# invisible fence/halo collar suggestions?



## Knitpurlknitpurl (6 mo ago)

Hi everyone! I’m looking for recommendations for fencing. We have an acre but with neighbors on all sides and a busy street. The driveway is off to the side but the grass wraps around the whole house, like a ”C”. We have berms all around except for by the garage/front entry, but I still don’t trust them enough to keep Luna from running into the trees or chasing something. we’re working on training but she still gets too excited when she sees someone. Wed really like for her to be able to run around in atleast a portion of the yard off leash and blow off some steam.

I looked through the forums but a lot of the threads are older and with technology a few years can make a big difference. I don’t like the idea of zapping but there’s no way we could put a traditional fence around our property (our house is set down from the backyard and on a slope). She is rarely off leash in the yard, only briefly, and always supervised. Where we live is more city than country; her biggest predator is hawk family that lives nearby so I’m not really worried about keeping animals out. Are there any recommendations or things to be aware of when selecting a fence? As a side note, she’s a smaller standard, 8mos, ~25lbs. Thank you!


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## TeamHellhound (Feb 5, 2021)

If you can't fence the entire yard, is fencing a portion of it feasible? I really don't like invisible fences for a bunch of reasons. 1) they don't keep other animals out; 2) if the dog blows through them chasing something, they get zapped when they try coming back in; 3) some dogs find them so aversive that it can make going outside akin to torture for them; 4) some dogs realize that they can run the battery down by getting close enough to beep, but not zap, the collar, and then blithely wander the neighborhood; and 5) with no obvious sign on containment, passersby may be scared if she runs towards them with no physical signs on containment.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I saw an absolutely lovely poodle ruined by an invisible fence.  I would not risk it, to be honest.

We use a biothane long line when we want Peggy to have some freedom in places where being off-leash is not safe. Another option would be an enclosure of a more manageable size.


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## Apricot mini momma (Dec 22, 2020)

I concur on the invisible fence. Our neighbor has one for their doodle and I think it really annoys him. 
Can you use inexpensive wire fencing for a smaller poop/pee yard until she is more trustworthy on recall? We have a couple of acres fenced in with animal fencing and a gate. Our other neighbor added a long section when they got their puppy and so we are now all enclosed.

It looks somewhat like this:


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

I have an invisible fence- the Petsafe brand- but we got our own wire at a slightly thicker gauge so it would be less likely to break. 
I am the first to agree that it's not a good solution in many situations but it is in a few.
Like you, there are zero concerns about keeping other animals out, and we only have one or two adult neighbours that pass us by on foot. 
I've had the fence for 7 years, and 6 dogs. One dog (the first one) ran through the fence twice when we were still figuring out the settings and had the barrier too narrow, and she passed the line once when she wasn't wearing her collar and a friend's son was walking along the other side. Since then, the only two dogs that (as far as I know) have even felt the shock, were the second dog I trained on it (once)- she was 9 years old and so lazy that she refused to get anywhere near the barrier during the training sessions, as she knew I would run her back to the house on hearing the beep. Once I gave up she felt the shock once herself, and never tried again. She did sometimes stand just inside the zone where the collar would beep only (it then progressed to a vibrate and faster beep, before the final shock). The other dog that felt it, was my youngest dog, when my daughter forgot to remove the fence collar when taking her for a walk 😬 poor thing. I did have to do a little re-training her on when/how she was allowed through. 
Raffi (the poodle) has never felt the shock, the beep is more than enough for him.
All three of my current dogs can go outside without their collars even with extremely strong distractions, although if it's too many days in a row then Raffi starts edging closer.

I don't let the dogs stay outside when we're not around (which I might with a fence)- it doesn't sound like you would either.

And the absolute, most, utterly extremely important part is- the very thorough training program that I do with each dog to teach the fence.
I do know of two people whose dogs went through- they did not do the proper training.
Honestly the boundary training might even be enough on it's own without the fence, but I like the extra level to be sure. The two keys are, teaching them where the boundary is, and conditioning a response to the beep (running back to the house). That conditioned response ensures that if they ever do hear the beep, or even the shock, the immediate response is to run back to the house (and not continue forward). The other important part is proofing the behavior with all sorts of distractions, before letting down your guard and removing the long line.

Anyways. I'm not saying an invisible fence is the right choice for you, but if you do put one in, keep it inside the berms. We have a berm between us and the only neighbour, and unfortunately the dogs like to stand at the top of it and bark at any guests they have 🙄. They come back to me if I call them but I wish they just didn't pay so much attention to anything going on next door lol.


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

I agree with @TeamHellhound and others. Invisible fencing isn't always a great solution, especially if another animal gets onto the property or if your dog has the kind of hyper focus that will let her blow through it. I have my yard fenced with cheap welded wire mesh. It was a DIY project, but it's held up and is now on its second generation of dogs.


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## Footprints&pawmarks (Mar 8, 2021)

Be sure to check the leash laws in your community. In many, the invisible fencing doesn't meet the requirement for confining the dog on the property. 

Having an actual fence makes it harder for someone, child or adult, to come onto your property to tease or injure your dog, or, even worse, take them away.


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## Knitpurlknitpurl (6 mo ago)

Thank you for the replies!! We have A very long driveway that breaks off to lead to our home and then continues to another acre home behind us, where my elderly parents live. The neighbors are across that drive, and on the other side of us. The street frontage rarely has pedestrians.
The problem is we have huge berms, and giant evergreens. We planned for this to be like a “fence” when we put it all in years ago. We never see anyone but my mother walking down the driveway and delivery people, but they do drive fast and in her adolescence I do fear she would eagerly run to someone if she were smiled at, lol.

there are sections where we have hedges near the house and a gate that would be impossible to fence. We could temporarily fence a portion of the yard for her to run in but we would need to take it down to mow; I’m not sure that’s feasible but I will look. We have the whole acre landscaped and plan to move in a few years,but I definitely don’t want to do anything that will scare Luna. Thank you!


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## Dianaleez (Dec 14, 2019)

Our neighborhood spent this weekend on alert looking for a white doodle that escaped his invisible fence. (He was located after a scary night out.)


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## Sroodle8 (Dec 23, 2021)

We have the Invisible Fence brand. It works great for us. Like Starvt wrote, the key is training. Be patient, be consistent. Our dog breaks off rabbit and deer chasing when she approaches the boundary.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

Sroodle8 said:


> We have the Invisible Fence brand. It works great for us. Like Starvt wrote, the key is training. Be patient, be consistent. Our dog breaks off rabbit and deer chasing when she approaches the boundary.


One time Raffi was playing catch with a visitor, who accidentally through the ball over the line. Raffi literally twisted in mid-air to stop himself! It was impressive and hilarious at the same time. There is nothing that Raffi likes more than fetch balls, but chasing cars down our loooong driveway is up there too. He keeps well within the boundary when he gets a chance to do so.
I guess I feel that if the dog doesn't run through glass doors or visible fences, why would they run through invisible ones?


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## thataway4 (Sep 2, 2020)

We have a large fenced yard, with front and side fences; water on the back (where we didn't want the small pup going until she was mature enough.) So we put in a "temporary" fence with plastic fencing and the movable steel posts for a poo and pee yard of much smaller portions. We incorporated an outdoor pen, with its gate. 2 1/2 years later it is still used for the quick duty, when not playing ball or working. (This is a photo from internet, but we used the same posts and fencing.). There are two sizes and grades of mesh, we used the thicker & smaller green mesh). Black electrical ties hold the mesh to posts. 









We liked it so well that we have removed the plastic (which lasted about a year) and put in welded mesh from Home Depot. The area is about 25' x 15'. it is on a slope--and at times that side of the lot can have standing water with heavy rains for a day or so. We put wires at the bottom and top to keep the net tight. No problem with Gardners mowing inside with hand mower and outside with their riding lawnmower--weed eater up to the mesh.


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## JasMom (7 mo ago)

Earlier this week one of our Greyhounds escaped our physical fence. He popped the latch on the gate and was gone for an hour. He went straight for the main road. Thankfully someone stopped and picked him up before he could be hit by a car. _That was the worst hour. _The latch has since been reinforced with a carabiner so he can't pop it up again. 

I see posts on Nextdoor all the time looking for dogs that got loose from invisible fences. Batteries die in the collar or the dog is so focused on something they don't pay attention. Not something I would ever trust.


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## Knitpurlknitpurl (6 mo ago)

I think we’re going to just use the posts and mesh in between the larger trees to prevent her from squeezing in there and in the places where it’s more visible get a nicer steel fence with a large gate, essentially closing off part of the C for the rear yard. It’s just not worth it for the dogs or the kids, I will never be able to be out there with all of them knowing she could slip away if I look away for a second iykwim. It’s just not worth it!

thank you so much.
Any direct links/measurements to the mesh or stakes anyone used would be really helpful, there is so much out there. Thanks again!!


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

When we put ours up we used five foot high rolls of welded wire mesh, similar to this kind from Tractor Supply: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/red-brand-welded-wire-60-in-x-100-ft
We support it using T-posts pounded into the ground with a post pounder. In a few places with conveniently located trees we skipped the T-post and just snugged it up against a tree trunk. We made no effort to tighten the fence when we installed it. As a result it's slightly floppy, which actually discourages the dogs from standing on their hind legs to lean against it. 
We added an inexpensive farm gate to allow us to move the lawnmower and garden carts in and out of the yard. It's similar to this one: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/wire-filled-gate-6-ft. This gate is low enough that an escape artist could easily go over it if he is motivated. My guys are not truly interested in leaving home, so they stand at the gate and look out. I would get a taller farm gate and add mesh to it if they showed an interest in climbing.


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## thataway4 (Sep 2, 2020)

Since Gigi is a Mini Poo, puppy at first, our initial "pen" material was only 28" high. We used 36" high mesh, with 5' high steel posts from Home Depot. The mesh has been from 1/2" squares hardware mesh to 3"X 3" square mesh--no more than 36" high. Gigi now fully grown jumps thru a hoop, which is over 30" from the ground, but it has not occurred to her to jump over the fence. We do have the back up of a 48" high chain link on several sides and a 72" high wood occlusive fence on one side--with a large heavy rolling gate. We also fenced off the water front of our "lot" which was about 75', with plastic light duty green fence--, The other half of the waterfront has docks and she has never shown any inclination to go out on the docks, except when I take her on a boat. Now that these barriers on the water front is gone, we have large rock rip rap on the 75' which does not have a dock. Gigi does not seem inclined to climb down the rocks--and we have encouraged her to stay away from them. We never let Gigi out in any yard without supervision. She also "works" almost daily on lead for obedience training and walks on the street. That is "working harness" place to go only. (She has "escaped" out the front door several times in the almost 3 years. However she will recall fairly easily--and has never gotten into the street. ("Stop", "come", "Touch" and "Treat" are commands which bring her back...


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