Electric fence for dogs...input?

[44fanatic]

I have had two labs that became escape artists from fenced back yards. The first lab dug under the fence, find water, go for a swim and return home. The second lab learned how to climb the fence. With the first lab, I strung the fence 6" off the ground and the second lab, I strung it along the top of the fence. Within 3 days, both dogs would approach no closer than 2 feet of the fence and neither escaped from the backyard afterwards. After that 3rd day, I could unplug the power and just the presence of the wire worked. BTW, took down the wire after 2-3 months and still didnt have any problems with the dogs. Trained the second lab to not leave the front yard after learning from the first, wont step foot in the street on her own with a leash on and commanded.

This thread got me to thinking of this: My range day was shot in the ***
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=110657


This thread got me to thinking of this. Whats your all thoughts were on this?

[garandsrus]

I did the same thing for a specific dog a number of years ago and it worked very great... The dogs learn quickly!

John

[parrott1969]

I had a similiar set up but it ended up costing me my favorite dog. ET was a toy poodle, the runt and a little (ok more than a little "off"). But he was my favorite and if he had weighed more than 5 lbs he would have been a bad joker! I placed him outside and feel asleep. I was awakened by my wife screaming. Poor little guy bite the wire and could not get off it. When we found him he was fried.

[zxcvbob]

Get a livestock-type fence charger that pulses. (not a really big "low impedence" type though, and not an old "weed burner") You can't grab hold of them; they'll throw you off.

The battery-powered mechanical fence chargers work really well for pets, and they don't shock as hard as the plug-in types. I don't know if they still sell those.

[Duckiller]

I think your labs need a swimming pool. Most labs need swimming pools. I have never used a shock collar on my lab ,but on member of a duck club that I belonged to tried one on his lab. Gunnar was a well trained, well behaved dog. Owner wanted a little more control. He tried a shock collar on low when the dog was wet. Just about turned the dog inside out. Very painful. Last time the collar was used. Be very careful with pets and electricty, especially when pet is wet and good contact is made.

[Von Gruff]

I got one of the battery types that you can set to regular pulse and it will use a 6V battery in 20 weeks but if you set it to irregular pulse it will last for 40 weeks. More than enough time to trane any animal. My dog is ok with my fences but I have a few sheep and put it arround the fruit trees and the battery has been flat for ages and there is a definite line they will not go past.

Von gruff.

[Bret4207]

We use a lot of electric fence. The modern fencers work very nicely for what the OP describes. Works in my kennel with 9 dogs. The very old "weed burner" types and constant current types are another animal.

Folks need to remember something about shock collars- it's a training tool and a very, very good one. But, you need to use your head. I use a Tri Tronics that has a tone you can use before the shock and 5 shock levels. The dog hears the tone and after getting hit a couple times he learns to listen. If he doesn't and is running deer or towards a verbotten area like the highway then he's willfully ignoring the tone and you hit him. I don't like shocking a dog, but a responsible owner won't have his dog chasing sheep, cars, deer, in other peoples yards, etc.

[LaPoint]

Dogs learn very quickly! Many years ago when we had two schnauzers I installed an underground fence. The older schnauzer, the brighter but more stubborn of he two, took longer to train than the younger one. The older one would wear the batteries in the collar down quickly by sitting in the warning zone causing the collor to beep continuosly. When the batteries were dead she'd walk across the line into the neighbor's yard. It only took 3 approaches to the fence to train the younger schnauzer. She wouldn't walk within 10 ft of the line, even though she wouldn't get a warning until she was 4 ft from the line.

[zxcvbob]

I don't like underground fences because they don't keep other dogs *out*. So if you have a small or medium sized dog in a UF and a roving pack of big dogs comes along, your dog can't escape.

[blackthorn]

I had a big Akita that would dig out under the fence. I burried a single side band saw blade from a sawmill, teeth down, along the bottom of the fence. When the dog tried to dig and got down to the teeth, the teeth "pinched" his feet. About three tries in three different places and he gave up. No more trouble.

[BD]

I have some experience, and strong feelings, on this subject. I stayed out of a previous thread due to an inability to type anything polite enough to post.

Bret echos my experience pretty much, both with fences and collars, but he was going light. I've had a variety of electric fences over the years and we tried out an "underground" system while renting in NY. To a large extent it varies by the particular dog. I have a Griffon that would freeze in place over the buried fence when she got a shock. So, she'd keep getting the shock until I pulled her out of there. That was the end of the buried fence for us as even though she knew what was coming, she'd still chase a rabbit through the "fence line". Now I fence the yard with non-electric stock wire fencing, turned down and in six inches below the surface, the opposite of how you fence a chicken coop with hardware cloth. Oddly, I've only had to shock this dog once, lightly, with the collar. Ever since she's responded to the buzzer every time. Somewhere I slipped up though, (or she's smarter than I am). as she mostly responds to voice 100% when she has that collar on. She knows what it is.

A lot of thought and training goes along with the collars, but some dogs need it to survive. Dogs tend to associate pain with the place where they experienced it, or the smell in their nose when they experienced it, more than with what they were doing at the time. If you're not careful, it's as likely you'll teach your dog not to hunt, or not to return to you, as it is that you'll teach him to behave.

Some will crucify me for this, but I believe that if you're not willing to try the shock you're giving the dog, you have no business using the collar. And, you really need to think it through, and lay out a scenario where it will be a learning experience, to make it work. I used to walk my blue ticks with their collars on until we got onto a deer or moose that I could see, then let them run and hit them hard right when they had their nose on the deer. You really need to make them believe that it's the deer that's doing it. Then a couple of runs with the buzzer when they get the scent followed by light shocks as the come up on the deer, and hit them hard again if they get close chasing it. It's hard to do this right, and you need to keep doing it until you can get it right before using the collar. You might spend 15 or 20 walks before the correct situation occurs. During that time the dog gets used to the collar and doesn't associate the risk of shock with wearing that particular collar. And, when the dog gets back to you, you have to give it a treat and act like you're the happiest guy in the world to see the dog again, NO MATTER WHAT THEY DID. That can be really, really hard at times. They have to learn: Deer=BAD, BD=GOOD +1. If you don't put in the time, you've wasted the money on the collar, and maybe wreaked a good dog. Not surprisingly, it's very easy to train that same dog off of domestic stock, which come with an in place electric fence surrounding a set area that all smells just like the stock. I never had a dog that even once considered going in after the sheep, or pigs. Our sheep and pigs smelled like electric shocks to the dogs.

On the lighter side of this issue, if you're not standing down range, it's pretty funny watching a moose run off into the woods wearing 50 yards of your portable sheep fencing on his rack, still attached to the charger. Right up until you stop laughing and start to realize what that show just cost you. :)

BD