Invisible fence? Love it or hate it?

Question

My fiancee & I are moving in with his parents for a few months to save $ for a house, they have 40+ acres & our older dog has lived their previously and is great about staying in the large yard (the road is atleast 1/2mile away, gravel driveway thru woods)

We have a new 16wk lab, she will be about 5mo when we move there, is there an age limit for invisible fence? Will it harm her being so young?

Also, if our older dog goes outside the boundries as he wont have the collar on, will the pup follow even through the fence?

I have no experience with Invisible fence so any stories, advice, etc are appreciated.

this isnt to be a fix for not taking them for walks, we spend all our time (when not at work) with the dogs, and go for atleast 1mi walks 2-3x daily, and play fetch, run around, go swimming.

My point was, our 5yr lab mix was left outside all day and stayed right in the yard, but I dont trust our pup to do so. So would invisible fence be an alternative as we are not going to build an actual fence, or should we build a small pen for her.

Thanks for all your answers and expeirences. We just decided that the invisible fence was not for us, we'll be building her a pen on the side of the shed so she can be outside while we're at work (when its nice weather out) and have access to her own little room in the shed, I hate to have her inside in her crate all day! They are inside dogs, I just hate to have them couped up when its beautiful outside

Answer 1

I have never used one, but based on experiences I've seen and heard, I'm against them.

First, they don't work for every dog. Some dogs bent on escape will blast through despite the shock. So they are not 100% fool-proof. I know of two cases personally where this happened.

Also, other dogs, people and animals can approach your dog but your dog can't get away unless he is willing to go through the fence. This is a very fearful situation for your dog.

Finally, I have heard that with labs and goldens and other people-oriented breeds, invisible fences can cause distrust of people. If people approach the fence line area but the dog gets shocked on approaching them in a friendly way, the dog learns that approaching people is a negative experience. We have neighbors with an invisible fence that have the most unfriendly goldens I've ever met. I cannot say its the fence that caused this, but I've met a lot of goldens (and own two now and have had others) and never seen goldens as un-people oriented as these.

My vote is to build some type of temporary enclosure and skip the invisible fence.

Answer 2

We like ours. We have a lab and we put the fence in when she was 2. We taught her that the beeping prior to the buzz & shock is bad and she turned around and stayed away. As she got older she got a little more brave and discovered that the shock was not all that bad...we had to get the stubborn collar with longer prongs. Our lab is not almost 6 and we don't even put the collar on her 1/2 the time cause she knows how far she can go before she gets into trouble.
Now my Dad has a 9 month old spaniel and he trainer her with the fence in 3 weeks. She would lead her til it beeped and then pulled her bad and said NO - BAD and led her away from it. She will go as far as she can until she hears the beep and steps back. Personally-we both like the fence. Just make sure that you have the time and patience to train the puppy, and you may not even have to endure the puppy being shocked-it may just learn that the flags are the limit and stay away from them. The flags are great to leave up for a while pretty close together to make a slid boundary, then pull every other flag every 5 days until there are just a few reminder flags. All of our flags were down within a month for our dog. Good luck!

Answer 3

I just put in an invisible fence a few weeks ago for my lab, and it has worked out great. She is 1.5 years old, very exuberant, high energy, and she will NOT go near the edge of the boundary after just the first lesson. We have the "zones" system inside too, and have had it for many months, so she is familiar with the collar, and knows that the warning beeps mean "get back or you will be shocked." So she had a head start for her training of the fence. She was only shocked one time inside and then avoided her boundary areas, inside and out. I know some people have trouble with their dog running through, but you can set the perimeter of the fence higher so that there is a longer warning area, and it will be harder for the dog to ignore the warning and eventual shock. I also think that if you make sure your dog really understands the rules of the invisible fence, they will not run through, but that is just my opinion. Also, one person said that if someone came onto your yard and was injured you'd be liable because your dog wasn't leashed. But actually if it is on your property it is not considered unleashed. It is only considered a "roaming dog" if it gets off your property. Check the local laws just to be sure, but that's probably how it works. Also, labs are strong dogs and some of the above people voice concerns about them just taking the shock. But you can turn the shock level up. Make sure you get a brand where you can adjust the shock. You can also get a special collar with extra neck connections to make sure your dog feels it. So, if you're concerned about that, make sure you have those options and you won't have a problem. Some people don't like invisible fences because other dogs can enter your yard, but I am almost always going to be with my dog when she's out there. If a dog were to come in, I'd be there to supervise. So, there is some risk to your dog if you want to leave it out in the backyard all day alone. But plenty of people do it. Personally, I think invisible fences are great, and it has worked for my labrador.

Answer 4

I think they can work well in certain situations, but for what you seem to be looking for it's not a good idea. To me, invisible fences really work best in a situation where the dog will be supervised when outside but the owner may be distracted long enough for the dog to slip away.

Personally, I am not a fan of leaving any dog outside unattended (especially all day) regardless of how they are contained. There are just too many variables and hazards as far as I'm concerned. However, leaving a puppy that young unattended is asking for trouble. A pup that age is very attractive to thieves, whether they intend to sell the puppy to some unsuspecting buyer, a research facility, or use the poor dog as bait for training fighting dogs. An invisible fence doesn't pose any sort of obstacle for these kinds of people whatsoever. I realize that it may seem unlikely for something like that to happen at their house, but dog theft happens even in the most unlikely of places (my husband's family had a dog stolen from their back yard once when they lived in a tiny little rural town...there couldn't have been more than 30 houses in the whole town!).

Also, at 5 months, most labs that I've met are starting to hit adolescence and are all about challenging the rules (or forgetting their training, however you want to look at it). Boundary training can be done, but if she sees something she wants on the other side of that boundary (like a rabbit or another dog for example) she'll probably go right through it. And if the older dog goes over the line she'll likely try to follow him. In that case, your dog either learns that the shock isn't that bad and just goes through it after that or she's stuck on the wrong side of the invisible fence and will refuse to come back over the line because she won't want to get shocked again.

Ultimately it's up to you, but if you're wanting to leave her outside alone (without human supervision) all day then I would definately recommend either going with a traditional enclosure of some kind or tying her out. Personally I'm not particularly fond of those options either as I believe that dogs belong in the house with their family but they are safer and more reliable options than an invisible fence.

Answer 5

HATE IT!

The training method is generally to walk your dog to the hot zone and then yell at them and yank them back when the fence beeps. Very harsh way to train any dog. If you have a sensitive dog, or a young puppy, you could do permanent psychological damage if you don't properly train them.

Many dogs will just go blowing right through an invisible fence and then refuse to come back in because of the shock.

Some dogs have been known to stand near the hot zone so the fence beeps and then when the batteries in the collar are drained, walk right through without a shock. Or find the point in the corner where the fence is weakened and go through at that spot.

And most importantly, remember that even if an invisible fence keeps your dog in, it doesn't keep other animals OUT. Which means your dog is susceptible to other dogs coming in and harming her. There was a story in my hometown a few years ago where someone left her two small dogs outside in the invisible fence area. A neighbor let his aggressive dog out and it went over and killed both of her dogs. There was nothing to protect them.

An invisible fence also will not stop a person from walking right into your yard, picking up your puppy, and walking off with it.

Answer 6

Hi!
Your pup is too young for an invisible fence anyway. Most companies dont recommend this type of fence until the pup is at least 6 months old.
By that time you may be gone from your fiance's parents house. Maybe a big kennel would be more to your problem solving situation, then when you do move you can take it with you.

Answer 7

I used it with my 2 boykin spaniels, and one dog just walked right thru, didnt care a bit about the shock, my other dog, would walk to where it would shock her, then shed get scared and not move to where the thing was constantly shocking her. We would have to go out and take the collar off her to get her to move. So we just put up a regular fence

So, No, i dont like electric fence's, because it seems that half the time they dont even work, and they can make the dog afraid of being outside, or it might not work, and the dog might run right throu chasing a car or something

Answer 8

Hate it.

First, your puppy is way to young. Second, there are two major problems with invisible fence:

1. Many dogs will learn that once they get through the "zap" they are home free. Once a dog does escape, he or she is not likely to go back into the yard, because he or she would get another zap going back in, which will prohibit him or her from returning home after escaping
.
2. The invisible fence does not protect your dog from other creatures entering the yard. Stray dogs and varmint like raccoons can enter the yard and injure your dog and your pup will have no way to escape without getting zapped. Raccoons and stray dogs can spread all sorts of diseased to your pet.

Answer 9

Love it

The invisible fence is not for every dog especially sight hounds, but my dogs do great with it. A good fence will have adjustable correction levels, and the collar should give a warning before correcting. A training guide should come along with it. You will need to train her where she can go before you let her run free. My dogs after learning where not to go rarely or never get corrected.

most labs do fine with invisible fences

Answer 10

HATE IT. Invisible fence is an electric shock (adversive therapy) from the collar when the dog gets to close to the "fence." Either the dog will become afraid to go outside, which I know of real cases this happened, or the dog will learn to ignore the "shock."

Take the responsibility and go with the dog for walks in the yard several times a day.

Question - would you want me to shock you every time you went to the refrigerator or turned on the TV? Think!