ADMIN – Hi Craig,

The SportDog Collar is going to work well with the Pit Bull, but is going to be too big for the Shih Tzu. For the smaller dog, you can use a PetSafe Little Dog collar that is much smaller and has a proportionally lower correction. The PetSafe collar will be compatible with the SportDog system.

Admin- Hi Sally,

Yes, both frequencies will work with the SportDog Collar. The collar is always looking for either frequencies. If you change the frequencies on the transmitter, nothing will need to be done to the collar.

ADMIN – Hi Joshua,

The SportDog Fence should work well with the Husky, just be sure to use the long prongs and make sure you are getting good contact with the skin – it will be a little tricky the first few times because of that thick undercoat.

With the Jack Russell, the SportDog collar is going to be too big. If the Jack Russel is under 12 lbs, use a PetSafe Little Dog Collar. If he is over 12 lbs, the PetSafe Deluxe collar is cheaper, has less expensive batteries, and has better battery life. The PetSafe inground collars are all compatible with the SportDog Fence.

For 5 acres, you will need about 1000 additional feet of wire ($60). Add in the extra $100 for another collar and you should just squeak in under budget.

ADMIN – Hi Katie,

Unfortunately, you cannot use the SportDog remote training collars with the dog fence system. All the systems require a dedicated dog fence collar.

With a GSP, the Sportdog SDF-100A will work nicely. You should also consider the PetSafe Stubborn (very similar, but lower capacity – not an issue for 1 acre, and a little cheaper). Or the Innotek IUC-4100 (a little more expensive, but a smaller and rechargeable collar).

ADMIN – Hi Karen,
You can expect a boundary radius of 10 plus feet. Yes, you can absolutely run it through a water hose sink it the pond. Note that when the pond is 15 feet deep, they will be able to swim across out of range of the signal. Also, there is a slight signal loss for submerged wire. The radius will be about 10% smaller than in other areas of the boundary. This should be the same for ice as well, depending on the depth. For 40 acres, we do also recommend upgrading to as large of gauge of wire as possible. This will provide the strongest wire and should not experience breaks from ground shifting. We offer 14 gauge wire which is the largest gauge this system can handle.

ADMIN – Hi Steven,

Unfortunately it will not. You’ll need insulated copper wire (direct burial) for your dog fence.

I have contemplated fencing the complete property, but that is very expensive. There are some t-posts marking the property line, but I need to add to those and install at least 5 1/2 foot tall field fence.

I’m not convinced he needs a full 20 acres to roam when he isn’t perfect about coming when called, and potentially out of sight because of the forest, so am thinking about wiring up approximately 4-5 acres. Given I want him to have full freedom in the yard and a trail that I use regularly, I’d be weaving most of this through the woods and am thinking that stringing it above ground with t-posts might be easiest, as well as help find breaks. I read how to use a conduit for crossing the driveway already- thanks.

1. Which system would you recommend?
2. Pro’s and con’s of above ground vs. buried wire? (I’ve heard breaks in the buried wire are not uncommon).
3. Can I string it with another wire for increased strength, or will proximity dead it out?
4. Does contact with limbs etc, override anything?
5. Is there an easy way to ensure it is always working before letting him out the door?
6. If he is running, I figure he needs at least 10 feet of warning so get him time to turn around or divert- do you agree?
7. If I buy a system that just fits 5 or so acres, am I pushing the system too far to its limits? and what if I wanted to expand it to the 20 acres as I have money and time to work around the property more. What the tipping point between under or over utilization of systems?

Thanks for your time and expertise-

ADMIN – Hi Ed,

That wandering behavior is typical of Malamutes. They are among our best customers.

1. The Innotek IUC-4100 would work well, as would the SportDog SDF-100A. The Innotek is smaller, and rechargeable, but more expensive. The Innotek also has a collar fit-detection system which is useful for getting the collar on a long-hair dog like yours. The SportDog is cheaper, but uses a disposable battery and has a bigger collar. Both will do a good job and could handle the full 20 acres if you later decided to expand.

2. Above ground tends to be easier to install and find break. Below ground is hidden and more aesthetically appealing. The rate of breaks for both options is similar. There is no difference in the function of the fence between below and above ground installation.

3. If I am understanding your correctly, you want to use a higher strength (non-active) wire as support for the dog fence wire. So the high tensile strength wire would go between the T-posts and the dog fence wire would be tied to the high strength wire. This would work great, there should be not problems. The problems only arise when you run two of the active dog fence wires close together.

4. Contact with limbs (tree or human) does not affect the function of the system, nor is it unsafe to the tree (or human). The wire is insulated so is unaffected by any contact.

5. The transmitter will sound an alarm if the wire is broken. Similarly if the collar has a low battery, there is an indicator on the collar that will light up to let you know. So if you are getting the green status light at the transmitter and no alarm, and the collar is not showing a low battery everything should be working fine. You could also check by taking the collar near a boundary and seeing if it starts beeping – but this should not be necessary.

6. With a big dog, I like to have the boundary set to trigger at least 5-feet on either side of the boundary wire. With 4-5 acres, you could make that correction zone even wider. I don’t think dogs need a huge warning zone – a trained dog should not need any warning or a couple of feet at most.

7. Avoid operating the system near the limits, it tends to result in unnecessarily thin boundaries and unstable. Much better to have a system that has plenty of capacity in reserve, that way you can have nice wide boundary zones. Most of the good systems cover 10+ acres so it should not be a problem for doing the initial 4-5 acres. If however you want to do the full 20 acres, a system that can do at least 25 acres is advisable.

ADMIN – It depends on how large your installation is and the soil type. Usually you can do down about 12 inches before you run into problem. You will just need to turn up the boundary width dial to compensate for that extra depth.

ADMIN – Hi Levon,

Alas, the SportDog remote trainer collar and dog fence collars are not intercompatible. If you want a single system that does both, take a look at the Innotek IUC-5100. Note the remote training function on that dual system will not be as good as with a dedicated SportDog unit, but is serviceable for short distance obedience training.

My 3 dogs are: a poodle – 80 lbs, a bouvier – 80 lbs, and a tera-poo – 40 lbs. I’ve been using Sport Dog FR-200 training collars on the poodle and bouvier with good success, however they have learned to be very obedient with the collars on and not so good with the collars removed. The poodle required very little low to medium level correction; the bouvier required a little more correction in both frequency and intensity, but the end result for both has been excellent. The problem is: when left outside unattended they challenge anyone who approaches my property; I need them to stop at my property line. The tera-poo has never worn a correction collar, but is thin skinned and somewhat timid. Also the batteries in the collars deplete rather quickly (6 to 8 hrs).

ADMIN – Hi Mike,

With the Tera-poo likely to require less correction than the other two dogs, a system that will let you adjust correction independently is a must. A PetSafe Stubborn or a SportDog system would be a good choice. I would use the PetSafe Stubborn or SportDog collars with the two larger dogs. With the tera-poo a smaller collar, less powerful collar like the PetSafe Deluxe would be a good choice (the collar will work with both the PetSafe Stubborn and the SportDog systems)

Dog fence collars deplete much more slowly than correction collars. Depending on the model you should get 1-3 months of life from the batteries before they need replacing. The two systems I recommended both use a disposable battery which should last you 2-3 months.