Comments on: Innotek IUC-5100 Review

By: Mike F.

Mike F. — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:21:22 +0000

Hi I have a 6 month old Chihuahua / Pomeranian mix and he will most likely not get to be more then 16 or 17 lbs. I have a place upstate NY with lake front across the road in front of the house. I would like to use the wire to keep him on the main property which is about 2 acres and use the remote to keep him at the beach when we are there. Do you think this would be a good idea and would the innotek 5100 be a good choice. Thank you

ADMIN – Hi Mike,

Using the remote trainer function for containment rarely works out well. You have to be super vigilant and super consistent to get it to work – watching the dog and activating the correction in a timely manner every time they leave. Most people aren’t that consistent enough and only end up teaching the dog not to run away when they are looking.

You have the best chance of it working if you plan of training him on your main house first. Then put up the flags on the beach property and train the dog on that property.

The 5100 collar is also going to be a little on the big side for the dog. We usually use the 5100 collar for dogs over 20lbs. The collar will be bigger and heavier than is ideal. You may want to consider getting the compatible lighter 4100 collar for use at the main house when you don’t need the remote correction function.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:37:14 +0000

We need to contain and train our 1 1/2 year old 60lb. Rottweiler/Husky mix on our 200 acre farm. We have recently begun using a remote trainer to eliminate her jumping on people, chasing livestock, jumping on our doors to be let in the house, etc. She has responded well to the collar, but she very quickly learned that she can get away with those behaviors when she doesn’t have the collar on. This week she began running to our neighbor’s house a 1/2 mile away and making general nuisance of herself, so we are now in the market for an invisible fence. We also have a 5 year old German Shepherd who doesn’t roam. They both stay outdoors during the day while we are at work and come indoors when we are home. I’ve read many of the questions on your website which address some of my concerns, but I’d like to get some extra feedback on the following issues:
1) We plan to use about 4000 feet of wire to enclose the area around our house, which includes a lake along part of the border. We don’t mind our dog getting in the water, but we don’t want her to figure out how to “swim to freedom”. The water depth is around 5 to 10 feet within 10 to 15 feet of the shore. How deep can the wire be underwater and still be functional?
2) What is the best way to manage a situation where we want to contain the dog in the yard when we aren’t home but want to come in and out of the fenced area alot to access the rest of our farm with the dog when we are home? The Innotek 5100 sounds like the system for us since we can also use the remote training feature. I’m picturing taking off the collar to get passed the fence borders with the dog, then putting it back on to correct the dog with the remote trainer when she misbehaves outside of the fenced area around our house. Is this how we should anticipate using the collar?
3) Would you recommend training the German Shepherd to stay within the fence? In your experience, is there a problem with allowing one “uncollared” dog to stray a little beyond borders if the one wearing the collar has been properly trained to stay within the borders? Again, the GSD doesn’t roam far from the house, and I’d like to avoid the expense of an extra collar if possible.

I suppose we could just forget the whole thing and keep her in her dog run until she grows up in 4 or 5 years just kidding. Thank you so much for your input!

ADMIN – Hi Betsy,

(1) The range of the signal is similar in water as it is in the air – so with a typical boundary width you would not want the wire to be more than 3 feet below the surface. Although we don’t like depriving a dog of swimming time, we find it work better to run the wire either around the entire lake or to block it off. Training the dog to turn and retreat on the water is difficult because the dog cannot turn and retreat away from the fence as quickly in deep water. If you do want to enclose part of the lake, running the wire through an old hose pipe and floating it on the surface works best.

(2) Yes. You will need to take the collar off when you exit and reenter the property. You will want to get the dog into a routine, where you do the same thing every time. For example, remove the collar, give the dog a release command, and then open the gate. The first few times you will need to drag the reluctant dog through, after a few times they will understand that they are allowed through with your permission. More details in the Training –> Walking Your Dog Section.

(3) If you have a non-roamer, they don’t need a collared. In our experience the collared dog learns that they have different boundaries to the collared dog and excepts it. Unlike human children, they don’t seem to develop any deep neurosis about perceived ‘unfair’ differential treatment. Many cats learn to taunt dogs from the other side of the fence, dogs meekly accept this indignity.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:31:53 +0000

Hello, I have a 110# Rottweiler and was considering the 5100 or the petsafe stubborn. he is obedience trained but likes to wander the neighborhood and leave our grounds and return at his own will. he can be stubborn and i want to know what system you would recommend. Also how do your products compare to invisible fence which will cost me $800.00 more than your system.

ADMIN – Hi Jay,

With a Rottweiler, I would err toward the PetSafe Stubborn. I might be a more powerful correction than you need, but it is handy to have that extra power in reserve if you need it. Some Rottweilers need a strong correction to refocus their attention.

The systems are very similar to the Invisible Fence (PetSafe and Invisible Fence are owned by the same company). The big difference is that Invisible Fence is a lot more convenient than we are … they come out to your house, install the system and get you started on the training. We like Invisible Fence, we think they do a great job.

With out DIY systems, you need to put the system in yourself, and you need to use our training video to learn how to train your dog on the system. The tradeoff is that their systems are more expensive and require an ongoing battery subscription. Our systems are much cheaper, and in the case of the PetSafe Stubborn use a regular 9V battery.

In terms of the system themselves, there is very little difference. Both are good and with training will get the job done.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:35:46 +0000

Hi. I have two large dogs and am interested in a contain and train system. How does the remote work with two dogs? Ryan

ADMIN – Hi Ryan,

When using the Innotek Contain and Train with both dogs, you first pair each collar with the remote as per usual. Then you use a mode button on the remote. The remote lets you control one collar at a time, or both together.

By: Terra

Terra — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:17:07 +0000

Our 5100 unit registered a break recently. We picked up the RF choke and were able to track it down to a section of wire near a driveway. We replaced the entire section where the tone loss was to be sure all the damage was corrected. (The choke worked great) . The receiver is now holding steady showing that the fence is intact. The problem we are now facing is a very weak signal to the colars. With all settings set to the max, we aren’t getting a beep unless we are less than a foot above the wire when it is lying on top of the ground. All collars are fully charged, and we double checked with a brand new collar as well with the same results. We also double checked it using a receiver from another system we have with similar results. We also replaced a section of the twisted wire because of some visible damage to the insulation of that.

All connections (4 total) have been double checked for good contact including cutting ends off, stripping insulation and reconnecting wires. With nearly 1500′ of border, redoing the entire system is clearly the last option. I am thinking this might be a situation where we need to make separate loops for each 500′ section of buried wire and test accordingly. Any way to find where our “weak” spot is that is limiting the entire system?

ADMIN – Hi Terra,

I would start by testing to see if there is a problem with the collar. I would connect a small dummy loop (20 feet) to the transmitter and test to see if you can get the collars to trigger from a few feet away. That will eliminate the possibility that there is something wrong with the collar.

Then I would test to see if you might have the boundary level turned up too high – this can cause problems as the opposite sides of the fence start interfering with each other and it appears as if you have a really narrow boundary width. For 1500 feet, switch the boundary field size to large, but turn down the blue dial all the way to minimum, then up to 9 o’clock and test the boundary width. Have someone stand five feet back from the boundary and slowly increase the boundary width until the collar starts triggering (they will be alerted by the red light and beep on the collar, or if they were touching the probes the friendly little jolt they get).

Then test that the signal is actually going around the whole circuit (not up one strand of twisted wire, and down the other). Cut the wire somewhere out on the boundary – if the transmitter does not register a break, the problem was the twisted wire or the twisted wire splices and they needs checking.

Only if you have eliminated these easy fixes would I start replacing wire as a fix for a weak signal. As you mentioned, you may have a partial break somewhere. The best way to find them is to use the RF choke or wire break detector and listen for spots where the signal is weak. You can also splice in 500 foot segments one at a time until you find which one cures the symptoms.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:24:38 +0000

The one issue I have with the invisible fence that I am currently using is my dogs tend to run through the correction field and then are outside the zone. Does the 5100 provide some kind of reassurance or new technology that will help prevent this from happening?

ADMIN – Hi Jason,

The Innotek IUC-5100 does increase the correction level as dogs run through. But, my experience has been that the ‘run-through protection’ technology does not add much.

If your dogs are running through, it is more likely a training issue or collar fit issue. As long as the old fence works consistently, then you should be able to train them with what you have. I would make the fence boundary a little wider, check the collars are fitted correctly so the dog is getting the correction, then go back and do some remedial training. A new fence on it’s own is unlikely to help.

By: neil

neil — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:47:30 +0000

I have an innotek 5100 system and would like to purchase an extra collar but would like a cheaper alternative to the @$100 innotek collar. I don’t use the optional trainer feature just use the collar to contain the dog. Is there a generic collar that will work with my system? I would prefer to have a nylon collar with a quick release plastic buckle. Thank you Neil

ADMIN – Hi Neil,

Afraid the only other option that is compatible with the 4100 system is the Innotek IUC-4100 collar which is only slightly cheaper.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:55:50 +0000

I have a 7 month old German Shepherd dog. My neighbor has a wireless containment system for their dog. Will the innotek 5100 have any interference issues on the boundary by the wireless system? Thanks.

ADMIN – Hi Dan,

The signal from the wireless fences will not interfere with any wireless system. So your neighbor’s wireless system and your Innotek IUC-5100 will happily coexist.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:04:03 +0000

Thinking about the 5100 with an extra 4100 collar for second dog. The receiver will be kept in the shop where part will run through some woods and around the perimeter of the farm. Part of it will have to go across phone and buried electrical lines. Is that OK as long as they run perpendicular to the fence lines?
I have read contradicting information about running the fence along side some electric horse fencing. How does that work?
Also, our house is steel-framed, which prohibits us from going wireless, which is what we wanted but were told that would cause major problems. Will it affect the Innoteck?
Will the dogs be able to wear the collars 24 hours a day?
What happens if they cross the fence? Can they get back in without a shock?
Thanks for your response!

Admin- Hi Julia,

1) You will not receive any interference from the buried utility if you cross the wire perpendicular.
2) You can install the wire next the electric fence. We have found that there will not be any interference issues between the two fences.
3) The only time you might experience interference with the metal structure is if the wire is running parallel to the metal wall in close proximity. If the system did have interference with the wall, you would notice that the signal would amplify; therefore, would you have a larger boundary in that area.
4) The manufacturer recommends taking the collar off after 12 hours. However, we have plenty of customers who own outside only dogs that require them to keep the collar on at all times. A small percentage of dogs develop a rash called Pressure Necrosis, but most dogs will be fine. We recommend checking the dogs neck weekly to keep an eye out for possible issues if you decide to keep the collar on 100% of the time.
5) If your dog did cross the fence, they would experience the same boundary upon retry.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:05:24 +0000

I just finished installing my fence yesterday. Upon testing the fence I am questioning its integrity. Above ground the fence worked; now I have to walk very slowly across the wire to activate the warning and / or shock. Sometimes it will just shock, sometimes it will just beep, other times it will do nothing. The dog is very smart I feel like she will figure out she can run across the fence and it wont shock her. Why would it do this?

ADMIN – Hi Ben,

There will be a little variability in the fence, but it should not be more than about a foot with a wired fence. If you are getting more than that there is likely something wrong. The most typical culprits are having the fence set up too narrow – you want it to be at least three feet wide on either side of the wire, preferably at least five feet. Neighbor’s dog fences can also cause inconsistent fields. As can having your boundary width turned up so high the opposite sides of the fence starting interfering with each other. You are right to get this sorted out before you start training. Having a consistent field is important to the training process and makes everything much faster and easier on the dog.

With the training, the dog will never learn that they can run through and will assume it continues on indefinitely.