Exercise R Us » Running Training » advise on invisible fence
Question:
> We have a wonderful 5 month old Bernese Mountain dog. We just installed an > Innotek invisible fence so he could rome our property freely. My quesion > is…. what’s the easiest way to train a dog to obey the boundries? I refuse > to purposely stick him in the shockway path.
Nichole: I personally do not like invisible fencing. Many dogs will simply endure the moment of pain, for the enjoyment of running around loose. I know for a fact, that mine would. For the other dogs who bump into it inadvertently, it scares them. I have heard of dogs who will not walk out the door unless a specific person is with them, due to a bad experience with invisible fencing. My advice? Save you money and get a regular fence, and to heck the the invisible stuff! -Andrea Stone Saorsa Basenjis Home of Shane, Delphi and the Honorary Basenji, Fancy (aka the Ibizan Hound) and of 3 cute little chubby baby B’s! Sultan, WA USA
Response:
>We have a wonderful 5 month old Bernese Mountain dog. We just installed an >Innotek invisible fence so he could rome our property freely. My quesion >is…. what’s the easiest way to train a dog to obey the boundries? I refuse >to purposely stick him in the shockway path. He has wondered out of the >boundries twice, and I felt absolutely awful. He came right back in the >boundries, but the poor guy was heartbroken. Should I just keep walking him in >his boudries – even though he wants no parts of it, or let him find out for >himself? He’s such a good dog, and doesn’t chase people or other animals, but >when he gets that burst of energy everynow and again, he runs off the property >and doesn’t come when called. Please let me know of your experiences! I don’t >get to check this NG often, so please e-mail! >Nikki >Willow Street, PA
Hi. Your puppy is only 5 months old. He should not be out unless he’s on a leash or in a fenced-in area with you. I understand that invisible fences are supposed to help keep an adult, trained dog from running off when the owner is outside with him, but they don’t do much for keeping a dog from running off if he’s out there alone – especially such a young pup. Also, letting him run and then calling him to you when he’s not on a leash is not a good idea. You are basically training him that "come" is optional. You should not be giving any commands to him that you are not prepared to enforce. As for training him with the fence, I’d wait until he’s older and has a much stronger foundation of obedience with you. But be careful — even when he’s older and trained, if he’s left out there alone he might still decide to escape. If you know anything about learning and psychology, you can see that the fences can work as negative reinforcement to *increase* escaping behavior. If the dog wants to escape and starts to try to escape, he is shocked. Depending on his motivation (and dogs left out alone are usually highly motivated to escape), the shock can be seen as something bad that’s going to keep happening until he becomes decisive and finishes his escape behavior — at which point the shock ends. Then it’s a "Yeah! I made it" sort of thing… That can be very exciting for an otherwise bored dog. And once they are out, there is no way they’ll come back in, because they’ll get shocked again. Of course it’s possible that the fence will wind up working out OK for you and your dog — a lot depends on the dog’s training level, motivation, and whether he’s left out alone for more than a few minutes at a time. You can do traditional boundary training with him, where you walk him around on a leash and give a collar pop and a "no" if he gets too close to the boundary. Or just set up the flags that came with your fence and let him figure it out himself — but if it were me, I’d not work on that until he was older and had a pretty solid recall to begin with… I think 5 months is too young, IMO. good luck! Daisy
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->We have a wonderful 5 month old Bernese Mountain dog. We just installed an >Innotek invisible fence so he could rome our property freely. My quesion >is…. what’s the easiest way to train a dog to obey the boundries? I refuse >to purposely stick him in the shockway path. He has wondered out of the >boundries twice, and I felt absolutely awful. He came right back in the >boundries, but the poor guy was heartbroken. Should I just keep walking him in >his boudries – even though he wants no parts of it, or let him find out for >himself? He’s such a good dog, and doesn’t chase people or other animals, but >when he gets that burst of energy everynow and again, he runs off the property >and doesn’t come when called. Please let me know of your experiences! I don’t >get to check this NG often, so please e-mail! >Nikki >Willow Street, PA > Hi. Your puppy is only 5 months old. He should not be out > unless he’s on a leash or in a fenced-in area with you. I > understand that invisible fences are supposed to help keep an > adult, trained dog from running off when the owner is outside > with him, but they don’t do much for keeping a dog from running > off if he’s out there alone – especially such a young pup. Also, > letting him run and then calling him to you when he’s not on a > leash is not a good idea. You are basically training him that > "come" is optional. You should not be giving any commands to him > that you are not prepared to enforce. > As for training him with the fence, I’d wait until he’s older and > has a much stronger foundation of obedience with you. But be > careful — even when he’s older and trained, if he’s left out > there alone he might still decide to escape. If you know > anything about learning and psychology, you can see that the > fences can work as negative reinforcement to *increase* escaping > behavior. If the dog wants to escape and starts to try to > escape, he is shocked. Depending on his motivation (and dogs > left out alone are usually highly motivated to escape), the shock > can be seen as something bad that’s going to keep happening until > he becomes decisive and finishes his escape behavior — at which > point the shock ends. Then it’s a "Yeah! I made it" sort of > thing… That can be very exciting for an otherwise bored dog. > And once they are out, there is no way they’ll come back in, > because they’ll get shocked again. > Of course it’s possible that the fence will wind up working out > OK for you and your dog — a lot depends on the dog’s training > level, motivation, and whether he’s left out alone for more than > a few minutes at a time. You can do traditional boundary > training with him, where you walk him around on a leash and give > a collar pop and a "no" if he gets too close to the boundary. Or > just set up the flags that came with your fence and let him > figure it out himself — but if it were me, I’d not work on that > until he was older and had a pretty solid recall to begin with… > I think 5 months is too young, IMO. > good luck! > Daisy
Daisy, My father law is living near a man trying to develop one of these fences that do not shock the dog once the dog wants back in. He has been working a long time on it and it looks like it will be out in 1-2 years. There are other advantages to his invisible fence that are supposed to make these fences more workable. Diane
Response:
We have a wonderful 5 month old Bernese Mountain dog. We just installed an Innotek invisible fence so he could rome our property freely. My quesion is…. what’s the easiest way to train a dog to obey the boundries? I refuse to purposely stick him in the shockway path. He has wondered out of the boundries twice, and I felt absolutely awful. He came right back in the boundries, but the poor guy was heartbroken. Should I just keep walking him in his boudries – even though he wants no parts of it, or let him find out for himself? He’s such a good dog, and doesn’t chase people or other animals, but when he gets that burst of energy everynow and again, he runs off the property and doesn’t come when called. Please let me know of your experiences! I don’t get to check this NG often, so please e-mail! Nikki Willow Street, PA
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