Wireless Dog Fence Recommendations

[Toonces]

This is Hank. Hank is a 5 yr old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix that we've had for three years. He's kinda aloof, but very nice to humans. Unlike our past retrievers, but normal for his breed, he doesn't have a lot of desire to please his people. He has always had sporadic wanderings, but they were pretty much limited to our land. Now they are taking him further away, into other peoples yards and out on the road. Thank goodness we live out in the country and have nice neighbors. Yesterday a neighbor two forties over called me at work and said they would bring him home, after he walked right up to them as they were sitting on their back porch.

Due to his latest shenanigans, we are looking to get a wireless fence system. A buried wire system would be difficult (I think?), because we would like to include a bunch of the woods around our house. Google keeps directing me to the Amazon system linked below. While it looks good in theory, the range is lacking. I have also read that metal roofs, like on our house and pole building, can interfere with the system.

What have other people done to contain their hard-headed dogs? We need to get some containment before we end up with neighbor issues or a dog hit on the road. I would like something that would give him a radius of +/- 200 yards from the house to roam in.




https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OVFASG...ogi&th=1&psc=1

Thanks,

Toonces

[blues]

Our friends down the road about a mile have a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Similar to your guy, he likes to wander and is somewhat fickle about whether he feels like coming over to be petted or act like he doesn't know you. Depends on the day.

He plays okay with our and the neighbor's dog behind the neighbor's fence when they get together for WrestleMania from time to time.

Hope you find a solution that works for you. Locally, I've seen a lot of "fail" with wireless fences over the years.

[MGW]

Our neighbors are using a collar with geofencing. No buried wire to deal with. I can ask them what they have if you want.

[LittleLebowski]

If the same system contained my high drive Belgian Malinois (it did), I think you'd be fine. You just need to set it up properly. Plug in the transmitter/base station and then walk your boundaries with the collar in your hand, have your spouse on the phone or within earshot to move the transmitter/base station if needed in order to fine tune your boundaries to what you want. Worse case, you return it to Amazon and then get the wired version and rent a power edger from Home Depot to bury the line yourself.

[Oldherkpilot]

I hate to say it but the wireless units probably not going to do what you need. I had not heard of the geofencing option until I saw it mentioned in this thread, but it sounds promising. I got drafted to be an underground fence installed for a couple of years when my wife was selling the systems. We used a converted Honda tiller lay the wire and it was the ticket. If you buy a fence from a local installer, he will likely be using one of the converted fillers and your woods won't be much problem. It won't be cheap but not much about pets is. (Think horses! On the other hand, DON'T think horses)
You are talking about a lot of square footage to bury wire with an edger. If you do opt to install it yourself, I recommend using a much heavier wire than they provide in the kit. The thin wire is plenty to carry the signal but is fragile and can break due to frost heave and falling limbs, etc. Also, I'd recommend solid wire, not stranded. If the stranded wire takes a hit, it's possible to get a partial break in the line. Then your fence won't work but the couple strands that still intact fool the break detector. (That sucks, trust me).
Regardless of how you get your fence, your dog will love you for it.

[Crazy Dane]

I have used a geofence system with a Great Dane with perfect success but here is the but, it does nothing to keep anything else out, foxes coyotes, the neighbors Rotty... I ended up putting in field fencing https://www.redbrand.com/field-fence/around the property and don't have to worry about the little things like dead batteries or broken wires.

[pangloss]

We went with the Invisible Fence Company. Two neighbors have the same system and it worked with their dogs, one of which is a Rhodesian ridge back. I was skeptical at first and questioned the franchise owner pretty closely. This guy bought the franchise from his dad, and he said that in 20 years they'd had two dogs they couldn't contain. Our dog crossed the line a couple of times soon after we got the fence. We upped the voltage and the next time she crossed it was the last time. We are extremely pleased, and the dog is much much happier now. The deer have learned exactly where the line is, and the dog doesn't bother them as long as they stay on their side. Sometimes we have a lot of deer in the yard (record at one time is 13), and when we let the dog out on the herd, she'll chase them full speed, slam on the breaks, and skid to a stop just before the fence. Most of the cost is in the equipment, though there is a per foot charge for the fence.

[Darth_Uno]

No advice here. Our rat terrier apparently has an infinite pain tolerance. The Home Depot system did nothing. He was finally stopped by installing a 4' fence he couldn't jump over.

[Toonces]

Our friends down the road about a mile have a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Similar to your guy, he likes to wander and is somewhat fickle about whether he feels like coming over to be petted or act like he doesn't know you. Depends on the day.

He plays okay with our and the neighbor's dog behind the neighbor's fence when they get together for WrestleMania from time to time.

Hope you find a solution that works for you. Locally, I've seen a lot of "fail" with wireless fences over the years.

Fickle would be a good term. Some days he's very affectionate and other days he'll almost resist food to avoid you. Do you have details on the fails? How much was stupid/cheap owner induced? Kinda like people screwing up good guns with super cheap ammo.

Our neighbors are using a collar with geofencing. No buried wire to deal with. I can ask them what they have if you want.

If they like it I would love to know what system they have.

If the same system contained my high drive Belgian Malinois (it did), I think you'd be fine. You just need to set it up properly. Plug in the transmitter/base station and then walk your boundaries with the collar in your hand, have your spouse on the phone or within earshot to move the transmitter/base station if needed in order to fine tune your boundaries to what you want. Worse case, you return it to Amazon and then get the wired version and rent a power edger from Home Depot to bury the line yourself.

I don't think Hank is in the same league as a Malinois on average, but he has a very high drive to kill critters. My wife is worried about him blowing through any shock his collar could generate to chase an animal, regardless of system type. I have no experience with electric collars so I don't know what to expect. I do know Hank is willing to repeatedly fight critters, and the damage received doesn't stop him from doing it again.

I hate to say it but the wireless units probably not going to do what you need. I had not heard of the geofencing option until I saw it mentioned in this thread, but it sounds promising. I got drafted to be an underground fence installed for a couple of years when my wife was selling the systems. We used a converted Honda tiller lay the wire and it was the ticket. If you buy a fence from a local installer, he will likely be using one of the converted fillers and your woods won't be much problem. It won't be cheap but not much about pets is. (Think horses! On the other hand, DON'T think horses)
You are talking about a lot of square footage to bury wire with an edger. If you do opt to install it yourself, I recommend using a much heavier wire than they provide in the kit. The thin wire is plenty to carry the signal but is fragile and can break due to frost heave and falling limbs, etc. Also, I'd recommend solid wire, not stranded. If the stranded wire takes a hit, it's possible to get a partial break in the line. Then your fence won't work but the couple strands that still intact fool the break detector. (That sucks, trust me).
Regardless of how you get your fence, your dog will love you for it.

I'm afraid that you will be proven right about the wireless system, but LL had a good recommendation above. I really don't want to pay for that much wire, installation, or do the work myself. I can easily see ending up with 4,000-5,000' of perimeter. If we end up going that route, I will PM you for info on the wire. It will have to be tough to deal with all the rocks we have here. Under the thin layer of dirt we have pit run gravel/rocks. I haven't had the chance to do any research on the geofencing yet.

I have used a geofence system with a Great Dane with perfect success but here is the but, it does nothing to keep anything else out, foxes coyotes, the neighbors Rotty... I ended up putting in field fencing https://www.redbrand.com/field-fence/around the property and don't have to worry about the little things like dead batteries or broken wires.

Hank enjoys fighting with other animals. It's his hobby. If we can keep him contained, we'll hope for the best. We have talked about fencing part of our yard, but that is a last resort.

We went with the Invisible Fence Company. Two neighbors have the same system and it worked with their dogs, one of which is a Rhodesian ridge back. I was skeptical at first and questioned the franchise owner pretty closely. This guy bought the franchise from his dad, and he said that in 20 years they'd had two dogs they couldn't contain. Our dog crossed the line a couple of times soon after we got the fence. We upped the voltage and the next time she crossed it was the last time. We are extremely pleased, and the dog is much much happier now. The deer have learned exactly where the line is, and the dog doesn't bother them as long as they stay on their side. Sometimes we have a lot of deer in the yard (record at one time is 13), and when we let the dog out on the herd, she'll chase them full speed, slam on the breaks, and skid to a stop just before the fence. Most of the cost is in the equipment, though there is a per foot charge for the fence.

That's good to know about it working with other headstrong dogs. I can easily see a similar situation with deer here.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. Now I have some more research to do...

[Toonces]

No advice here. Our rat terrier apparently has an infinite pain tolerance. The Home Depot system did nothing. He was finally stopped by installing a 4' fence he couldn't jump over.

I don't think Hank normally has an infinite pain tolerance, but the thrill and adrenaline of the chase definitely lets him do things that look like they would hurt and not give a damn. Hank isn't much of a high jumper (I think) so I don't think we would a fence 4' tall, but we would require a lot of fence, even if we scaled down the area.