dteddy

My mini is 6 mos.old. Is he too young for invisible fence training?
Thanks in advance.

puppylove

I'm not really a proponent of invisible fencing but at six months he is old enough to learn where his boundaries are.

I take my dogs out to my front yard with a long line and every time they start to leave the boundaries, they get a big No, No and pulled back. Eventually they learn. Even my newest foster dog Caspar stays within the confines of my yard after less than two weeks.

This will not stop a confirmed cat chaser bent on that unconfined neighborhood tease but an electric fence would not either.

fjm

There was a discussion of the pros and cons of these fences on this forum recently: Wireless pet system
and on Dog Star Daily: Does Electric Fencing Condition Aggression/Fear? | Dog Star Daily

Fluffyspoos

Some neighbors without a fence have this for their giant lab, who charges anyone that walks in front of the house and stops right at the boundaries. It's pretty intimidating, but he doesn't cross the line.

1Jurisdiva

My parents had invisible fence installed in the half of the house that was to be the "no dog zone" - basically the foyer and the upstairs. My parents are no dogs on couches/beds people. (Note as I say this I notice our Siamese cats confidently stealing chicken from our kitchen table). Our Westies were adults when we had it installed, but I would imagine a 6 mo mini would be fine as well. It worked really well with them, and I think they only got "zapped" once or twice before they learned the warning beep. I guess I may get flamed for endorsing it - but our Westies really did not seem traumatized by this at all. I have no experience with it with larger dogs, as we never tried it on our greyhound rescues - they just followed the little ones, and didn't know stairs anyway.

That said, I don't intend to have a no dog zone in my apartment. I would consider it in the future if I had a dog that kept digging under a fenced yard and getting out. I would rather use electric fence than have them get hit by a car, god forbid.

fjm

The majority of the problems reported seem to be either that the dog gets through the line somehow, and then avoids coming back, or that the shock is associated with something beyond the boundary (a child, adult, car, bicycle), and the dog thus learns to associate these with pain and frustration. I once, many years ago, had a pony that was briefly kept in a paddock divided by an electric wire fence. He burned his nose - and then would not cross the line where the fence had been no matter what we did. I had to take down a solid fence to get him out. I have been very wary of the impact of associations in animals ever since.

Fluffyspoos

I don't see how you'd get flamed, lol. This is just another way to keep your pet safe, and if it works then go for it.

frostfirestandards

I do not care for them, not because I think its mean or cruel or whatever, but because although it may stop your dog from leaving your yard, it will not stop anything else from coming in and harming your dog.

jcwinks

We got an Inv. Fence for our mixed breed rescue Digger who would charge people and other dogs when they walked by our house. On two occasions, she escaped and looked like she was going to bite the other dogs - not sure if she did or not. Our neighborhood doesn't allow fences and this fence had been partially installed by a previous owner.
The fence has eliminated the problem and she also no longer surprises/startles walkers with her barking - she keeps well away from the perimeter. It has been a great relief to me not to have to worry about her getting out and hurting someone.
I have heard about dogs escaping but I wonder if the fence training was carried through. It took a while to train the dog over a period of several weeks - starting just with flags, then with beeps, working with a trainer on at least 2 occasions - I could see easily someone not following through with all of this.
You should be able to consult with the company as to when is a good time to begin training.

AgilityIG

I am not a fan of invisible fences - too many things can go wrong. I want something solid between my kids and the outside world. Also, I am not a fan of "shocking" dogs. This is a good article by Karen Overall:

http://www.dogdaysnw.com/doc/overall_collars.pdf