Installing an Invisible Fence

One of the main reasons for me moving out to the suburbs, aside from the investment aspect of a home, was to get more room for my dogs to run around and play in. Living in a city apartment can be challenging with 2 big dogs.

Lucas and Ethan, waiting at the vet

However, the home we purchased did not have a fenced-in backyard. In order to have them out enjoying the yard, as quickly (and cost-efficiently) as possible, I decided to opt for the invisible fence.

Selecting a fence/collar

Regular Fence Kit

After a lot of research, I discovered that most invisible fences work the same, regardless of brand. You have an emitter and a receiver collar. There are two main kinds of emitters: wireless and wired.

Wireless systems work by setting a circular perimeter around a "hub" placed somewhere inside the home, and can vary in ranges.

Wired systems, work by emitting the field electro-magnetically from a wire, placed around the perimeter of the space you want the pet to use.

Because of the irregular shape of my property and to avoid reliability or signal issues, i decided to go with the cheaper wired system ($180 vs. $300).

Stubborn Dog Fence Kit

There were 2 kinds of wired fences: a regular one, and one for stubborn dogs. After looking at both packages, you should quickly realize that the stubborn dog set-up just has a different receiver collar ($10 difference between collars purchased separately, $30 dollars difference between the systems).






The additional collar that I used in the system was a "Stubborn Dog" collar, only because it can be reduced to a "audio only" mode of correction, which is helpful for training.


Selecting your area


I decided to give my dogs the entire property to roam and used marking paint to mark the line that needed to be dug out for the wire trough. All 90 degree turns had to be rounded out at the property edges, to avoid interference and soft spots in the fence because of conflicting magnetic fields.

Using a straight edged shovel, I started digging the line out, but it quickly turned into a back breaking task. A third into the yard, and a couple of hours later, I called it quits for the day and decided to go with the mechanical approach.

The next day, using my newly acquired ($75) Black and Decker Hog Edger-Trencher, I was in business at full speed. Using the trenching setting, I was able to dig out the rest of the trench in under 20 minutes.



I used a long flat piece of wood to shove the wire into the tench, in order to avoid cutting it, or sharply bending it, and covered the trench after the wire was placed into it.  When I got to the driveway, I cut a small groove into one of the expansion joints and covered it with caulk to protect it from cars/the elements. Place the included flags as you go, to serve as a visual aid for the dog to recognize and learn the limits of the fence.

In order to connect the perimeter loop to the receiver and allow the dogs to cross over it, the wire must be looped, so that the magnetic fields cancel each other out (minimum 10 loops per foot). This looping can also be used to surround any areas you don't want to give your pet access to (flower/mulch beds, pools, etc.)

Once the system is up and showing continuity, use a test light with the collar to approach the edge of the fence. The test light should glow when the collar is being triggered, and signals that the fence is working properly.




Training!!

Training is important to show your pet the property boundaries. Give the noise from the collar, crossing the flags, or the fence a negative connotation, and walk the line with them to show them the boundary lines.

Operant Conditioning (don't touch the hot stove!) is a pretty fool proof concept, and we have only had one incident of squirrel chasing early on in the training phases After a few encounters with the fence limits, while "unsupervised" (me looking out of the upstairs window), and the early training sessions have taught them that crossing the flags is bad.

Before trusting the fence entirely, your pet should be able to resist crossing the fence for toys, other dogs, people, rodents, and even following you.