I think there are just a few manufacturers out there...Which manufacturer is the best? Who's the best local company to install these things?

Assuming a normal sized backyard, what are the price ranges of invisible fences?

6/6/2008 8:16:45 AM

i got a wireless fence and I think it's the best thing in the world. unlike the buried fences, when the dog crosses outside of the radius, it continues shocking it until he comes back in bounds, and all you really have to do is plug in one transmitter and it's installed. it was about 250 bucks i think.

6/6/2008 8:21:27 AM

Where did you get that? Only problem with my lot is its pretty long (rectangular) and i don't think a simple radius would work

6/6/2008 9:09:53 AM

yeah it works well at my crib because i have a roughly circular area for my dog in the first place. they sell the device at petco, etc.

6/6/2008 9:25:19 AM

The problem with a wireless fence is that a power outage would most likely cause your animal to either scurry inside or run away. It would be a good idea to have that on a UPS.

The nice thing about invisible fences is that once the animal is trained, you'll no longer need to have it powered up

6/6/2008 11:07:30 AM

i had a wireless fence, and after having to find where it was broken a few times i just gave up on it.

6/6/2008 8:32:42 PM

they are cruel

6/6/2008 9:24:36 PM

no but, I do have this

6/6/2008 10:34:10 PM

Quote :

"they are cruel"

i hope that is sarcasm.

6/7/2008 7:34:45 AM

my parents have one.

our deaf black lab went psycho, and kept chewing her way out of the structural fence just to go sit on our neighbor's porch (who is afraid of dogs).

She kept breaking her teeth on the fence and othewise hurting herself in the process -- then my dad tried an invisible fence, and she hasn't escaped since.

so yeah i guess that's cruel. we should have let her keep injuring herself.

6/7/2008 10:01:42 AM

Sounds like your dog is fucking retarded, Bobby.

6/7/2008 10:02:36 AM

chit chat is this way children message_section.aspx?section=9. don't post in my thread unless its on topic

6/7/2008 10:07:14 AM

oh, and if you have a very stubborn dog it may not work. we had a pit mix that would just take the shock when he wanted to get out badly enough. but that dog was a freak, lived till he was 21 and never once did any injury or illness make him slow down or show any discomfort.

6/7/2008 1:22:45 PM

I think my parents have a PetSafe one. Bought the kit on ebay for around $100 and installed it themselves. It is pretty easy to put in, just takes an afternoon. Had it for probably 4 or 5 years and something burned out on the circuit board so they just bought the new unit and hooked it back up.

Their Lab normally doesn't even need the collar, but she gets brave and over time ventures closer to the line and maybe outside of it. After a day or two with it on again, she doesn't go anywhere near it.

6/7/2008 1:32:18 PM

i thought this said "invisible face"

6/7/2008 8:51:36 PM

We got a Pet Safe off Ebay. The dachshund/poodle just needed the beep. The dachshund (11 pounds) needed full strength and she would just keep going back and forth like it was nothing.

She might have stopped, but I cut the wire planting tomatoes.

6/9/2008 9:57:38 AM

Our dog does the crazy hurt himself on fences thing too. So, we just trained him to stay with us off leash and stay in the yard. It's worked well. As with all things, it helps a lot if you wear the dog out first.

6/9/2008 5:28:29 PM

I think I'm more interested in the actual underground fences since my lot is really deep, and rectangular...and I just want coverage in the back yard not in a circle around the home.

6/10/2008 10:23:07 AM

I have a pretty small lot. .5 acre and a house in the middle of it. I only wanted to do the back yard and they wanted 1500 installed. The same if I did the whole yard. They said the sq. footage doesnt matter.. Sounded like BS to me. Im not sure what the warranty is on those things. Im going to reconsider it though. You can save alot of money by getting the petsmart ones and doing it yourself, but i have no confidence that I could make it work.

6/10/2008 6:25:33 PM

look if you put in the effort you can double or triple stack the wire so that it zaps him more than once if he leaves the perimeter. (no personal experience but i've read about it.)

6/10/2008 9:26:13 PM

Quote :

"You can save alot of money by getting the petsmart ones and doing it yourself, but i have no confidence that I could make it work."

General question for anyone....how would you dig the required trench to bury this wire (if you bought self-install kit yourself)? could you rent some machine or something?

Quote :

"look if you put in the effort you can double or triple stack the wire so that it zaps him more than once if he leaves the perimeter. (no personal experience but i've read about it.)"

I was thinking about my rectangular yard, and thinking that I would need to get two wireless transmitters to cover all the land. i assume these transmitters have to be under cover right...like not subject to the rain. or are they waterproof? do they work if you put them inside your home (does the wirelss signal make it outside of the house?) I can have one cover the most of the back yard, but i dont want to have to put the collar on and off whenever i need to let her out so i figure i need another transmitter to cover the house.

6/11/2008 11:11:13 AM

^Small trenchers are relatively cheap to rent for a day, provided you find out where utility lines and tree roots are before you do it.

6/11/2008 11:18:24 AM

Quote :

"General question for anyone....how would you dig the required trench to bury this wire (if you bought self-install kit yourself)? could you rent some machine or something?"

shovel. just go around your yard and make a small gash, put wire in, and close the gash... repeat all the way around and you will have a buried wire.


and the double/triple stacked thing... i meant the wired fence you could do that.

but the thing is, i wouldn't leave one of those collars on him 24/7... i only put it on for my dog when he goes outside... those prongs that go into the neck can get irritating for the dog over time if they are on all the time.

6/11/2008 11:25:24 AM

Quote :

"Small trenchers are relatively cheap to rent for a day, provided you find out where utility lines and tree roots are before you do it"

yeah i just called and was quoted $120 out the door for one that goes up to 13" in depth. good point about the utility wires, i guess i'd have to call a few different places to find that out.

Quote :

"but the thing is, i wouldn't leave one of those collars on him 24/7... i only put it on for my dog when he goes outside... those prongs that go into the neck can get irritating for the dog over time if they are on all the time."

oh ok that makes sense

6/11/2008 11:29:06 AM

We just got our dog the PetSafe system. Its basically a box that you put in your garage and it creates a circular perimeter around your house. If the dog leaves the perimeter, it will first beep and then shock for a few seconds until the dog comes back inside the perimeter. If the dog stays out, however, it shocks for like 20 seconds and then has an emergency cutoff. It's really easy if you don't want to go through the hassle of digging a trench to bury wire that you will probably have to replace often as trees grow/workers cut it. It takes about two mins to install but its best to put flags around the perimeter and teach your dog to stay inside.

6/11/2008 3:22:51 PM

we already talked about that. his yard isn't the right shape for one of those.

6/11/2008 4:51:14 PM

Quote :

"General question for anyone....how would you dig the required trench to bury this wire (if you bought self-install kit yourself)? could you rent some machine or something? "

it doesn't get buried very deep. I think the kit we got said only like 2 or 3 inches below the surface. We did it with a spade and just cut a gash in the ground and pushed the wire down with a stick

as for the location of wires and such, I believe the phone company will come out and mark them for free . . . or or at least that is what I was told a while back

and you don't need to worry about the line separating areas. All you do with an area you want to get to is twist the two wires together and it cancels out the signal.



In the pic the dog is restricted to the green areas and will get shocked if it gets too close / crosses over the boundary to the red areas. But the thick black line is the twisted wire going to the middle area (maybe a garden or pool or something) and the dog can pass over the twisted wire without problem.

On the Transmitter, you can set the width of the field that is around the wire.

I think there may be a limit on the length of wire that can be connected to the transmitter, but I don't remember how long that is. I know on the one my parents have, the dial that you use to adjust for the length of wire goes up to 10 and I think they have it set around 5 for a wire perimeter of a little under half an acre.

[Edited on June 11, 2008 at 9:07 PM. Reason : ]

6/11/2008 8:53:15 PM

Dial 811 for a locate of utilities and whatnot. At a few inches, you're most likely to hit the TV cable.

6/12/2008 2:12:33 AM

You don't need to have utility lines marked out....and you definitely don't need a trench digger. Just walk out with a shovel that has a straight edge, push it 2-3 inches in the ground, and pull back on it to widen the gap. Insert wire, step on gap to close, and continue.......also, in some places (crack across driveway...spots in natural areas/woods) we just have the wire sitting on top of the ground. Granted, if you are going to do that, leaves and stuff will cover and you need to make sure you don't do much around it without re identifying where it is.

6/12/2008 10:34:07 AM

Well I'm planning on using the trench digger because I have a lot of ground to cover...so i just need to find out who to call to come out and mark any buried wires. anyone know who to call?

also does anyone know of the best brand for these do it yourself kits from petsmart/petco/internet? i'm specifically interested in the systems where you bury a wire.

7/9/2008 10:46:57 AM

well, you should probably call TWC for your cable, Progress for your power, PSNC for natural gas if you have it, and City of Raleigh for your water. Just call the customer service numbers on your bills

7/9/2008 11:02:49 AM

uggh i was thinking there might be one number that would handle all...

hmm this looks pretty good: http://www.call811.com/default.aspx

[Edited on July 9, 2008 at 12:52 PM. Reason : link]

7/9/2008 12:29:43 PM

I would start with City of Raleigh. If any one of those companies would do multiple surveys, or know where the other lines were, it would be them.

7/9/2008 12:45:25 PM

As I said before, call 811. It's the ONE call center, they'll dispatch EVERYONE to locate the lines. They'll call phone, utilities, and cable companies to mark all your lines.

You have to call at least 48 hours before digging, if you don't anything you break is on your cost.

7/9/2008 1:52:51 PM