Keeping puppies in the yard

Sometimes, plugging holes, or making your fence higher, just won't do.

Some dogs climb fences. Very, very well. I don't have a video of mine - but there are plenty of videos of dogs climbing fences on youTube.

I hated the idea of an electric fence. Inflicting pain - even in quick little bursts - is not my idea of a great approach to training a puppy.

However - some puppies are just so ~talented~ that there really are few other choices. Fortunately, the same dogs that are so good at finding ways to escape are also typically bright enough to learn very quickly that going past the click (or beep) warning that the collar provides is a bad idea.

My cockapoos have managed to escape several times - through, under, and finally - when we blocked all of those tricks, over the fence. We were able to stop one of them by adding a couple of boards to the top, and removing the snow at the bottom. But the other, once he knew that it could be done, was bound and determined to figure it out. It only took him a day or two after the last round of repairs and he was off.

So - our choices were a leash (with 2 dogs, that is a constant problem - they get tangled. And they hate it!); a fully enclosed kennel (still a possibility, but expensive and unsightly for our yard - and rather defeats the purpose of having a fenced yard, doesn't it), or the electric fence.

We have not yet buried our wire (we're waiting for the snow to melt) but it works very well. It really is a simple system, and while there are companies that will install one for you, most home-owners probably really do not need the extra expense.

The kit we bought comes with a transmitter, wire 500m of wire, and a collar; additional collars are available for second dogs. The transmitter is plugged in inside the house; the two ends of the wire are easily clipped into it. One thing to be careful of is to make sure that the wire running into the house is fully twisted - that cancels the signal so - assuming your untwisted wire is far enough from the house, your dogs won't get zapped while inside - even right at the transmitter.

You will want to test the system - thoroughly - before subjecting the dog(s) to it - as there are settings that need to be adjusted to ensure that it works properly for your dog. I wandered around with the collar, setting the flags (which my dogs have no interest whatsoever in) just inside the clicking range and managed to avoid any shocks at all (hubby was not quite as careful!).

There IS training required - in addition to the booklet that the system comes with, there are videos available on the manufacturers' website - but the instructions are easily followed. My two caught on quickly - and have given up on the jailbreak thing altogether. He still CAN go over the fence - he's shown me a couple of times - but he stays within the electric fence and comes right back over when he's called.

IF they were going to get shocked regularly, I would have concerns about this system - but the point of electric fences for dogs is that they learn NOT to go there so - after the first time or two - they are not getting shocked.

An occasional zap is, I would think, a lot less painful than many of the things that could happen!