Electric Fence? Yes or No? Opinions?

[Freedom]

Thanks guys! Hmmm, well I'm not entirely "sold" on the idea of having a electric fence - the idea of it makes me nervous, but Mike insists that it works well. His uncle/aunt had dogs and they had that, and it worked fine - but all dogs in his family were Labs and still Labs today. Half of those dogs do so well off leash that they are always close to you in the yard or in the backyard. I wonder, how the heck do you train a dog to stay with you in the yard and just know you can trust him/her? Mike has Dozer and he is always by your side, no matter what. You let him out, he does his business, then all he wants to do is to be by you and lay in the garage or in the yard. They even let him out and he'll "bark" at the door to be let in. I guess I'm just curious how that works, because I've never had a dog that did well OFF leash! LOL

In my limited experience, that is very dog specific, and not something you train, lol. The dog already has those tendencies, and you put it to command and such.

A wooden fence will be costly, yes. That is why we did the much MUCH less expensive plastic covered wire. You can see it here, with one gate (white) on the left:

Here it is up close, behind Willy:

[Glacier]

I'd never trust one. I'd never leave a dog unsupervised outside with only electric fencing. Of course, I have huskies and occasionally 7 feet of high strength wire, buried a foot underground and reinforced with concrete hasn't been enough to keep them in the yard!

My other issue with them is they don't keep other animals out...loose dogs, roaming cats or where I live bears, moose, wolves, coyotes and foxes! My fence is built as much for keeping the area wildlife out of my yard as it is for keeping my dogs in the yard!

Daisy has an electric fence at her real home...Daisy who has been at my house pretty much daily for 8 years! The shock occasionally stops her from going home, it never even slows her down when she's leaving. I haven't seen her collar on for quite awhile; her owner probably gave up on it or my dogs chewed it off her again!

[wolf_Q]

My friend tried one with her german shorthair, didn't stop her, the shock was worth running the neighborhood. I personally wouldn't use one, at least for my dogs - I really don't think it would stop huskies, they may be good for a while but if there were a cat or something to chase they'd run right through it. I would never ever leave the dog outside unsupervised with one, other dogs/animals could come into your yard and harm the dog. So if you were just using it when you are out with the dog it would probably work okay. I'm too lazy for that, I let the dogs out and they play and run and they let me know when they want back in...I do look out the window and check on them but I don't stay outside with them every time I let them out. I think just doing a smaller fenced in area is what I would do for now when I wanted to leave the dog outside for a bit to go potty then otherwise take them out on a retractible leash until they can be trusted to be off leash with you in the yard (if possible).

[lizbud]

My other issue with them is they don't keep other animals out...loose dogs, roaming cats or where I live bears, moose, wolves, coyotes and foxes! My fence is built as much for keeping the area wildlife out of my yard as it is for keeping my dogs in the yard!

I would never use one for many of the same reasons you've listed, mainly loose dogs and wandering cats.
ps. It's good to know that Daisy is still hanging out with her buds at your house.

[Glacier]

ps. It's good to know that Daisy is still hanging out with her buds at your house.

She's here right now. First time I've seen her this week! Time is catching up with Daisy too; she's got arthritis in her elbow and shoulders. If it is rainy, she doesn't come over anymore....and it has rained pretty much every day this summer!!!

[robinh]

You know I never thought about the fact that it might keep your dog in, but wouldn't keep other dogs out. In my neighborhood that would be the issue, well not the dogs but the other creatures. Glad I've been following this thread.

[Freedom]

While a dog run may be your solution, do consider this. I love being able to open the back door and let the dogs out. If I had a run, I'd have to harness and leash them up to get them out to the run, and then again to get them in again. Tasha takes off if she is free, she doesn't need an excuse like a squirrel, lol.

[mrspunkysmom]

While a dog run may be your solution, do consider this. I love being able to open the back door and let the dogs out. If I had a run, I'd have to harness and leash them up to get them out to the run, and then again to get them in again. Tasha takes off if she is free, she doesn't need an excuse like a squirrel, lol.

Sandie, I never thought of that. My neighbor has an indoor/outdoor dog. She put up a chain-link fence over a small area that attaches to the back of the house. That means that she can just let the dog out.

That plastic covered wire fence of yours looks interesting.