive, I'd really consider a solid fence. And remember, the invisible fences don't stop anything from coming in your yard.

Dt Systems recently came all with an all in one unit you may want to consider
it is a E Collar - Tracking collar and GPS based containment system
It is a little pricey compared to the Petsafe Safe Play system but you get a lot more

Portable so you can contain while hunting (I think it is up to 1 mile radius)

We have had the PetSafe wireless for 8-9 years and have used it on 5 hunting dogs. Ours dogs have high prey and hate the ferel cats our neighbors feeds. The cats have learned the boundries and we have seen them sit just outside of them with the dogs on the other almost nose to nose. BTW our dogs have 4 cats, they were "newbies" , to their name just this year. The new collars have different voltage settings so if you have a dog run through you can turn it up.

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like an invisible fence system is the way to go. Lot less expensive and ugly than putting up prison fence around the property.

I have had both the in ground wire and the wireless systems. The Wireless is much better in my opinion.
My 3 year old setter learned that if he ran and jumped over the place where the wire was at a spot close to atrampoline he could get out without much of a shock.

You should have seen his reaction when he tried that with the wireless system. If they are out of the radius of the unit the collar keeps going off for about 30 seconds

Lots of trainers don't like working with dogs already conditioned by invisible barrier e-control systems.

BigShooter wrote:Lots of trainers don't like working with dogs already conditioned by invisible barrier e-control systems.

Why would that be?

SetterNut wrote:

BigShooter wrote:Lots of trainers don't like working with dogs already conditioned by invisible barrier e-control systems.

Why would that be?

I wonder that too....and are bark-collars seen in the same light?

SetterNut wrote:

BigShooter wrote:Lots of trainers don't like working with dogs already conditioned by invisible barrier e-control systems.

Why would that be?

I have a petsafe and I use a tone on my e-collars, and when I hit the tone button they know to get back "now"

wills1235 wrote:Thanks for all the info. Sounds like an invisible fence system is the way to go. Lot less expensive and ugly than putting up prison fence around the property.

Make sure you condition your dog to the E-fence correctly, don't take shortcuts. It's a pain to set up the flags and walk the dog around for days but it pays off. I think the shortcuts are what lead to problems later with training with e-collars. Also when/if you do use an e-collar on your dog make sure you collar condition the dog to it, don't assume it should understand it from the fence. We conditioned ours starting out with the kennel command so it had a "going away" command associated with the e-stem instead of a "come in" like the fence gives. We then do come & heel to round out the e-collar conditioning.

I am a dog fence dealer and have trained hundreds of dogs each year to the fence. Most are not hunting dog but that doesn't matter. You should be teaching the dog how to turn the pressure off. With the flags its all about proper introduction and low shocks at first so the dog understands to turn and not keep going. Then you can crank the shock up. The new DT system shows the most promise for a wireless plus the GPS features. The petsafes are so so and I have a shelf full of trade ins. Wire is still the best for a permanent install. Just make sure all you landscaping is complete before installing the wire and use a good heavy gauge wire. Be happy to answer any questions. I have had a couple of very strong prey driven GSP and they won't dare get close to the wire. Make sure your systems have programmable collars.

BigShooter wrote:Lots of trainers don't like working with dogs already conditioned by invisible barrier e-control systems.

From what I've seen, that's a trainer issue, not a dog issue. My brother has two Brits That have been "professionally" trained and use an invisible fence. He can barely use his e- collar with his dogs without them shutting down. I don't need to tell you my opinion of the trainer. My dad has a Brit trained by my trainer that uses the exact same invisible fence. His dog even knows the boundarys of my brothers fence. My dad has had no problems what so ever with his dog..... My trainer also trained a dog out of the exact same litter as my brother and my dogs litter. The owner didnt tell the trainer and the first time he touched the e- collar the dog shut down. With a little bit of work however the dog quickly learned the difference. Unfortunately, my brothers dogs never did due to the trainer IMO. IMO if a trainer doesn't like to train dogs who use an invisible fence, look for another trainer.

That's why as a bird hunter I approach the fence training a lot different with bird dogs.

The only downfall to the wireless systems is that the containment area will be in a circle around the unit. The downfall will be if you have 13 acres you will only be able to cover around 3/4 of and acre in circular area from the unit. 13 acres is well within the limits of most inground systems. I own an installation company and I personally have a Petsafe Stubborn Dog system and haven't had any problems with escapes. My coon hound will chase anything in the yard at night and he instantly stops mid chase right before the line. I don't deal with wireless systems but I am happy with my Petsafe product and would say to look into their wireless system. If you want to go with the inground system it would allow your dogs to have the full or much larger portion of the property. Before you decide though I would contact a couple different installation companies not just the invisible fence company especially since they are all made by Radio Systems Inc. My website is below if you change your mind and are moving to my area send me an email and I would be glad to help you out.

http://www.k9contain.com

Tim
http://www.k9contain.com