I have two Alaskan Spitz on six acres of chainlink fenced land. I also have ten cats the two dogs have pretty much raised like their own and they are all crazy about each other and are all "outside" animals. Normally the dogs are well-behaved but they have thick fur to match some thick headedness, and are stubborn as mules when they want to be.
A while back people began moving into a new adjoining subdivision, and also began letting their dogs roam freely despite city ordinances. Of course, it was too much for my dogs to see other dogs roaming freely where they couldn't go. Soon they started getting out and learning how others got around fences. I finally had to chain them inside my fence, to keep them home after having never had any problem like this from them in the past. Of course, the cats went everywhere and the dogs wanted to follow them, but mostly only because they are protective of them. At least the cats know to stay in the yard when other dogs are around.
I tried various training, changes to my fence, a cattle fence with a charger, and nothing worked very well. Desperate, I decided a shock delived at the appropriate time was the only thing that would work. I was right, but it took a strong one to penetrate my dogs thick fur, and I was having to stay with them to administer it. After a week, they realized I had to be there to stop them from leaving, so I again had to chain them. The male was the most stubborn and I was eventually able to unchain the female, but anytime I took him off the chain both of them would leave.
Then I happened across this Petsafe Stubborn Dog In-Ground Radio Fence System at Amazon.com. I learned It was capable of covering all of my chain-linked fenced area and purchased it. The supplied 500' of fence wire wasn't sufficient, but I had access to better and less expensive wiring. I ended up tying 1500' of Ethernet cable (I had somehow ended up with years before) to the bottom of my chainlink fence and finished the distance with RG-6 cable purchased at a local Lowes. After soldering all the Ethernet cable wires but one to the center wire of the RG-6 cabling, I connected the cable ground and the remaining Ethernet cable wire together and insulated my connections well with electrical tape. This gave me the one continuos ground loop I needed and also a means of grounding the cable better against electrical storm surge in the proximity wire. Where it crossed the drive at my powered privacy gate, I buried the cable in a steel pipe and covered it with concrete.
I next set up the controls inside my home and adjusted the unit and collar using the provided test tool and 9 volt battery provided for the collar. Following the instructions, setup was easy and I set the boundary width control knob at 7 where my dogs would be stopped about three feet short of the fence itself. Since I had used about 2200 feet of wire, I set the units boundary control switch on its side to C. Greater than 2400 feet of wire requires setting A and less than 1300 feet is setting B.
I then went around and checked every point of the perimeter, and found the signal was strong and uniform everywhere. The collar has five settings levels for training and use. I set mine to level three and placed the collar on the male with a leash and walked him to the fence. At about three feet from the fence, he looked at me a little puzzled, but walked right on up to the fence. Irritated, I checked the collar was making proper contact and turned it to level 5. This time he walked within the three foot range and he yelped, and I instantly pulled him back away from the fence, consoled him and told him to stay back from the fence as we walked near it. We walked the entire fence, with me deliberately having him get close enough for a shock at different points. By the end of our walk, he wanted to stay away from the fence. I lowered the collar level to three and turned him loose. Within five minutes I caught him leaving. Okay, back to five. I turned him loose again and this time I saw some other dogs approaching from the other side of my fence. My male of course headed toward them. But, this time he abruptly stopped just short of the fence and yelped. I called him away and told him he would get a shock every time he got too close to that fence. Five hours later, he tried it again three times at different places. Eventually, over several days he got the idea. I lowered the level again, but he wouldn't go close to the fence even if I tempted him with a treat.
The next day the female left. When she came back, I tied the male and put his collar on her. One jolt at level three was enough for her as we walked the fence and she realized she would be yelping if she got near the fence, just like her brother had. After that, the collar warning tone and vibration setting was enough for her. Smart dog, she hasn't left again even after I removed the collar and placed it back on the male and removed his chain.
I forgot to turn it back up, and again I caught him leaving. I had to put it all the way back on five for the hard head before he got the idea to again stay back when he heard the warning tone but he kept trying it. Only after several months training was I able to lower the shock setting on him again, but at least I was finally able to start decreasing the level. I had hoped I could remove the collar altogether one day, but my one hard head still leaves if I set it under level three maybe one day. At least the female no longer attempts to leave, and the collar is keeping the male in. But, I do have to keep check on the collars battery and replace it when it starts getting low.
The collar has two metal prongs that deliver the shock. You can order a longer set of them for better contact, but I just continued using the shorter ones that came in the package. I also haven't shaved any hair from my dog for better contact with them, and I don't intend to. He needs to wear the collar all the time, and I don't want him to get any irritatation from it. So far he hasn't had any signs of skin irritation and I don't expect that to happen.
The really great thing is both my dogs can again enjoy freely roaming the six acres with the ten cats they treat like their babies.
After five months of use, the Petsafe unit has been no trouble and is continuing to do what it was needed for. I'm still hoping to eventually turn the collar down to level one where there is just a warning tone and vibration. But, I'm wondering if I'll ever get it there and still keep this stubborn dog of mine in the yard. I guarantee it wouldn't work at all with this male Alaskan Spitz, and only maybe with the female if there were no chain link fence. But, it does work in combination with my fence, and it is keeping my dogs inside and away from harm. That's a huge relief not worrying about them now.
With the ability to use the number 1 setting to only deliver a tone and vibration using the collar, I believe this would be a good solution anyone could use with their pets especially if theirs aren't very stubborn. Before I had these two Alaskan Spitz, I had another for many years. She never left the yard even if the gate was open. All I had to do with her was tell her this was her yard and to stay away from the gate in front. I really believe a little training using this unit with a ground wire alone, and the tone and vibration setting on the collar would have been enough to show her the boundary and keep her at home without any chain link fencing. But, I put the chain link up to protect her and all the rest of my pets and property. I never had any idea the chain link wouldn't be enough one day. At least I found Petsafe.
Update 9/12/2010
After following an Amazon "recommended" link, I saw a review on the PetSafe RF-1010 transmitter used with this containment system. After reading it, I took a look at the circuit board to verify the obviously missing protection circuitry within the unit. Probably all that has saved my unit are the facts I used a separate ground on the perimeter wire and a $12 TII 325-2M outside-grounded signal circuit protector where the wires enter my home, normally used by phone companies, and have the unit power adapter plugged into a GFCI protected wall outlet. If you use this unit, I strongly urge you to use such protection for longer lifespan against voltage line surges and spikes in the RF containment loop and power supply.
Noticeably missing, but provided for on the circuit board, were an outside ground, two diode type transient voltage suppressors, and a fast blow fuse and holder. Still, weak protection at best but missing.
9/14/2012:
After my male Spitz passed away, I purchased a large breed German Police dog. I would have gotten another Spitz, but I was tired of deer that had started entering my property and destroying shrubbery, my garden, and fencing. The deer weren't afraid of my Spitz dogs, but they don't want anywhere near my German Police dog. Trained from a puppy, my Police dog stays inside the boundary fence, and the deer stay out but I keep the collar on setting five and the perimeter boundary turned up as he can easily jump a fence. For an aggressive large dog that will eat a trespasser or stranger up, he gets along fine with my female Spitz and the cats. I sure don't want him to go outside the fence, and I have posted warning signs along my fence. The PetSafe fence still works great the way I installed the boundary wire, and the perimeter ground wire protection and power protection I provided have prevented any damage to the unit despite severe lightning storms that have taken out trees that have knocked the chain link down at times. Even with the chain link fencing down, My German Police dog has stayed inside the boundary while the chain link was down, and the (PetSafe) boundary has stayed active (the larger perimeter [boundary] wire I used along the bottom of the chain link has remained unbroken when the chain link has been damaged).
We have a 6 foot stockade fence on a .5 acre space that we thought would be sufficient with a 3yr old Husky and a 1 year old Golden Retriever. We had constant issues with them digging holes at the base of the fence to escape and chewing on the wood. I ordered this system as a backup to deter them from doing any more damage. I found it was easy to install right to the outside of the existing fence without the need for a lot of wire burying and we were able to setup the collars and start training the same day. I placed the flags visibly along the inside perimeter of the fence and made sure to point them out to the dogs during the training. It only took one or two warnings from the collar to correct their behavior. Collars have 5 settings so it is easy to adjust the level of correction based on the size of dog and the thickness of their coat. The Golden Retreiver responds to the lower settings where a full grown Husky may require level 3 or 4. Base unit has an adjustment for proximity to the wire so you can create a boundry several feet inside of the fence if needed. Just make sure to adjust the flag placement to avoid accidental correction. My advice would be to fully read the directions prior to setting up so that the learning process for the dogs is done properly.
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Purchased on 4/16/10. System fried out by 6/25/10. Installation was easy enough just time consuming.The dog quickly adapted and stayed within the confines. However, the system decided to crap out on us. After calling petsafe they insisted that the wire was broken somewhere. So in response to this we purchased a "Wire Break Locator" made by petsafe. We found nothing. Again for a second time I called petsafe only to be told again that it was the wire. So for a second time I took it upon myself to go out and purchase new wire. I did the loop test which intially gave me a good test. The problem, when I laid all the wire and made it back to the transmitter and connected it, the device would only work intermitently. It would at times be silent with both lights on indicating that the loop was good and at other times it would suddenly just start beeping with one of the lights off for a good minute before silencing again. I attempted to reconnect the wires several times only to have the same thing happen again and again. Frustrated and mad that I had spent all that time and money I returned the product and will now refuse to buy any petsafe products and will deter others from doing the same.
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When hubby and I bought the house last year our only option for our inside/outside pups was a temporary rope in the back yard. Our goal was to fence in the back to give them room to run but the price of that was just going to be so high I didn't know when it would actually be possibly. after about 6 months or walking them outside and letting them out on the rope we decided we really had to do something different.. it just wasn't fair to them (or our grass) to put them on ropes.
We went to Lowes and bought what our neighbors have, the Petsafe Wireless containment system (runs about ). Our neighbors and good friends of ours have one and love it so we figured we'd give it a try. But our yard is a bit of an issue for this and it didn't work out quite as we'd hoped. Our yard is long and narrow and the containment system goes in a radius so to stop them from going into the neighbors yard meant they didn't have much room in the front or back. So we took the system back and got the underground fence system. I knew this was going to require a lot more work but it was our only option with the layout of our property.
It took us a day and a half to dig the perimeter with a sidewalk edger and shovel and bury it. It was not a fun experience and I hope to never do it again (I hate yard work more than anything). But it was so worth it! We put the collars on the pups and walked them around the perimeter where the flags were to give them an idea of their boundaries. We would let them walk up to the line when it beeped and pull them back. After doing that for awhile we let them go into the area a bit more so they could realize that the beeping led to a nice shock. It killed me to hear them yelp like that though, I hated it, but it had to be done. We did this for a few days to get them used to it then decided to let them go on their own and experiment.
Well my poor Penny girl is a bit slow and just wasn't understanding the concept at all... she went into the boundary and when it beeped I called her back but she didn't listen and got shocked. Bad part was she still didn't know what to do so she stood there for a minute getting shocked until she realized to run back. Now this killed me... every time I heard one of them yelp I felt horrible. The shock does not hurt them like you think it just stuns/scares them. It has to, that's the only way to detour them from crossing the line.
After a few days on their own they quickly picked up where their boundaries were and learned that when they heard the beep to jump back and they'd be fine, no shock. The shock doesn't occur unless you keep going after the warning beeps. So about a week or two into it they had it down pat, they knew their limits and Oscar boy thought he would get smart (he's really too smart for his own good). He thought if he pulled all the little flags up that the line would go away... wrong.
It's been a few months now with the system and I couldn't be happier with it and for them. They finally get to run and enjoy outside and everything around. Oscar knows his limits so well that when he sees our neighbors come home he runs full speed to that edge of the yard and comes to a skidding stop right at the line and sits...we literally have a skid mark in the dirt there from him doing it so much. I used to see him test it every so often, sticking his neck out across the boundry to see if it beeped and it did. After about a month he quit trying to test it.
And we took them out of the yard for the first time since installing it, had them on leashes without the collars and they refused to leave their perimeter. They did not realize that the collars were making the shock, in their little minds they will get shocked no matter what and i'm okay with that train of thought!
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We also had the same issue. Worked great for a few months and then many components inside the transmitter blew up. Left burn marks on the wall, really just happy the house didn't catch fire.
Went to Lowe's and purchased another one a few months after once the dog figured out he wasn't going to get shocked at the boundary anymore. When I got the new package home I discovered someone had purchased that box already and opened it very carefully with a razor and switched out the transmitter with their burned out one. I could tell because the smell of burnt electronics was very strong. I'm on my third enlistment as an Air Force electronics tech and believe me I know what magic smoke smells like.
Anyhow back to Lowe's for a refund which they provided and back to the rack to purchase a new one. The other two boxes on the shelf were taped back together and one of the collars was even covered in dirt which tells me several people have made the old switch-a-roo on this product. Before I even start looking for a replacement I want to review this one poorly so you know what you're getting.
Keep searching. One that is grounded and has internal protection would be a much better option. This one is crap.
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I am a dog walker and use many different types of collars for client's dogs, however, this one really works great. I purchased the leather collar for my lab 5 years ago and still am using it, she is 12 now. It worked great when we first started using it and she became conditioned to the sound of the chain and now we still use it and she cannot slip out of it. I can't tell you how many people just use a regular collar that is very loose and dogs can easily slip out of them, not with this collar. We need to keep our pets safe and in our control at all ages and this one is great!
