Dog invisible fence -- wire recommendation?

We're putting in an "invisible fence" for our dogs. The 500 feet of wire that came with the kit seems flimsy, and I need more wire anyway to enclose the area we're going to fence.

Anyone here have one of these fence setups? Recommendations on wire? We're considering simply staking the wire to the ground around the edges of the property, rather than burying it -- when & if it needs repair, it seems like it'd be easier to locate the damaged wire if it's not buried. Where it crosses the driveway, I'll cut a groove in the asphalt and bury it for that section.

Go with thicker wire (16 gauge); it'll hold up to chewing critters better. Laying it on the ground is just fine; I've got close to five acres enclosed, almost all of it wooded. I just laid the wire on top, trenched my gravel driveway, and called it good enough. It's held up with no issues for five years now.

Be sure to twist the two strands together from the house to the edge of the run to negate the signal; otherwise you'll have a 'hot spot' where the dog could get zapped.

Thanks Flyoverland -- does it matter if I use stranded or solid wire? (figuring that I'll use whatever is cheapest)

I doubt if it matters. Solid might be more prone to breaking, but I really have no idea.

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Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Thanks Flyoverland -- does it matter if I use stranded or solid wire? (figuring that I'll use whatever is cheapest)

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It shouldn't matter. The guage is less important than the outer sheath which should be outdoor rated. Lowes has 500' of 20ga perimeter wire for $26.

Anything that can handle 20,000V. That will make sure the little fucker never crosses it:fm:

Get a regular fence, and an invisible dog.

Solid wire typically is not as flexible (especially the lower gauge) and could be harder to get to lay flat if you are going to not bury it.

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Originally Posted by hutash

Anything that can handle 20,000V. That will make sure the little fucker never crosses it twice:fm:

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fify5678

So you already bought the system it seems.

I would spend the effort and bury the wire, otherwise its going to suck mowing the lawn etc.

Once your dogs are trained to the fence I highly suggest the wireless dog fences....http://www.petsafe.net/products/fenc...ireless-fences

I use the system above and have a DC car adaptor for it. Camping with dogs has never been so easy. You can take it with you when you go see the family, etc. Little bit of overkill since you already bought the hard wire system for home, but I cant speak highly of this system enough if you have a dog that likes to wander. Adjustable radius up to an acre or next to nothing if you have a small yard/campsite.

We bought a Petsafe wire system, with two "stubborn dog" collars (uses regular batteries, not the proprietary Petsafe batteries).

I think I'll just lay the wire on the ground, and secure it with landscape fabric stakes or rocks, wherever needed. No lawn to mow; it's just pine trees, some scrub, and dirt. The only place to be concerned about traffic across the wire is the driveway, but I'll cut a trench into the asphalt and fill it afterwards -- apparently a circular saw with masonry blade works well for this.

We have the "sport dog" training collars for the dogs when away from the house (hiking, camping , etc.), from Tri Tronics. They work well.

Question. Do these things work on dogs who seem intent on devouring wild animals? My dogs have taken off a couple times chasing after mule deer herds in my yard, and thankfully they came back after a few laps around the neighborhood. We're about to move to another house with an unfenced yard, but now there are elk, bighorn, moose, bear, etc running around. One of my dogs used to have the barrier thing that would shock her when she went into the kitchen. Thing was set at full power, and she would just take the zapping to get the food on the counter. Dog doesn't give a crap if the reward is good enough. Dog is 1/2 Weimeraner and stubborn as hell. Feels no pain apparently, or just doesn't care. Seen her rip herself open running through barb-wired fences. Didn't care. Seen her rip toenails apart. Didn't care. Seen her jump off a 10 foot boulder and tumble down a mountainside. Didn't care. Dog is balls to the wall...all the time. Kinda hilarious, but I'm always scared she's going to kill herself one of these days.

Maybe use the invisible fence only while we're home? I'd love to try one, but worried my dogs will take the shock if it means they think they have a chance of getting some big animal.

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Originally Posted by AustinFromSA

Question. Do these things work on dogs who seem intent on devouring wild animals? My dogs have taken off a couple times chasing after mule deer herds in my yard, and thankfully they came back after a few laps around the neighborhood. We're about to move to another house with an unfenced yard, but now there are elk, bighorn, moose, bear, etc running around. One of my dogs used to have the barrier thing that would shock her when she went into the kitchen. Thing was set at full power, and she would just take the zapping to get the food on the counter. Dog doesn't give a crap if the reward is good enough. Dog is 1/2 Weimeraner and stubborn as hell. Feels no pain apparently, or just doesn't care. Seen her rip herself open running through barb-wired fences. Didn't care. Seen her rip toenails apart. Didn't care. Seen her jump off a 10 foot boulder and tumble down a mountainside. Didn't care. Dog is balls to the wall...all the time. Kinda hilarious, but I'm always scared she's going to kill herself one of these days.

Maybe use the invisible fence only while we're home? I'd love to try one, but worried my dogs will take the shock if it means they think they have a chance of getting some big animal.

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I found it is all about the training. An electric fence without training the dog is a crapshoot. We trained ours for almost a month with flags and food. He has crossed the fence twice in 3 years. Once to chase a Coyote another when one of his buddies came buy and taunted him.

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Originally Posted by HD333

I found it is all about the training. An electric fence without training the dog is a crapshoot.

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This


Putting collars on all the wildlife and training them to stay away is another option;)

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Originally Posted by hutash

This


Putting collars on all the wildlife and training them to stay away is another option;)

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Haha. Right on. I will definitely need to train, then. I have a bad feeling one of my dogs is dumb enough to chase after a grizzly given the opportunity. She would DEFINITELY go after an elk. She already loooooves eating their poop. She thought mule deer poop was awesome before. Now she's in freaking heaven.

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Originally Posted by AustinFromSA

Question. Do these things work on dogs who seem intent on devouring wild animals? My dogs have taken off a couple times chasing after mule deer herds in my yard, and thankfully they came back after a few laps around the neighborhood. We're about to move to another house with an unfenced yard, but now there are elk, bighorn, moose, bear, etc running around. One of my dogs used to have the barrier thing that would shock her when she went into the kitchen. Thing was set at full power, and she would just take the zapping to get the food on the counter. Dog doesn't give a crap if the reward is good enough. Dog is 1/2 Weimeraner and stubborn as hell. Feels no pain apparently, or just doesn't care. Seen her rip herself open running through barb-wired fences. Didn't care. Seen her rip toenails apart. Didn't care. Seen her jump off a 10 foot boulder and tumble down a mountainside. Didn't care. Dog is balls to the wall...all the time. Kinda hilarious, but I'm always scared she's going to kill herself one of these days.

Maybe use the invisible fence only while we're home? I'd love to try one, but worried my dogs will take the shock if it means they think they have a chance of getting some big animal.

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Of course it depends on the demeanor of your dogs, but my big ass Dane/Boxer mix likes to maul chickens that wander out of coops and he doesn't fuck with the invisible fence. He did once, on the first day we had it, it shocked him, and he hasn't come within 10 feet of the boundary since.

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Originally Posted by AustinFromSA

Haha. Right on. I will definitely need to train, then. I have a bad feeling one of my dogs is dumb enough to chase after a grizzly given the opportunity. She would DEFINITELY go after an elk. She already loooooves eating their poop. She thought mule deer poop was awesome before. Now she's in freaking heaven.

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You would be surprised how quickly you can train a dog to one of these. Most have a built in beep feature that you train the dog on and they learn based on that. It took us less than a week to train ours. Couple dog treats when they come back after the beep, make sure you walk them around the boundary so they learn the reference points. We just spent like ten minutes every morning and night for a week and were golden. Easy Peasy.

It doesn't matter if its solid or stranded. Stranded is just easier to work with. Your other issue is that animals will want to eat the jacket in the wire, staking it to the ground may not be the best idea. ESP if its near any landscaping, or mowers. You don't have to bury it deep just go a shovels length in the ground and you should be fine. It's a pain, it will save you in the long run.

After ten years of containment by Invisible Fence, my old husky/shepherd has reached the point in life where she no longer gives a shit about things like pain. She routinely walks across the boundary, gets zapped, and doesn't even flinch. She's mostly deaf, so I don't think she hears the warning beep, and the shock doesn't seem to bother her at all. She doesn't go far - just to the end of the driveway and back (about 200 yards) to check her territory - so I don't worry about it.

I thought her collar was broken, so I tested it on myself: Nope, that fucker still works.

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Originally Posted by NmbrdDays

Your other issue is that animals will want to eat the jacket in the wire, staking it to the ground may not be the best idea.

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How big of an issue is this likely to be? Or in other words, what sort of critters want to eat insulation?

^^^ I've had my current system for five years, above ground, with no problems. At my last house I had a system for five years too, this time buried, again with no problems. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you get a short, just go to Radio Shack and get a RF Choke and some waterproof splices. You put the RF Choke inline on your fence and use an AM radio to find the short.

Invisible Fence charges $100 and it's really easy to do yourself.