Electric dog fence. Westernpetproducts.

orchidsrpretty · 02-04-2020 1:44am #1

I’m thinking of buying above to give my dog a bit more freedom in the garden. I’m looking at the one sold by ‘western pet products’ any feedback? They are almost a third of the price of the next one up so wondering if they are as good as they claim?

For background: we live on a 2 acre site which would be impossible to secure. Dog is a great digger, neighbour complaining that she goes into her garden and barks at her. Currently when she goes outside I put her on a 15m tie out cable but occasionally she will get out and can take up to 30mins to get her back in house. Recall training goes out the window when she gets free! She’s a 10month old golden retriever.
I don’t like the idea of the shock collars so open to suggestions!

tk123 · 02-04-2020 9:24am

I don't want to be preachy so forgive me if my post comes across like this. It's just that my 6 year old retriever died 3 months ago and we are still devastated. Don't risk your pup getting injured/knocked down/taken off you - cherish her and put some time into training her and building up a bond with her so he won't be off trying to escape.

Does she NEED to be out - my guy just wants to be with us and Lucy as the same - they'd rather be in snoozing? Your girl has zero recall by the sounds of things so giving her extra freedom isn't a great idea imo. Would you look at maybe having a pen for her instead that way at least she's safe and sound. Depending on your current situation you may have plenty of free time to make one yourself lol

deadlybuzzman · 02-04-2020 9:38am

orchidsrpretty wrote: »

I’m thinking of buying above to give my dog a bit more freedom in the garden. I’m looking at the one sold by ‘western pet products’ any feedback? They are almost a third of the price of the next one up so wondering if they are as good as they claim?

For background: we live on a 2 acre site which would be impossible to secure. Dog is a great digger, neighbour complaining that she goes into her garden and barks at her. Currently when she goes outside I put her on a 15m tie out cable but occasionally she will get out and can take up to 30mins to get her back in house. Recall training goes out the window when she gets free! She’s a 10month old golden retriever.
I don’t like the idea of the shock collars so open to suggestions!

I'm zero use to you as regards the fence, but I was in an even more precarious situation where I lived in a house that was literally a couple of feet from the road and sandwiched between fields of purebred cattle worth a fortune and were owned by trigger happy farmers. If the dog got out and was seen in a field it was dead no question.
What I noticed pretty quickly was that harder I ran her the more happy she was to come back inside afterwards . I literally could open the boot and she'd take herself in for a drink and then to her bed.
It's like a post I seen lately about everybody now having to stay at home "now I understand when the door opens, why the dog charges out the door!"
If you have 2 tennis balls you could try it even today, keep throwing balls (with plenty of small breaks so she catches her breath) until she starts to lose interest, that might be 30-60 mins.

See how that goes, hopefully it could be an instant fix!

volchitsa · 02-04-2020 5:03pm

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

I'm zero use to you as regards the fence, but I was in an even more precarious situation where I lived in a house that was literally a couple of feet from the road and sandwiched between fields of purebred cattle worth a fortune and were owned by trigger happy farmers. If the dog got out and was seen in a field it was dead no question.
What I noticed pretty quickly was that harder I ran her the more happy she was to come back inside afterwards . I literally could open the boot and she'd take herself in for a drink and then to her bed.
It's like a post I seen lately about everybody now having to stay at home "now I understand when the door opens, why the dog charges out the door!"
If you have 2 tennis balls you could try it even today, keep throwing balls (with plenty of small breaks so she catches her breath) until she starts to lose interest, that might be 30-60 mins.

See how that goes, hopefully it could be an instant fix!

With Covid I've had to change my dog walking habits. She now does a lot more free running around off leash (she got plenty of off leash time before but not as much and never from start to finish of a walk) and I find an hour's walking off leash in the countryside, where she's always nearby but always exploring, leaves her completely wrecked. It's odd because she's a very energetic dog who can do ball catching for an hour non stop (and running kilometres to do so, as I normally throw with a ball thrower down on the beach, but can't justify going there these days).

So now we've stuck with off leash walking around where we live, but because there are almost no cars we can go just about everywhere. I'd never have thought it was enough, I thought she needed to run or to chase a ball, but actually it's great.

She comes in and flops down for a couple of hours after that.

Then she's ready for her second walk of the day!

So yes I think plenty of exercise is the key, but (surprisingly to me anyway) it doesn't have to be mad running, it can also be freedom to go where she's interested in going (while following the path I choose, she doesn't lead to that extent!)

Sorry I can't help with the dog run - my only experience of that is my brother in law had one for a husky, and I don't think it was any use except to not leave the dog in the house when they were out.
Nothing like the dog being out mooching around a safely enclosed garden.

[Deleted User] · 02-04-2020 5:49pm

orchidsrpretty wrote: »

Dog is a great digger, neighbour complaining that she goes into her garden and barks at her. Currently when she goes outside I put her on a 15m tie out cable but occasionally she will get out and can take up to 30mins to get her back in house. Recall training goes out the window when she gets free!

Putting aside the cruelty and the fact they can cause more issues than they solve, if your dog is that ^ keen to escape, I sincerely doubt the shock collar will keep her in. If she sees something stimulating enough (maybe a cat?), she will take the shock to get to it. Taking the shock is not worth it to return home though. This is something that happens very regularly. I follow most pounds and shelters and see dogs arriving with those collars on regularly.

I'd suggest a large pen also, keeping her inside with you a lot, putting her in the pen for some part of the day and spending time in the garden with her playing for another part. Obviously walks and when all this is over long walks and maybe look at having just a section of the garden fenced in if you can't do the whole lot. (You bring wiring under the ground to prevent digging out).

orchidsrpretty · 02-04-2020 8:05pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Putting aside the cruelty and the fact they can cause more issues than they solve, if your dog is that ^ keen to escape, I sincerely doubt the shock collar will keep her in. If she sees something stimulating enough (maybe a cat?), she will take the shock to get to it. Taking the shock is not worth it to return home though. This is something that happens very regularly. I follow most pounds and shelters and see dogs arriving with those collars on regularly.

I'd suggest a large pen also, keeping her inside with you a lot, putting her in the pen for some part of the day and spending time in the garden with her playing for another part. Obviously walks and when all this is over long walks and maybe look at having just a section of the garden fenced in if you can't do the whole lot. (You bring wiring under the ground to prevent digging out).[/quote

Thanks that was the info I was looking for.
She’s spends most of the day indoors but like a potter in the garden/ play time. She loves playing ball and digging holes.
She doesn’t try to ‘escape’ rather go into neighbours garden and bark at their dogs (6!) who live in a kennels . The neighbour complained (rightly so) so when she is off lead( kids think it’s funny to open the door and let her out) it turns into a big game of chase which can last up to 20-30mins as I can’t leave her to come back on her own accord which she would normally do.
Currently the tie out cable works and she is happy with the space she has. I was worried the electric fence wouldn’t contain her and would be a waste of money. Long term obviously the goal is to have solid recall but we are not there yet so was just trying to come up with something in the mean time.

I don’t think we need a run? Is it better to restrict her space? Like she’s not a rouge she waits at the door for me to attach her tie out cable etc, just when the kids let her out she makes a beeline to the neighbours kennels and all hell erupts with the barking.

tk123 · 02-04-2020 8:31pm

For the recall I'm guessing running over there, having a bark and then having you going trying to get her back (possibly making a commotion because you're stressing out/embarrassed) is a great game and really rewarding for her - so you need to think of something that will top that. Bailey will do anything for food, Lucy valued a game more so i'd have a squeaky ball tug toy- the squeaky to get her attention and then have a game of tug with me which she loved. Get a whistle, blow it and use either food or a special toy only for this purpose.. and repeat repeat repeat inside over a couple of weeks - by then she'll come running when you blow the whistle because she knows she's going to get loads of praise and have a treat/game with you.. then you can move it to outside on her tie out/long lead..and practice practice practice.. At least then you're building up a solid recall and she'll be able to hear the whistle over any barking and over a good distance. I don't think I actually trained Lucy to the whistle - she just knew from Bailey that it meant stop what you're doing and run back! My friend's dog even comes when i blow it lol :pac:

the beer revolu · 03-04-2020 11:00am

OP, perhaps you could train your children not to let the dog out against your wishes?

[Deleted User] · 07-04-2020 11:47pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Putting aside the cruelty and the fact they can cause more issues than they solve, if your dog is that ^ keen to escape, I sincerely doubt the shock collar will keep her in. If she sees something stimulating enough (maybe a cat?), she will take the shock to get to it. Taking the shock is not worth it to return home though. This is something that happens very regularly. I follow most pounds and shelters and see dogs arriving with those collars on regularly. .

The fence ones appear to often have this reasons for getting bad reviews. I’m fairly sure the one my neighbour had didn’t work like this as he had no “fence”, it was proximity to the base esentially so there was no escaping it. Go too far you are shocked and only way to stop it is to come back.

His very energetic working collie never ever escaped even with sheep yards from his zone. If this type can be easily got would appear to be a far better buy.

kylith · 08-04-2020 11:10pm

Exactly the type of thing I can see causing a panicked dog to keep running running.

orchidsrpretty · 13-04-2020 4:25am

Thanks for all the input. I’ll go back to the drawing board and try come up with something. I did cut a path from our garden to the river that runs behind it and was able to re direct to there when she made a run for the neighbours garden so maybe when I can get proper training it will work out ok without the need for shock collars etc.

Electric dog fence. Westernpetproducts.

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