The dogs are fine in the backyard by themselves, I just leave bones for them and they slepp most of the day.

I'd be bulding a 8 foot wood fence with a border on the top so that they could not climb the wall, since the Mal is training for french ring.

I think i'll be fine once I get the wood fence built up.

Helps for the help

I've got vinyl coated black chain link. It looks good and is effective. You can look around and maybe get a deal on it. 180'x 80'(attached to the house with 2 gates) cost me $4,800 installed, worth every penny, especially in the rain and the extreme cold, then we watch them right from in the house. Just another option to consider,
AL

Before I bought my house I lived a few miles away in another neighborhood where the people across from me had an invisible fence for their Pitt Bull.
The dog stayed in the yard until the battery died on it's collar. I was driving into my driveway on my motorcycle and this dog charged at me trying to bite my leg.
This dog, as it turned out, was vicious and had no fear of anything or anyone. The police were called numerous times and Animal Control came out so many times they finally told the dog's owner the next time they had to come out, they were taking the dog. These people finally moved away and so did I.
The invisible fence IMO has two flaws. It doesn't work if the collar battery dies of course and it doesn't stop people from going into the dog's yard. I would imagine that if the dog has a high prey drive, the electric charge may not stop the dog from leaving the yard.
Take out a loan and put up a wooden fence. You will be glad you did.

Wow, i keep hearing about the battery dieing. How long is the battery life? (dont take it the wrong way, im for the wooden fence too

The invisible fence system we have was from a company that sells, installs, and helps train the dogs/owners. Before the battery on the collar dies, it flashes and we haven't "missed" changing them. Those batteries are not that expensive and we change them every 3-4 months.

The system itself has an alarm to let us know if there is a break in the system and we know it works after doing some landscaping work that tore through it. It is attatched to the wall in our garage.

The owner of the franchise has been out on numerous occasions when we've had issues and have had to upgrade collars, replace collars etc. and the customer service part has been great. The collars were waranteed for one replacement (the original cost per xtra collar for having more than one dog is around $225).

Our neighbor who installed his own invisible fencing did not have all of these options and his dogs got out all the time.

The one thing I don't like about having the invisible fence is that other dogs can come into the yard. We don't leave the dogs unsupervised because they are usually out with us, crated, or in the house under our feet.

We still walk our dogs and just carry them over the fence line (collars off) and then back over. They tested the system when they were younger, but we've managed to not have problems since.

I should put that we live on 2.3 acres so wooden or chain link fence was VERY expensive compared to invisible fencing.





Edited by Lisa Simms (08/25/2007 09:08 AM)
Edit reason: add comment

Lisa,

I deffently think this is good for larger areas.. not really "yards" glad to hear that it has worked out well for you!

 Quote: michael west

Wow, i keep hearing about the battery dieing. How long is the battery life? (dont take it the wrong way, im for the wooden fence too

I've had my E-fence system for two years and I've replaced the battery in one receiver (we have 2) in that time. The receivers have a red light that blinks when the battery is getting low, so unless you're blind it should never "suddenly" die. (You get about 2-2.5 days from the time it starts blinking until the battery actually stops working. You can also buy a spare to have on hand.) The system sounds an alarm if there is a line break and we bought a power surge and lightening protection package since we often lose electronics via lightening. Either the storms haven't been as bad or this is a really good system because (knock wood) we haven't had any problems since it was installed.

I LOVE my fence system! We did 6.5 acres of very rugged farmland and it works like a charm. No, it won't prevent wildlife or strays from wandering into our space, but my dogs are never out alone so that's not a huge issue for me. I used to have 8' traditional fencing. Over the years several critters (both domestic and wild) got in and a few of my dogs got out. If I have a choice I'd rather deal with the (very rare )intruder than come home and find my dogs have escaped.

I have ACDs, which are notorious for having an off the Richter pain threshold. My male hit the barrier twice. It turned him back instantly and he's never tested it since. I've watched him chase a herd of deer the entire length of our pasture, stop four feet before the fence line and watch the deer continue on their merry way. He will not cross the line for anything unless you sit him, remove the collar and say "exit." Then he will cross the line with you. (The fence company provides unlimited training and support for the lifetime of the fence and your dog.)

Initially my female was immensely intimidated by the fence. She wanted no part of being anywhere near it. However, six months later she was the one who grit her teeth and ran through it. She did that once and has never done it again. We upped her collar setting and increased the warning (tonal) boundary by another foot. Now she hears the warning signal a little further out from the actual line, which gives her a little more time to hit the brakes and think about what she's doing. This has worked beautifully. The fence has over 200 programmable correction levels .... you can find a setting that works for any dog! The collar also comes with several different types of prongs .. from rubber tipped training prongs to the 1" stainless steel prongs my dogs wear. The dogs can't "beat" the system by holding their heads in a manner that prevents the receiver from picking up the signal or any such nonsense as that. The distributer for the fence said that since he started selling this product he's had only one dog that he could not reliably contain. I belive him!

Get a good quality system. It makes all the difference in the world.

Cher

FWIW, in the picture below my two ACDs are watching our horses, who are running around on the other side of the E-fence ... which is just off the edge of the picture. Believe me, without a 100% reliable containment system there's NO WAY I'd let these dogs play ball, Frisbee, and do agility in a yard that borders a pasture!