# Invisible Fence Training?



## Groomer5220 (Mar 16, 2009)

We just got a new invisible fence and the training as been going on for about 8 days. He seems to be getting it but when we did a test with bait outside the fence, he went right through it. Ufortunantly,he has so much fur that the collar didnt shock him. Do we have to go back to square 1?We are sort of losing hope.....

Groomer5220


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

That's one of the problems with long haired dogs. You often have to shave the hair from the contact area and do it regularly. The shaved area is usually 4-5" square to allow for collar movement.


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## MrsJohnnyG (Jan 31, 2009)

How much retreat training are you doing every day (just with the beeps)? Our pups got it right away, but they told us that if one of them ever ran through it, to go back to basic retreat training (first on leash again) for a few days and to call them. They'll probalby tell you what Tonney did, to shave the fur there, or they may need to adjust the strength of the zap.


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## scob89 (Mar 22, 2009)

Definitely trim the area where the probes make contact with the neck, or you should be able to get longer contact probes that will go through the fur better and retreat training is a must, until the dog gets the concept atleast.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

I agree with clipping the patch of hair. Both of my dogs are long haired. Another thing you may want to check are the batteries. During training they tend to drain fairly quickly. What have you done with the training so far? I have had an invisible fence for four years and have trained two dogs to it. Is the company coming out to help with the training or did you install it yourself and are using the dvd that came with the fence to train?


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## Groomer5220 (Mar 16, 2009)

No,we installed it ourselves and yes we did watch the dvd that came with it....I think I will turn the zap up and see how that works...thanks for all of the suggestions!
Groomer5220


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## MrsJohnnyG (Jan 31, 2009)

How are you doing the retreat (beep-only) training and how many days did you do it, and how many minutes a day? Honestly... the answers to those questions are the key to how well it will work.


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## Groomer5220 (Mar 16, 2009)

We did it 3 times a day for about 15 minutes each time for 5 days before we turned the zap on. The zap was on for 5 more days,then I posted about my problem so ..... any awnsers?


Groomer5220


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

My wife and I attended a home and garden expo today and she insisted on talking to some of the wireless containment companies. (There were about ten of them there, including the Invisible Fence company.)

I was impressed with how much the training varied from one to the next. I don't believe I would ever attempt to do all the training myself. The consequences of doing it wrong are just too unthinkable.

I am absolutely not interested in any of them because:

It would do nothing to keep the 12,000-or-so other dogs that live in our town out of our yard.
It would have no use whatsoever on the frequent grand-dog visitors that spend time here.


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## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

Here is how I trained.
Hi,
I have an invisible fence. Works wonderful. You have to train boundaries. You can buy the flags at most big box lumber yards. Set them at 2 foot intervals. With the dog on the leash walk your boundaries. Fence is off at this point. When dog approaches flag pull back dog with a firm no. Plenty of praise when dog is in the safety zone. (Inside fence). Do this for at least three days. Next turn the fence on. Usually the collar comes with training probes. You need to use these. Now repeat above step with flags on leash, dog will hear the warning tone. Do this for a week every day. Now comes the hard part. Change to working probes. With the dog on the leash allow dog to cross boundary. Dog gets shocked you pull back to safety zone. This is to teach the dog that inside the fence is the safety zone. You should begin to see that your dog doesn't want to be near the flags. Next put your dog on a long line. Have people distract on the other side of the boundary. Stop dog from crossing as with the leash. This is your distant work. Once you think that your dog can be trusted to not cross the boundary, take dog off leash but, stay in the yard with the dog. Do not leave unsupervised at this point. If dog stays in yard you will now begin to remove every other flag every three days. One more thing. Make sure that the probes are making contact with the skin. If your dog is long haired, clipping a small patch where the probe sits will insure contact. My dog ran through the fence once but, that was because my daughter loosened the collar and the probes were not making contact. Hope this helps. One more thing the batteries lose charge quickly when you are training. So check your collar often for dead batteries. My collars are rechargeable there is a warning light for when the batteries are getting low.

Every dog is different and takes more or less time to train. Don't rush the training nor cut corners because you will end up back at square one. What brand fence did you buy? Does it have run through protection? You can Pm me anytime with questions and I will try to help you.


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## dragonryder (Sep 6, 2011)

Just my personal experience here:

Well, to be honest I think the training instructions are too conservative and cause training to take take quite a bit longer than it should.

We installed the Deluxe Petsafe Invisible Fence system and put out our flags. The "beeps" on the collar were so low that our dog (malamute shepherd) gave no indication she heard them at all. I could barely hear them myself. The collar comes with 5 levels of correction, each of which I tested out on my fingers to see how much of a correction they generated. We chose correction 3, and brought her to the flags. The correction did not seem to affect her. We changed it to correction 4, and she instantly felt it.

1. We took her to each flag around 3 times
2. Right after the flag she received a correction 
3. After each correction, we immediately pulled her back on the leash to the safe area

Let me tell you, she "clicked" within 5 mins. She did not like the corrections at all, and at the end of the 15 mins, wanted nothing to do with coming to the flag line.

We did 3 separate training sessions that day, and by the end of the day she was done. Off the leash, she stayed about a foot back from the flag line.

I understand why the training instructions are quite conservative and why they teach you train the dog to pay attention to the "tone" first, but honestly, it's just my personal opinion but I think it increases training time quite significantly and unnecessarily. Our dog is STUBBORN, I don't think you can get more stubborn than an Alaskan Malamute. We simply make sure the correction level was enough to get her attention from the get-go and let her feel several corrections. It was enough.


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## jiml (Jun 19, 2008)

I am absolutely not interested in any of them because:
It would do nothing to keep the 12,000-or-so other dogs that live in our town out of our yard.
It would have no use whatsoever on the frequent grand-dog visitors that spend time here.>>>>>

they are absolutely NOT ideal for every ones dog/situation


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