Saturday, August 9, 2008

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Electronic Pet Fences Stop Dogs From Digging

Posted: 08 Aug 2008 02:55 AM CDT


When a wooden fence wasn’t enough to keep our golden retriever from digging her way out of our backyard, we decided it was time to install a proper pet containment system to keep her safe and enclosed. Most dog owners install electronic fencing as an alternative to visible fencing, but the two systems can actually work together to secure your backyard.

The Invisible Fence brand system we chose works like all wireless pet containment systems. First, a wire is placed along the property line (or the containment area). Second, the dog (or dogs) is fitted with a special electronic pet collar. On approach of the property line, the dog’s collar buzzes or beeps to warn the dog to back away. If the dog continues to approach, a short but surprising electric shock ensures that the dog returns to the safe area.

No pet fence is foolproof, of course. Proper training and conditioning of each dog is required in order to ensure that they immediately back away from the wireless fence as soon as the collar buzzes. Owners that fail to do this training may be surprised to learn that some dogs will still cross the fence line even if they have to endure a shock or two.

To be truly safe, though, a visible barrier can be used with the wireless fence. That’s what we did with our Invisible Fence system by having the buried wire parallel the wooden fence along the perimeter of our backyard. You can even tack the wire directly to the fence instead of burying it under the fence.

The nice thing about this combination is that the two fences serve different but complementary purposes. The wooden fence keeps the dog from jumping or running off the property, while the Invisible Fence system keeps the dog from digging under the wooden fence. Since the wireless fence wasn’t the primary means of keeping the dog on the property, we were able to adjust the system’s electronic field to be quite narrow. This lets the dog approach the fence fairly closely without being warned away.

So if a real fence isn’t enough to keep your dog out of trouble, consider combining it with an electronic pet fence to get total safety and peace of mind.

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