Gun Dog Forum

I have a 1 year old GWP. He and my 10 year old Choc Lab took off this past weekend and were gone for over a day. Luckily someone found them over 8 miles away. We keep the GWP in a pen during the day when we are at work and when we get home we typically let him out and he plays around the house. My wife wants to get an underground fence for when we get home so he can still run around. I have 2 questions. First is for those that have this set up what are your thoughts and do you have any tips. Second, I am just about to start collar work with him using Perfection Kennels … would the stim collar for the underground fence confuse him when we start doing stim work with his training Alpha collar?

Have you looked into some ecollars with geofencing features? You can set a perimeter using GPS and it will notify you and apply stim when the dog tries to leave the perimeter. Not sure how reliable it actually is cause I've never used one, but it might be worth looking at. Probably alot cheaper than installing an underground system.

Underground fencing works great until the power goes out or the dog's learn they can just run through it. It will not interfere with EC training.

I like having a physical barrier to keep other animals out, as well as my dogs in, if unsupervised. A friend of ours who let their dogs wander around their property 24-7, had a dog killed by a couple pitbulls that were wandering the area a few months back. Another friend almost lost a dog to a big cat while unattended, it’s alive but it’s hunting days are over. I have lost a dog to a coyote when I lost tack of her for a short time while at work in the wine vineyards. It was an avoidable lapse, therefore it was my fault as the owner. Hard situation to think about, harder discussion to have with the family.

They don’t get to run free unless they are in a fenced yard or I am with them with a gps and training collar on. I would be willing to wager they get more off leash time than most because of the later.

Another consideration is the batteries on the collar and having a collar on a dog for extended periods of time. Those prongs can do a number on a dogs neck if properly secured and in place for extended periods of time.

Garrison

I'm with Garrison. Underground fences do not keep other dogs from coming in. It is also quite possible that a young wirehair would get agitated by something outside the fence and barrel through. Further, he will pick up the habit of mindlessly barking at passing animals or people.

How long are you planning on staying in your house? I spent a fair about money to put up a 6' wood stockade fence quite a few years ago. Railroad ties around the bottom. The fence has needed some repairs -- replacement of 4 x 4 fence posts and boards over the years--- but I have never regretted spending the money. You won't, either.

How about the wireless fences by PetSafe?

https://store.petsafe.net/fencing/wireless-fences

I used underground fence many year ago. It worked very well for controlling the dogs. The deer would break the fence in the woods when they were searching for acorns. I would take the collars off and walk the dogs to the training field. The dogs never crossed on their own. Occasionally I forgot to take off the collars. the dogs got jolted pretty hard. I did not like that. The collars had batteries that were expensive and did not last real long. Lighting burnt out the transmitter a couple times. Other than that it worked quite well. It did require maintenance and was a bit of a PIA.
I never leave the dogs out when we were not home and, in my area, loose roaming dogs are very rare so the was not an issue.
I definitely would prefer a fenced yard. But at that time the cost was prohibitive.
One thing, it has been a long time since my dogs were in the fence, and all the dogs that were are gone. The dogs I have now hardly ever cross the boundaries established by the fence.......Cj

Ontariofella wrote:Have you looked into some ecollars with geofencing features? You can set a perimeter using GPS and it will notify you and apply stim when the dog tries to leave the perimeter. Not sure how reliable it actually is cause I've never used one, but it might be worth looking at. Probably alot cheaper than installing an underground system.

I have one and it works very well. GSP never leaves the yard. He's home all day with a dog door. Knows exactly where the boundaries are and also knows he can cross when the collar is off.

There is a minimum size yard, not sure what that is. There can also be issues if your house is close to another one.

I love ours. He roams free on 3.5 acres.

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That's great that has worked out so well for you. I'd never leave my dog ouside when I'm gone though; already had one great dog stolen.