Radio Fence: Keeping My Dog Safe
Written: Jul 18 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Gives your dog freedom! No more sad, tied up doggies!
Cons: They can go anywhere in the boundary you create. Might not work with some dogs.
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| magenta321's Full Review: Pet Safe Deluxe Radio Fence System with Standard R... |
I have had dogs since I was very young. With my first dog, we tried to do all of the right things. I live in the boonies, but on a pretty major road (well... cars pass about once every thirty seconds, which is a lot in the boonies). Dogs need to go outside sometimes, obviously. We needed to make sure our dog could go out, but be safe. Our solution was to tie our dog outside to go potty, and also when no one was home.
Our dog was an American Foxhound. While we all loved her, she had some annoying qualities, like the fact that she needed to run. We would let her loose about once a day when traffic was light, just to get it out of her system. Usually she came right back, but on numerous occasions she got lost and would up half way across the neighborhood, or worse yet, in the pound.
One other thing about Foxhounds... they are smart. She would snooker us, and run away frequently. She also broke her lead many times, trying to run free. Truthfully, I can't say I blame her, but we needed some way to keep her safe. Tying her up was the only choice we had sometimes.
When Foxy passed away we decided to get a new dog. We wanted our new dog to have the freedom Foxy didn't have. So when we brought Frasier home, we planned on installing some type of invisible fence. It was January when we got him, and the ground was too frozen to do anything at the time.
In March, when the ground began thawing again, I called around to places that install fences. Mind you, our yard is not that big -- I'd say it's less than an acre. Some places wanted to charge us $900 to have it installed. The lowest price we got was about $400. The $400 one sounded the most reasonable, but when we called the $900 one, they said "whatever you do, stay away from company XYZ. They charge you a low price, but their system is the same system that you will get at a pet store and install yourself. Your dog will have no problem going through that system. Then a big truck will come bye, and you will have no more dog. Splat. It's that quick." How's that for scare tactics? Pay $900 or your dog will get run over. Nice.
Despite $900 company's warnings, we went with the Radio Fence system, and installed it ourselves. It was what we could afford, and after all, my last dog got out of the yard every day for thirteen years, and never had a problem. So, if this dog did happen to get out, he'd probably be fine. I was mad at the $900 company for those outrageous scare tactics.
My dad installed the fence. It took him a few weekends, but only because he refused to rent an edger from a hardware store. If you rent an edger, it digs a nice narrow trench for you to place the wire in that surrounds the area you want to fence off. If you are like my dad, you spend almost as much money, and buy yourself a machete, and break your back trying to make the trench. Oh well.
After you have dug the trench, you put the wiring in. It's a little complicated because you need a ground wire, but it doesn't require electrical knowledge. The instructions tell you what you need to know. My dad is no electrician, but he had no trouble putting the system in.
Once the system is in, you put the collar on your dog and start training him. The collar will beep when they get too close to the boundary. If they keep going, they get a slight electric shock. There are two different types of prongs on the collar-- short ones for dogs with short fur, or long ones for dogs with long fur or who are stubborn. We use the short prongs with my dog.
My dog seemed to be trained after the first day, but we kept with the training for about ten days. Actually, there is a training schedule that you are supposed to follow that tells you what you need to do. You are supposed to follow the schedule to a T, to make sure your dog learns the system and doesn't realize he can run through the boundary after that one initial shock. We didn't train my dog for the full time we were supposed to. I don't recommend that, however, my dog understood after the first shock he received. He wouldn't go near the boundary wire anymore after that. You would have to drag him to the boundary in order to get him any where near there.
Since then my dog has experienced great freedom. We let him out whenever he wants to go out. He has the run of the house and the yard, and loves it. The only down side is that your dog might not be as trainable as mine, and might run out of the fence. There is nothing to stop them, other than the fear of a shock.
The only other problem that the fence poses is that it does not keep other animals out. Since my last dog was tied, it did not matter. She couldn't get to the other animals. Now with Frasier, on the other hand, he can go any place in our yard. The other night a family of skunks were passing through the yard. Frasier chased them all over the yard, and ended up with a face full of skunk spray. Yuk! We tie him up at night when he needs to go potty now, just so he can't get into trouble.
I am happy with our decision to get this fence. Frasier enjoys his freedom. When I see tied dogs now, I feel bad for them. It's almost like they are in jail. I think that I will always use this type of fencing for my dogs, even after I move. I just couldn't have my dog tied to a tree, or worse yet stuck in a tiny kennel ever again.
Recommended:
Yes
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magenta321
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Location: Connecticut
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I am cool and that is it, and everyone else is full of...
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