I basically have a square lot with the house in the center. We need the fence on three sides but not the fourth, which is a wood fence the dogs like to lean against to get out of the sun. I do not have enough room on one side to just make a double loop back (don’t have 9 feet before the yard area) so am trying to figure out how to loop wire down the ’shade’ fence.

I am thinking of making one large loop, then making another loop that is twisted out to that shade fence, then twists up and down that side to fully deactivate it. The question: can I run a twist involving three runs of wire instead of two: the main loop line, plus the second line that is fully twisted either on itself then the main line, or just fully braided with the main line?

Thank you.

ADMIN – Hi Tim,

Unfortunately twisting three wires will reactivate the line. There is really no way to avoid having a full loop of active single wire. If that shade fence is high enough (6+ feet) – one thing you could do is run the wire along the very top of that fence. The vertical height over the dogs would let them go right up to the base of the fence without getting the correction.

ADMIN – Hi Mike,

You have two options:

(1) Use one of the Pawz Away Outdoor Zone Pods – and create a small loop just across the driveway entrance. This option will be a lot easier and cheaper. But, the outdoor zone systems are not quite as high quality. I would try this option first.

(2) Use a Full System – you would run twisted wire from the transmitter (in the house or garage) out to the driveway, then do a small loop at the driveway or gate area.

The small loop would just cross the driveway at the point you want to block them, then cross back somewhere six plus feet away. This small loop will create a barrier. The dogs do not need to be contained in the loop, you can use the loop as a barrier too.

We recently purchased a Petsafe fence for our German Shepard. Our neighbor already has an electrical fence installed along the property line. How close to the neighbors fence can I place our fence? Also, if I want to try the back yard installation over the back of the house, how high up does the wire need to be so the dog can enter the house safely? Thank you

Sheryl

ADMIN – Hi Sheryl,

You want to keep your fence wire twelve feet from the neighbor’s fence wire. Otherwise you will get the two fences interfering along the common boundary and neither will work on that common boundary. Another option is to use the Perimeter Technologies or newly updated SportDog SDF-100 – these systems let you adjust the transmission frequency so that you can avoid interfering with your neighbor’s system.

The vertical clearance you need over the dog depends on how wide you have the boundary set up. I like to add three feet of safety space to the boundary width. So if you want the boundary to be four feet wide, I would want seven feet of clearance over the dog’s head to be comfortable with the installation.

ADMIN – Hi Joan,

Elevating the wire to the top of the fence is a great way to reduce the distance that signal travels. If the fence is six foot high, I might turn down the boundary width to 3-4 feet just to be conservative and give hte dog a bit of a safety buffer when walking on the pathway.

ADMIN – Hi Charlie,

Sometimes the height of the car above the ground lets you drive them over without triggering the collar. But this is hit and miss. I like to play it safe and always take the collar off the dog before taking them for a ride in the car.

ADMIN – Hi Laura,

You can use a system the opposite way to most people to keep the dog away from the house. This is usually very easy, and requires even less training, because the dog cannot run through the boundary and gets the correction continuously untill the retreat back away from the house.

You just install the wire, around the perimeter of the house, put up the flags, and then train the dog in much the same way you would if you were doing containment.

ADMIN – Hi Paul,

That’s not a solution we believe can work. The system only works in a continuous loop. 800 feet of wire isn’t a problem. Most of the systems like the Innotek 4100 have a capacity of 5,000 feet of wire. The difference in cost between running 400 and 800 feet of wire is around 20 dollars.

ADMIN – Hi Samantha,

If you’re dogs stay in the yard 24 hours, when you go to work contain the dogs however you were containing them before. If you need to crate or chain them, do it … it is a lot better than the dog continually escaping and being put at danger, it is just a short term measure.

As for the collar, you can try leaving the collar on 24/7 – lots of people do and it creates no problem, but be careful and check the neck every day for the first two weeks, then every week – a small number of dogs will get a skin reaction.

If you want to exercise your dog during training take the collar off and carry the dog over the boundary, or put them in the car and drive them over. You have to do something that makes it clear it is a very different context. Once they are trained we can train them to go through normally on command.

ADMIN – Hi Destiny,

There’s no distance limitations with twisted wire, so 30 feet is absolutely okay.

When we bought our house about 10 years ago it already had a hidden fence system, but we didn’t get a dog until about two years ago. By now, I have probably severed the line in a few places during various landscaping projects. Is it worth the effort to try to locate and repair the disconnects or just start from scratch? Also, assuming I can get the line fixed, will it work with any new system I buy?

ADMIN – Hi Steve,

I recommend installing new boundary wire. It’s not worth the headache in time and energy to repair an old boundary wire. If you rent an EZ Trench TP 400 or TP 300, you can run your new wire in half a days time. This trencher will dig a 3″ trench, lay the wire, back fill it, and make you a sandwich. While, I can’t guarantee the sandwich, I’m certain it will do the first three very well.