Dog fence advice (Electric)

godskitchen

Hello all,

I need to keep my 2 dogs from wandering, they have now killed sheep twice and only for a very understanding neighbour they would both be shot by now.

Needless to say I can have it happen again.

We do keep a very close eye on them but I cant be sure they wont get away again.

So I am looking for advice on fences, electric ones. I see there are two types, the wired, which you put along a boundary, and a wireless system which corrects the dog if the signal gets weak.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

peasant

Used to have a wired one before we had the money to put up a proper fence.
It's better than nothing, but it's not reliable. Any dog with a strong enough urge (and I would put experienced sheep chasers under that heading) will outwit / ignore the fence sooner or later and just go wandering again.

A proper dog proof fence is the only secure way to keep them in.

Glowing

Have they been neutered? Might help the urge to wander ....

irish setter

electric fence is not the answer, one power cut and they are gone. neutering prob wont stop the urge once they got the taste for blood. if it were me i'd be thinking the fairest option for all parties would be to put them to sleep.

stevoman

godskitchen wrote: »

Hello all,

I need to keep my 2 dogs from wandering, they have now killed sheep twice and only for a very understanding neighbour they would both be shot by now.

Needless to say I can have it happen again.

We do keep a very close eye on them but I cant be sure they wont get away again.

So I am looking for advice on fences, electric ones. I see there are two types, the wired, which you put along a boundary, and a wireless system which corrects the dog if the signal gets weak.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

Hi,

what brreds are they so we can ascertain what type of fencing would be most appropriate, or i hate to say it, maybe what type of actions you may need to take against the dogs. Of course they are your pets and your babys at the end of the day so the decision will lay ultimiltly with you.

carwash_2006

If they have killed before there is no way that the shock fences will keep them in. You have 3 options, build a completely secure fence and that will be a fairly tough task, rehome them to an area with no farm animals and secure fences or put them to sleep.

I would not normally be putting forward the option of pts, but where they have killed already, unless you can provide the most secure fencing available it will only be a matter of time before they kill again and or get shot by a farmer. You cannot blame the farmer either, it is his livelihood he will be protecting.

raclarke92

Hi guys i have a two year old west highland terrier, and im running out of things to do with her she is a nightmare, she chases car, she attacks children, and she refuses to come when i call her, im thinking about getting one of those electric fences but the thing is i have half an acre of land and even with the fence i still think she could find a way to get out...there are lots of hiding spots she uses that would not be covered by the fence, and we also dont have a gate on our drive-way does that make a diffrence...is she to small for it ???


Please help me A.S.A.P.

tootyflutty

We have three dogs, one a small terrier and two dalmatians, in our full acre garden. They work to a certain degree, and not all stop working once the electricity cuts (as stated by someone else in the thread), but if you do not bury the wire you really have to be careful of cutting it with the lawnmower as we soon learned.
Our dogs were very quick to learn the boundaries, and not because of shocks, beacuse of the beeps. On the other hand our dogs stand as far out as they can without getting shocked, so the battrey wears down very fast due to the constant beeping.
Also we had a problem with our dogs chewing the collars off eachothers necks :rolleyes:, but a bit of vicks vapour rub or mustard on the box quickly sorted that out.
Another problem was that our dogs spontainiously decide to bear the pain and get through, but really only happens when we are away for full days. try and block off most gaps in your garden, with chicken wire or boarding if you can and then lay down the wire.

MoonDancer256

raclarke92 wrote: »

she attacks children

You need to try correct that behaviour before there's any serious attacks resulting in your dog getting put to sleep. Fencing the dog in is a good start, but you should also get her some professional help if you can't stop the aggression yourself.

Inexile

I would forget about the electric fence and invest in a secure dog run that way you will know exactly where the dogs are at any time. it can take time for the dogs to be trained to the fence and in the meantime they could get out and attack again. (Look at the cilldara dog run website.)

Godskitchen - as you know you dogs are on borrowed time. even if you put up a run all it takes is for someone to forget to close it properly once and you dogs are out. I would seriously consider rehoming one or both of your dogs to a less dangeours environment for them. I know that is hard. Is one of your dogs more of a wander than the other - could you even consider rehoming one and keeping one.

Green Hornet

We have an electric fence and it works great with a boxer. She has a big area though, 3/4 acre or so and she was trained when still young.

To be honest, I know it's not what you want to hear but to me there's really no option other than put them to sleep if they've killed before.

Even for your own peace of mind. Not a nice thing to have to do though and I empathise with you.

Call me Socket

Godskitchen & raclarke92: If you can't provide secure fencing/enclosed garden and a safe environment for your dogs, then either keep your dogs indoors, or build a decent sized dogrun and bring the dogs out on lead for exercise twice a day. Westies only take up 18 inches of floor space, so it's do-able.

Electric fencing is barbaric imo. Grab a hold of an electric fence yourself and experience the feeling.
Besides, unless you put those collars on every roaming dog in the area, how are you going to prevent other dogs coming into your garden to fight with yours?

Irish Setter: Dogs don't get "a taste for blood", that's a myth. My dogs are fed BARF and I'm sure that if there was any truth in the taste for blood thing, then my cats and family would have been savaged long ago.

Green Hornet

Call me Socket wrote: »

Electric fencing is barbaric imo. Grab a hold of an electric fence yourself and experience the feeling.

In fairness it's not barbaric. The dog isn't going around getting shocked routinely 500 times a day :eek:. One (regrettable) shock at time of training is sufficient. The warning beeps and vibrations associated with the collar are enough to prevent the dog going near the perimeter again. At least that's my experience anyway.

To be fair though if the area in question was small I would not employ the electric fence either. I'd go with chain or some other suitable type of solid fencing.

If a person has an acre of ground you cannot possibly fence it sufficiently. The dog will find a way out. The electric fence is ideal for a larger area as it covers 360 degrees.:)

Call me Socket

Why did you get a dog in the first place with full knowledge that you couldn't provide a safe outdoor area for him?

You don't have to fence the whole acre....wouldn't a quarter of it be affordable to secure? 2 daily walks would suffice to use meet exercise requirements. Or is it that you want the dog to have the full acre cos you expect him to exercise himself?

tootyflutty

Call me Socket wrote: »

Why did you get a dog in the first place with full knowledge that you couldn't provide a safe outdoor area for him?

You don't have to fence the whole acre....wouldn't a quarter of it be affordable to secure? 2 daily walks would suffice to use meet exercise requirements. Or is it that you want the dog to have the full acre cos you expect him to exercise himself?

We fence our whole acre, because we don't like to keep our dogs sectioned to one area, we let them have full reign of the garden, aswell as exercising them. Don't you think it would be crueler to have a bit of grass sectioned off and them not knowing why this bit of grass is any different to that bit no sectioned?

And youdon't need to worry about affordability, the roll of wire we got in the pack was by far enough to do the whole garden and at least half as much again! So when the wire is there, why not let them have the space they enjoy to run around.

Call me Socket

Aaargh, I'm getting green hornet mixed up with the OP!!:D
No I don't think it would be cruel, being electrocuted is cruel. Anyhow, dogs don't think like we do....they don't think that the grass over yonder is greener. I'm not talking about a 5'x5' area, a quarter of an acre of fencing is a viable option if fencing off the whole garden isn't an option. It's a damn sight better than having no fencing, or electric fencing, imho.

wexford202

I had one of those collar things for my staffie and they are super cute. He will walk up close to the fence just until he heard the beeping noise and then sit there until the battery runs out and then bolt.

I have a horse fense with a wire fence on bothe the inside and outside of it so he cannot ecape now. Three years and never a break away since!

Sigma Force

There can be problems with any kind of fencing but I don't think the elec one will work in ops case esp. regular high timber post and rail with chainlink might work but dogs can dig underneath over time but it usually works for most dogs.

I would suggest getting a large dog run and also fencing off the garden, you need to triple the security in your area so there is little room for error.

What I would do although it's going to be expensive is timber post and rail with chainlink or closed panel fencing. Then a large dog run that is on a patio or concrete with a top on it as well and a shed or kennel in it for them as large as possible. Also doubling up on gates, having a double gate system to prevent escapes.

If you can't afford all of that, understandably it's so pricey for anyone, then a large dog run would be the safest and most sensible method because at the end of the day if your dogs have killed sheep you don't want to risk any escape and it's the most secure method as long as the run is good quality.

Plus plenty of walks, the down side is they won't be able to use the garden until it's fenced off and doggy proof. But as a temp measure a dog run is quick to put up and it sounds like you need to get something sorted asap.

Hope that helps

cilldara.ie is one place for dog runs but there are a few other crowds as well that do them

looserock

The op is from June 2008.

misseyd

just wondering why people get dogs and don't train them?? you MUST train a dog if you want to keep a dog..

star-pants

Please don't drag up really old threads without a decent reason, and take care to read forum charters and the full thread before posting. Thank you.