The use of dogs for therapeutic purposes has expanded in recent years well beyond just use with the deaf. Therapeutic dogs are being used to help people with mental illness such as anxiety, people with diabetes, and people who are prone to seizures. One reader recently explained how his family is planning to use a service dog with their son with autism, as both a companion and to help keep his son safe, and the unique challenges this poses when containing the dog. Specifically, a service dog as well as being contained needs the ability to go wherever it’s master goes. You don’t want the service dog for example being unable to follow a runaway child all the way to the edge of the property.

We recently purchased a dog (future service dog). My 7 year old son has autism. I am hoping you might be able to answer my questions. Before I ask you the technical product questions I will begin explaining the need/purpose for a service dog for our son. My son loves to be outside. While we try to monitor him closely, we cannot watch him every second he is outside. My wife may be inside doing house work cleaning up one of his many messes or we may even be outside with him doing yard work, but he is fast and can disappear quickly. Unfortunately we live off a county highway and my son is starting to venture off the property. We have a fence along the highway side and back side of our property. We are correcting him when he leaves the yard and working with his therapist to change that behavior but we are still worried about him leaving the yard. We have discussed fencing off the entire property and even installing a remote gate for the driveway. This is a very expensive option with no real assurance it will keep him from leaving our yard. If fact, he is very active and a great climber! He can climb fences with ease. We have looked at other options like GPS monitoring and other similar systems that would alert us if he has left or attempting to leave the yard. Not as expensive but still does nothing to actually prevent him from leaving our yard. After much research we have learned of autism service dogs. We have talked with several people around the country who have trained dogs for children with autism. After explaining to them our situation several trainers recommended the Australian Shepherd for such circumstances. We have been told this breed is a natural herder and may be trained to “corral” him within our yard, possibly blocking him form leaving the yard, or at the very lease bark when my son attempts to leave the yard. Currently there are no service dogs being training for “herding” purposes. There are a couple of pilot programs taking place but those dogs won’t be available for at least two years. The cost of a fully trained service dog is over $20,000. These reasons are why we purchased our own dog and hired a professional trainer. We purchased a puppy last August and are going through all the dog training. He has left the yard on several occasions. Not surprising, he is a very curious puppy. One amazing thing is he seemed to know immediately our son was special needs. He treats him very gently. He already is flanking him all around the yard. While things are going well we would still like to install an underground fence for the dog. I know that this fence will prevent the dog from following our son out of the yard. Our dog trainer and my son’s therapist think this type of system would be best for now. They plan on working heavily with our son on not exiting the unfenced side of the yard. He never has shown interest in the front street (the only unfenced side). He is more interested the the fields and woods which are fenced. I am sorry this e-mail is so long winded, but I feel it is important you know the entire situation. Now for my questions to you.

As I mentioned, our 2-1/2 acre property is fenced on two sides and this spring we plan to add a fence to a third side. The front will not be fenced. I have read on the Internet that people still install the underground fence on sides of their property that have existing fences. My question is: If there is an invisible fence installed where an existing fence is, will my dog get corrected/shocked just walking up to the fence? With our dog being a future service dog, he needs the ability to follow our son everywhere within our yard, which means up to the fence lines. The system I am interested in purchasing from you is the Innotek IUC-4100. It has an adjustment for the field width. I assume for systems that are installed next to an existing fence you adjust the field width as small as possible. But what about properties that have some sides fenced and some unfenced like mine. I need the field width larger on the sides without a fence. Is it possible to have the system set at a high field with on the wall mounted transmitter and after the boundary wire runs past the unfenced property side to reduce the field width by installing something in line at the beginning of the fenced side. A resistor or potentiometer maybe?

That is wonderful that the dog can provide companionship for your son. There is an inherent tension in using a dog fence to contain the dog, but also let him have full access to wherever your son can go. Electric fences do all need some kind of buffer zone.

First, putting in an inground system is absolutely the way to go. Wireless dog fences are just too vague to make sense where you want a crisp boundary.

There is no way to make the boundary width narrower in some areas than others. There are a few tricks that achieve a similar end. For example, placing the wire on top of the fence rather than on the bottom, effectively reduces the field width because the signal needs to travel an extra distance down to the dog’s neck level where the collar is located. If the fence is say six feet high, and you have the boundary width set at say 3 feet, the dog could get all the way to the edge of the fence without getting the correction (because the signal would not reach the ground).

The other solution is to either not lay the wire in the fenced section, or to find a kind neighbor that will let you lay the wire in their yard behind your fence.

My intuition is that a resistor will not cause a reduction in the signal in one particular area, rather a general reduction across the entire area.

Hope that Helps

Stu.

Usually you can run the wire unprotected through the ground and across a driveway. The boundary wire is surprisingly durable and can even be run above the driveway unprotected without succumbing to breakages. (although it will wear out sooner). But, gravel driveways are an exception to this general rule. With gravel you want to use a pipe or other conduit to protect the dog fence boundary wire.

We have two gravel driveways that need to be crossed with the wire. Due to a rough winter (lots of snow, thus plowing, melting, and some rutting) I am concerned with finding the best way to bury the wire. In a garden hose? Then buried 6 inches? PVC Pipe? Or can the wire take being buried in gravel without any protection – it seems it will damage it?

How does one get the wire fed through the PVC or garden hose? Unfortunately the wire is in the middle of the spool so that would be a few hundred feet of threading or is it ok to add another splice for this purpose?

When running wire over, under or through a gravel driveway, the wire needs to be protected otherwise the sharp shards of gravel grinding against each other when you drive over can break the wire or wear it down quickly. Wire is typically protected using PVC pipe or a garden hose that is buried just below the surface. (one inch down is fine). I find garden hose easier to work with, but if you expect to be running other wires through this conduit, you are better off putting in the larger diameter PVC pipe.

It is easiest to run the wire through the conduit before it is laid down. You can either feed the wire directly through the conduit, or use fish tape for longer runs. Run the fish tape through the conduit, then securely fasten the boundary wire to the fish tape using electrical tape. Then gently pull the boundary wire back through.

Where possible I will try and avoid creating another splice point as these tend to be weak spots in the system. But, certainly breaking the wire a few feet before and/or after the conduit section and splicing it back together is no big deal.

Can you use an pet containment system designed for a cat on a small dog?  We don’t really have a good answer, but are hoping some of you might have some ideas.

Hi Stu,

I have what might seem like a strange question. First a little background.

We just went through a tormenting 2 days with a lost and treasured Yorkie ( our two other monster dogs have not caused us a single moments stress ). The angels shined on us and we found her. We cannot go through this again.

Cost is a concern, but we are willing to take the bullet. However, unlike many stories ( with owners with great open expanses ), our dogs have a 1/2 acre safe fenced in back yard to play. The only area of concern is the front of the house where none of our dogs are allowed access unleashed. This most recent escape was a result of a guest not
securing our front gate and our not double checking.

In other words our need is purely as a back up on, hopefully, seldom escapes such as these. We are vigilant but…

This has no relevance to my question, but I prefer providing some background to illuminate our needs.

It seems that the options are very limited for small dogs.  Is there any reason why I couldn’t opt for the larger choice of cat fences on the market ?

While the cost are comparable, it seems that the options expand, such as not having to deal with proprietary batteries while keeping the most critical factor intact which is collar size.

My dog is not larger than a big cat and while it is likely that shock strength is weaker on the cat collar, I can’t imagine that the impact would be very different if my breed of dog is comparable, in size, to a large cat.

I appreciate your kind advice and thank you in advance.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

I am afraid I don’t know too much about the cat fences on the market. I always thought there was only one – the PetSafe?  I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t use a cat specific model … but again I don’t know much about how these work.  The main concern I would have is that I speculate without knowing that they correction level is very low,
but that does not seem to be an issue here.

Unfortunately with dog specific models, there is only one good option for small dogs (under 12lbs), the PetSafe Little Dog.  Other fences are just too big and the correction too strong.  It is a great system, but it’s achilles heel is the battery which costs about $10 and lasts about 2 months.  You can squeeze out a third month if you switch it off every night, but that is still not great.

Stewart Aldous
Customer Specialist
DogFenceDIY.com
(678) 389 6661

As the northeast gets a last bout of winter, we have a few tips for keeping your dog healthy in the snow:

1. Keep your dog inside where possible.  The cold temperatures can cause a dangerous situation more quickly than you can imagine.  Even sitting in an idle car for too long can cause your dog to start entering hypothermia.  This is particularly the case on cold windy days when the wind chill brings on hypothermia even faster.  This advice applies double for puppies, and older dogs.  This is not the best time to try out your new dog containment system for extended periods.
2. If your dog spends a lot of time in the cold, particularly if they are a working dog, increase their rations temporarily for the winter.  In particular try and increase their fat and protein intake.  A bit of olive oil and an egg on top of their kibble helps give them that extra nutrition to get them through the winter in tip-top condition.
3. If you live in an area where there is a lot of salt use to thaw out roads and pavement, be sure to clean off your dog when they come back inside.  Your dog’s love of salt, plus their desire to keep them self well groomed can lead to the ingestion of all sorts of nasties.  So best to clean it over before it goes in their mouth.
4. If cracking paw pads is a problem, monitor the situation carefully and preemptively strike.  Keep paws dry, by wearing doggy booties, or use Vaseline to keep pads supple.

Finally, have fun.  Check out this great pictures of first dog, Bo Obama playing in the winter snow. (Courtesy of Huffington Post)

Bo Obama Playing in the Snow

.

A common question is whether you can mix systems together, so use say an Innotek Collar with say an Invisible Fence system.

Can I use one of the Innotek 4100 collars with my Invisible Fence? I just got a rescue chocolate lab, and I want to be able to have a rechargeable collar and be able to set the shock level myself?

Sam
Houston

Hi Sam,

For the most part there is no compatibility between brands. So the Innotek IUC-4100 collar will not work with any other system, and in particular will not work with an Invisible Fence system.

The single exception is the SportDog and PetSafe. You can use a SportDog SDF-100 system with any PetSafe inground system collar. Similarly you can use the SportDog collar with any PetSafe system.

Hope that clears up the compatibility issue.

Stu

*The Invisible Fence Brand is a trademark of Radio Systems Corporation. This site is not affiliated with Invisible Fence. Invisible Fence denotes one brand of underground pet containment system. Other pet containment brands include Innotek, PetSafe, Humane Contain, Perimeter Technologies, Dog Watch, Dog Stop and Contain a Pet.

Do you need to take the dog around to every flag when training a Dog on an underground electric fence? Our dog fence training protocol suggests you move the dog to different sections of the installation each time you do a training session. But do you need to take the dogs around to each and every single individual flag?

I am very interested in installing an underground electric fence for our dogs. I do have a concern about training though. I want to fence in about 5 acres. The front boundary, which is the only side where there is a public road, will also have regular fencing and the driveway will be gated. I want that to keep people from driving in while the dogs are loose and also to give a little extra protection to be sure the dogs don’t make a bolt for the road. My land is somewhat steep in some areas, though I can get up there for the installation. The dogs LOVE to run and play on the hills, so I really want to be able to give them access to those areas. My concern, though, is with the training part. Will I have to cover the entire boundary with them, multiple times daily, in order to get them trained or do they learn to respond to the flags without having to be physically taken by a handler to each and every flag?

I have five dogs. Like I mentioned, some of the areas are rather steep. I can get up there for installation and to put the flags in place. But I just don’t think I could possibly have the time or stamina to individually train all the dogs to the boundary, having to take them around 2-3 times a day on a leash. I know that I could give them the time daily to get used to the flags in the more accessible areas, for a couple of weeks.

My two leader dogs are already somewhat familiar with the areas where they will be permitted because I have used a training collar with them to help keep them under control and they respond well to that. The other dogs tend to stay with those two, even without a correction collar on. For the underground fence training, do the dogs ever respond to mentoring by other dogs?

I do not intend to ever leave the dogs loose within the fence without supervision. I’m just looking for a way to keep them within certain limits, on my own land (not bothering the land surrounding me which is leased by hunt clubs) when I am out with them or when I am working at my studio which is away from the house.

I’m really hoping that we can find a way to make the underground fencing work for this set-up. The expense of regular fencing would be prohibitive and it would be extremely difficult to install regular fencing in some of the areas anyway, even if cost were not a factor.

Thanks,

Kim

Hi Kim,

You don’t have to take the dogs to each individual area. Just use different areas when you train (you want them to learn that the rules apply wherever there are flags, not just in one specific areas). As long as you do a bit of training in a few different areas they should learn the general rule that wherever there are flags, you should keep away.

That is why you will often also see the dogs avoid any type of flag (e.g. a construction flag).

There are a few areas where I do want to specifically take the dog. The driveway, where there are often no flags, due to the difficulty of putting flags in the ground is one area where I want to make sure to train the dogs, and where the dogs often are used to entering and exiting. Similarly, any other spots you think may need special attention are worth spending some time training your dogs. But, otherwise dogs will generally make the cognitive leap from the specific rule to the general when training on an underground electric dog fence.

Dogs will often take their lead from other members of the pack. They don’t so much learn the system from the other dogs, so much as they don’t want to wander far from the other dogs, and if the lead dogs don’t go past the boundary, they won’t either. But, this is certainly not the case for every dog. Some dogs, especially young males just like to wander on their own. It is good to at least give them a bit of training from you to reinforce the message.

Bob Holmes
robert@dogfencediy.com

http://www.DogFenceDIY.com

The Doritos ad that aired during the superbowl reminds us of an important principle when training a dog in using an electric fence. In the ad, a dog wearing an electric bark collar approaches a man for a corn chip. The man taunts the dog and tries to get the dog to bark in exchange for the treat, hoping the dog will get shocked. The ad ends with the man getting his comeupance when the dog puts the collar on the man and barks.

When you use a electric dog fence collar, you are in a position of trust that you must be careful to exercise carefully. Now, no mentally healthy person would never deliverately try and shock their dog for entertainment, but they will often create a similar result by leading the dog over the boundary on a lead all for the sake of training, to show the dog what not to do. This is not a good idea, you may teach the dog where the boundary region is, but you are also training your dog not to trust you.

When you are in the training phase, it is important that you never induce the dog to get a correction in a way that might compromise your trust with the dog.

For example, never call the dog across the boundary. As the dog should never get punished for following your instructions, nor ever have reason to doubt your instructions. In the training always let the dog make it’s own decsions as to whether to cross. If the dog does not cross

Daddy, the Pitbull often featured on the Dog Whisperer has sadly passed away. Fans of the show like us will remember Daddy as Cesar Milan’s model dog – the archetypical calm submissive dog. Daddy projected an amazing energy of being calm yet confident, and very self assured.

Daddy was often used by Cesar to model postive behavior to guest dogs on the program. What is truly remarkable is that Daddy was a pitbull, a breed that often displays a strong agressive temperament. Cesar often uses the example of Daddy to make the powerful point that if a dog is properly trained, with the owner firmly installed as the leader — many negative traits we associate with certain breeds disappear.

Fans of the show may also know that Daddy once belonged to Redman of the Wi-Tang clan, who asked Cesar to take care of him once he realized that his touring schedule was incompatible with responsibly caring for a dog like Daddy.

The announcement is on Cesar’s website here. Sad news of this sort reminds us how lucky we are to share in the lives of our dogs.

Wait a minute there you no good varmints! When I ask how much boundary wire I need, you claim that you need 500 feet of dog fence boundary wire for a third of an acre, but then you say you only need 1,000 feet of wire for a full acre.

… Here’s another comment on your site I don’t understand:
The maximum footage depends on the system. The ones to look at would be the Innotek 4100/5100, the SportDog and the Dogtra. The Innotek IUC 4100/5100 can do 25 acres (5000) feet. The Dogtra EF-3000 can do up to 40 acres (6000 feet). The SportDog SDF-100 can do 50 acres (7000) feet.
So it appears that the limit on the various systems not actual acreage, but linear feet, which makes sense, but it doesn’t seem correct that 40 acres would be only 6000 ft and 50 acres 7000 ft? …
Ann

Hi Ann,

The amount of area that the boundary wire can cover is not linearly related to the length of the wire, it is proportional to the length squared (if that makes any sense). For example four feet of wire can do only one square foot of area. But, eight feet of wire can do four square feet of area. So you have twice as much wire able to do four times as much area. (as if that isn’t enough we round the numbers to the nearest 500 feet).

If you are concerned that we are off (these numbers were based on a square property – more irregular shaped boundaries require more wire … and if you happen to have a circular boundary you will need less thanks to that shape’s optimal perimeter to area ratio properties), pace around the area you want to contain and multiply the number of paces by three to get the number of feet of wire you require.

Also remember that when you lay the wire you will need about 20% more than the linear distance as you will (a) have some slack in the wire, (b) have a bit of waste, (c) have twisted sections, and (d) have the wire wiggling a bit, which all increase the amount of wire you need.

Hope that helps

Stewart Aldous
stu@DogFenceDIY.com
DogFenceDIY.com
(678) 389 6661

A dog fence is occasionally used to protect a house from a dog that scratches as doors or tries to break through walls in an effort to regain entry to the house when left alone. This is often a symptom of separation anxiety, and the underlying condition should be addressed with a good trainer as the first priority. Sometimes especially with a puppy they are just bored and want to chew, and you can help the problem by getting them some bones and a toy they find engaging such as a Kong.

My 1 year old lab has to be left alone in a well fenced back yard weekdays. She attacks the doors and has pulled out the mesh wire from the foundation vents, so I need to perimeter guard the house itself. Since she attacks the doors I need to use the fence to keep her away from them, but I need to use one to bring her into the house. Can dogs be trained to understand that the fence can be on when needed, and when we are home they can be brought in and out because it is now off?
Thanks very much, this site is a wealth of helpful information
Brent

Hi Brent,

You can run the dog fence along the perimeter of the house, just make sure when you set the boundary width that you don’t set it so wide that the dog can get the correction while in the house. The boundary does not need to be very wide when you are training them to stay away from the house, because there is no risk of them running through the field. One or two feet is fine. Then go through the house with the collar / tester and make sure the collar is not activated anywhere in the house.

As to the issue of training, for the first month it is helpful to have very simple absolute rules. So make it simple and don’t let the dog through that back door at all. When you want to take the dog in, either carrying them in if they are small enough, or walk them to the front of the house and use the door at the front when you needing to bring them in.

After the first month, once they have the basics down, then when you are home create some sort of routine. For example, take the dog’s collar off, open the door and let them in. The dog probably will not come in, but you should just put them on a leash and pull them in confidently. It will take a few times, but eventually the dog will learn that when you are home and the collar is off they can go in and out; and when you are not home they cannot go near the door.

Be very careful that you take the collar off every time. If they get corrected coming inside when you say it is ok, it will take a while to get their trust back.

/Stewart
DogFenceDIY.com
stu@dogfencediy.com