I was somewhat skeptical whether the inground fence would work for my dog. She is a 5-year old Shichon that loves to chase squirrels, rabbits and cats. We decided to give it a try and installed the system about a month ago. During the initial training I had the collar set to "2" on the 1 to 5 scale and it didn't do much. Then I set it to "3" and allowed her to venture past the white flags. She gave a small yelp and immediately came back in the yard and headed for the house. It took a few days for her to be comfortable in the yard again. But now, a month later, she loves going out and we don't have to worry about her running off. When she sees rabbits or squirrels she keeps a very close eye on them and may chase a little, but once she gets close to the boundary she stops.
I've heard many comments about the RFA-188 battery in the collar not lasting very long so I ordered a couple spares, but I'm still on the original battery and it seems to be holding up great. We take the collar off whenever she's in the house. When she's in the yard the collar takes very little energy since she usually doesn't get close enough to the boundary for the tone to sound. One comment I do have regarding the collar is that it is not very compliant on either side of the control module so it doesn't fit all that well on my dog's small neck (approximately 12" circumference). The module doesn't hang at the bottom of her neck the way you think it would. It seems to work its way up around to the side of her neck. The good news is, it seems to work just as well no matter where it ends up.
Installation was straight forward, although you should allow a full weekend to get it done. The control box allows the boundary zone to be easily adjusted. I have just a little over 500 feet of wire and a setting of a little over 6 gives a boundary width of about three feet.
It is so nice to see our dog running loose in the yard instead of constantly getting her rope all tangled. She really enjoys her freedom. I highly recommend this product.
Update: We've had the fence for 14 months now and are still on the original battery! Can't say enough good things about the quality of the system and how well it works for our pet.
We have 2 beagles whose noses would lead them anywhere. They dag under the chain link fence before, run at the slightest sound to see what it is, so I was leery about this product where there was no "visible" fence to keep them confined safely. However, it works like magic! Once trained (which did not take long at all they figured out that they cannot go past the flags really fast after getting corrected a couple of times), they stay perfectly confined in the little dog area. We were very comfortable taking off the chain link fence and knowing that the dogs would stay put. Even when we are walking around past the perimeter and they want to be with us, they stay behind the flags. When they run after noises, they stay behind the flags.
The only drawback was that the battery for one of the collars was already dead when we got it. Luckily, we received two extra batteries so that was not so much of a problem.
One nice feature is that the collar correction level is adjustable. The beagles didn't even notice the 2 setting but when we put it up to 3, it worked great.
Installation was a breeze. If you read and understand the directions, you will have no problems at all. Twisting the wire is tricky so it may not hurt to purchase a roll of already twisted wire.
Training the dogs ~ well that depends on the dog. From the reviews I read, some dogs figure it out real quick (and minimal training is required). Our dogs were like that. Some dogs may take a little longer to adjust. In any case, it isn't a problem with the system (the system is great) and some extra attention may need to be given to more stubborn dogs.
In sum, this system works and is well worth the investment!
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We purchased this product after receiving quotes for invisibile fences costing $1,300. The instalation is easy and anyone can do it. All you need is typical side walk edger to cut a slit in the ground to stick the wire in. We installed the main unit in the garage and drilled a hole thru the wall for the wires. I purcased conduit separately to protect the wire until it reached the ground. You should also consider purchasing asphault filler to cover the wire along the gap between the driveway and sidewalk. Overall the installtion took me 5 hours by myself with the majority of the time dedicated to putting the wire in the ground. This was easy but time consuming. Training our dog was also very easy and we could let him loose in the yard after only three training sesions. After we installed our fence, many of our neighbors also were convinced that they could do it as well. By doing this yourself, you can realize savings of $200/hr compared to paying someone else to do it for you. We are very satisfied and would recommed this product to everyone with a small dog. One of our neighbors went for the professional installation and had it installed three weeks before we did. Our dog was trained well before their's as their company had to come out each time to adjust the settings on the collar as they we not able to control it themselves. If you have any ablity with tools, you can do this yourself.
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I rarely review items, but this item has changed our lives. We recently moved to a 1 acre yard with a wrought iron fence around the back yard. Our 10 lb., 1 year old miniature schnauzer could walk right between the bars! We spent the first two months after our move chasing our dog around the neighborhood, as she would constantly get loose and make a break for it. We knew it was only a matter of time before she escaped and either was hit by a car, or picked up by someone. The only way we could keep her safe in the yard was to walk her on a leash or put her on a tie out. She was not a happy camper with either option, as she wanted to explore the back yard on her own. I studied the in-ground fence for over a month before purchasing it, deciding whether I could deal with the "shock" aspect of it on our sweet little dog...
After our dog escaped for the last time, I decided to try the in-ground fence. It was very easy to install I used our edger to make a 2" trench and dropped the wire in. You have to make a "loop" with the wire (to end in the same place you start), so I went around the entire back yard and finished by dropping it against the front of our house foundation to get to the back yard again. By running the wire this way, it protects our front door and garage door from her escapes (our dog was an escape artist!). In a few hard to bury places, I used landscaping staples (often used for holding landscaping fabric down) I bought at Home Depot. This keeps the wire low enough to run the lawn mower over it without cutting it.
I watched the PetSafe video about training your dog before we started. Our dog learned so quickly, it was almost unnecessary to follow the steps. Within 1 day, she was trained. The system works by producing an audible tone a few feet away from the wire. If the dog continues and crosses the wire, they will receive a small shock, which you have the ability to set the level on. (I tried it on level 4 out of 5 myself I wouldn't put anything on my dog I had not tried. It did not hurt, but it was enough to make me flex the hand holding the collar. I now keep it set on 2). She learned extremely quickly -Hear the tone, back up! Because our yard has some crazy angles, it did take her a time or two at each odd angle to find the "tone" spot, but within a week, we stopped hearing the tones. She quickly learned exactly where she can go and where she can't.
Something to note In spaces where the wire has no above ground barriers (like an above ground fence), the fence has not always been 100% effective with our dog. In these open areas, she has darted across the wire (she does get shocked, but if she's running very fast, she's on the other side before she realizes it). If she makes it to the other side of the wire, there is no incentive to come back. (in fact, coming back would shock her again). This was the case when our garage door was open, so we had a harder time training her in these open areas and had to increase the shock level to train her there. However, if there is something to slow the dog down (like our wrought iron fence that she had to wiggle through), she never escapes, because she would have to stay too long in the "shock" zone and receive multiple shocks.
We've had the fence now about 4 months, and the battery just needed replaced (we never turned it off). It was very simple to do on your own using a Sanyo CR-1/3N CR-1/3N Photo Lithium Battery ($3 at Walmart). The collar seems to be pretty durable; it has been in the rain and mud and continues to work without fail.
In short, we love this product. It has allowed us to give our dog her freedom. She runs anywhere in the backyard, without us worrying about her escaping. Since she has had the collar, she has never escaped out of the backyard, even when temptations like squirrels and cats were outside the in-ground fence zones. While we continue to leave the shock level on low as a precaution, often the audible tone is enough to make her backup to the allowed areas of the yard.
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Installed the fence myself over Christmas break. Edger was very helpful for breaking ground. Still used square shovel to deepen and spread trench. Establishing the trench is time consuming, but makes installing the wire easy. I followed the directions and was careful not to damage the wire. I bought extra wire and flags at Lowes since I was encircling 2 acres.
I tested the collar which worked fine and placed flags every 12-15 feet. I have a very independent and stubborn 7-pound Miniature Pincher. I didn't have 3 times a day for training, but took her along the boundary edge every day in beep mode for 2 weeks. And then began walking her straight to the boundary and pulled her back when collar beeped. She didn't begin backing off on her own until I set the collar for shock mode. The 1st level was way too mild, so I used the 2nd level. She learned fast that beeping means shock next. I didn't use treats outside, simple praise and a treat on coming in doors. The 4th week, I let her go on her own. She blasted through the boundary twice. I took her to the spot she crossed and made her get shocked twice. The next day, she blasted through the boundary again. This time, I set the boundary width to the widest setting (10) and set the collar on the 3rd level. Then I took her where she crossed and let her get shocked once. She has only tested the boundary one more time. She was getting shocked so I called to her to "come here" which she never does outside, but this time she ran to me. She goes out at least 4 times a day and doesn't go near the boundary.
She is very happy to be off a cable and enjoys romping around the yard on her own. She can finally run as fast as she wants and bounce over obstacles, including me. I am very happy to see her happy and not worry about the road and chasing after her when she gets loose. We both have new freedom. She is also more obliging and has finally relinquished her alpha status. The flags are going to stay put for awhile.
I did test the collar on myself. After all, I am the parent and need to know how it feels. It is a shock not unlike what you would receive from a spark plug. Anyone who has worked on mowers knows that tingle. I felt the shock was more startling than painful. It makes you reflexively pull back, but there is no pain in my opinion. Maybe I have a different definition of pain. I can absolutely say there is no lingering pain. I have heard of collars that cause pain much like a taser, but not this collar. I know because I tried it on myself.
In summary... well worth the money and hard work of installation. I was very worried about all that money and hard work going to waste. Not now, I am very happy. Please take your time with your dog and be patient. Mine took about 10 shocks, only 2 on the third setting. The fence was installed 4 weeks ago by me.
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I was very satisfied with this harness when I first took it out of package. It was just what I was looking for very sturdy and well-made. I got it for my 22 pound jack russell mix. Well, I thought it was great until I tried it on him. I adjusted the straps and it fit him very well, except for one area. The second strap went right over his, well, let's say if my dog was a female, it would have been a perfect fit. There was just no way getting the second strap buckled and adjusted without it being right over his boy part. So unfortunately it is useless to me and my dog. But, I repeat, if I had a girl dog, we would both be loving it. (I also want to add that this probably won't be an issue if you have a medium or large male dog, probably will just affect the small male dogs.)
