I have an invisible fence at the house (along with solid fencing) which prevents the dogs from running down the driveway. It has worked like new money for more than 10 years. No complaints here.
That said, a worry with invisible fencing (especially in a very big yard) is that someone may dig on a flower bed or install something near the fence line and cut through the wire. If that happens, how do you find where the cut in the wire occurred?
The Invisible Fence folks will charge you about $80 for coming out and tracking down the break, but you can do it yourself by following this "Instructable" which involves using a simple AM radio and a $1.50 part from Radio Shack called an "RF choke" (Radioshack part number 273-102).
With the RD choke hooked into the transmitter, the IF wire should send out a signal you can pick up on the AM radio at about 600 kHz (60 on your AM dial). See the link for a step-by-step guide.
Want to save money on Invisible Fence replacement batteries? There's an "Instructable" on that too.
My hot tip on button batteries of any type (including for locator collars for your working terriers) is to order them through E-Bay where you will pay a fraction of the cost at your local store.
I order my locator button batteries directly from China, and pay about 15 cents apiece (including shipping) as compared to about $2 apiece at Home Depot or Radio Shack.
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2 comments:
My problem with invisible fences is not that a good greyhound or wippet can blow through it before they ever realize they were supposed to feel something (which is a problem), but that they do nothing about keeping others' dogs out of your yard.
Oh, and living on the road full time in an RV, there's always all that digging up the wires to move... ;-)
While I think that invisible fences are a good idea, they do have problems. Our neighbors dog is a good example, he has a invisible fence across the the driveway, with the rest of the property having regular fencing. The dog actually goes out through the front driveway, or jumps the fence in the back where it is low enough, he is a lab so its not that hard for him. Then when he is done wandering he won't go home through the front driveway because of the invisible fence. Instead he comes to our house, scratches at our door, until we go to him and then use the gate between our properties to let him back home. He is smart and has the whole thing worked out. If a dog really wants to leave they will find a way, whatever type of fencing you have.
We actually have no fencing that would keep a dog in on our property, but we have two small house dogs and other than visiting our neighbors on one side, they have a daschund (sp?) that they go play with. They don't leave the property. Admittidly they have 3 acres to play on. We frequently get asked if we worry that the dogs will run away. Our dogs? leave their couches and doggy beds to go somewhere else? Yeah, I am more worried that someone would steal them than that they would run away. I do not recommend not having fencing like we do, it is not something that would work for most people.
Fencing is only works for those that have dogs that are more or less content, if a dog really wants out it seems that they will find away.
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