invisible fence

[nb11]

Does anyone have an invisible fence that they use with their hunting dogs? I am thinking about getting one of the hardwire invisible fences....not one of the kind that just plugs into a wall outlet and works at a radius from the wall unit. I'd like the opinion of anyone who has one of the wire-in-the-ground kind.

My situation... I have mountain ground behind my house. I thought about running the wire across the top of the ground. Maybe dig the leaves off the surface and re-cover with leaves after laying the wire down. The ground is mature woods and is too rocky to think about digging for an in-ground wire. Do you think squirrels, coons, or other animals would bother the wire?

Thanks

[Checkpoint Beagles]

I have a invisible fence. I've never tried my beagles with though. My pitbull stops dead in her tracks, even chasing deer and squirrels. If you try it, make sure you go through all the training. I don't believe antthing would bother the wire.

Tim

[nb11]

how do the batteries in the collar work? do you put them on a recharger every so often? How often?
Do you know what brand you have?

[Steve Shipman]

Collars work on a watch battery. Pet Safe is what I have. Use it on the house dogs but not my hounds. Wouldn't want my beagles getting zapped if there happens to be a rabbit running through the yard. JMO.

[nb11]

Wow. May make me sound stupid, but I didn't think of that. I really don't have any rabbits here at the house, so it isn't a big deal. But about the time I hook one up, I'll have a rabbit move in. don't want to chance it. Thanks

[B-man]

Collars work on a watch battery. Pet Safe is what I have. Use it on the house dogs but not my hounds. Wouldn't want my beagles getting zapped if there happens to be a rabbit running through the yard. JMO.

Wow. May make me sound stupid, but I didn't think of that. I really don't have any rabbits here at the house, so it isn't a big deal. But about the time I hook one up, I'll have a rabbit move in. don't want to chance it. Thanks

I have the wireless unit for my beagles (bought it because it is portable and no wires). We have rabbits in the yard everyday, my dogs will run the track to the border and stop before getting zapped. If you do all of the training the manual says to (it is a big commitment) your dogs will learn to respect the boundry- trust me.

If anything, the boundry teases your hounds and makes them hunt harder when in the woods with you

You will hear people say they have dogs that will run right through the fence, but IMO they were not trained properly or have a lack of intelligence. If this becomes a problem (it is for a friend of mine) you can put the collar around the dog's waist and they will NOT cross. It looks funnier than hell but works!

I will never kennel my dogs again. With the wireless unit, the dogs can have free roam of a 1/2 acre. The best part and main reason I bought it is because I can unplug it and bring it to the cabin and let them run around with no fear of them dissapearing!

The ONLY negative about the petsafe wireless system is that you have to change batteries about every three months, so you spend about $1/month for each collar. To me this is way easier than maintaining a kennel and picking up poop. Plus your dogs get to run around, getting much more exercise than a dog trapped year-round in a little 4x10 above ground kennel. IMO the dogs are also much happier being able to run.

If you were a dog which would you prefer, 40 sq.ft or 21780 sq.ft.?????????????

p.s. a few of the wired system use a rechargeable collar. As for the wire above ground, a friend of mine has it that way through his woods (because of roots/rocks) for 3 years with no breaks.

[Hare Hawk]

I have the invisible fence brand with a hard wire. A friend of mine installed it. I don't think that I will ever own a house without it again. Once you make the initial investment of buying the mother board and the collars it is really cheap to buy new wire if you would ever move from home to home. My collars run on a special battery and you buy a plan through invisible fence. They send you a new battery about every 90 days. The unit and the collars have a life time warrenty and if a collar is ever broken or chewed through or if you run it over with your truck they replace it no questions asked. (my dog wasn't wearing the collar when I ran it over) They can install the wire above ground if needed but you might be surprised what their trencher can power through. I have a lot of rocks in my yard and they chewed right through them. I have rabbits in my yard all the time and my pup makes sure they never stay very long but she won't cross the fence to chase them. It doesn't effect their hunting in anyway. It is really important to follow a good training program and make sure that you don't just turn the dog loose to figure it out on their own. I really like the hardwire unit and decided to go with it because I heard mixed reviews about the wireless units. My buddy had one and the field size kept changing for some reason. Anyways his dogs got scared and never left the edge of the house. With the hardwire unit they can only get a correction in one place. I have to say it is some of the best money that I have spent.

My buddies company once fenced in 20 acres for a lady. Most of the wire was above ground. He covered the cost of the wire because he wasn't sure if it would work. Worked like a charm.

[j243whitetail]

I would use it with caution. We used to use them with some of our hounds. If they saw something they wanted to chase they would take the hit and keep running. One of the dogs we had acctually would sit at the boundray where the collar would just beep and not move untill it stopped beeping. Once it stopped beeping and the battery was dead he took off. We gave up on it and just keep the hounds in kennels now.

[rubline]

I'm another one that loves the system. My hound has run a rabbit before and stopped right at the line. She carries on just like if a rabbit went thru a farm fence that she can't get thru. Proper training is everything. Trained mine at 3 months with the invisible fence and believe me she knows her bounderies. It has not affected her hunt at all when out in the field. She knows the dfference between being at home verses loading up in the truck and going hunting.