Obedience Dog Training:
Pros and Cons of Electronic Fences
By Jan Hoadley

Electric fences and electronic fences are a control device that may be a blessing or a curse for both dog and human. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and each can be misunderstood in use.

A typical electronic dog fence involves an underground wire, with flags placed over it as a visible marker of its location. As the dog approaches this barrier, a collar on him delivers a noise, unpleasant spray or a variable shock to deter him from continuing past the flag markers.

The advantages of this fence is that it doesn't give a visible fenceline to detract from the property in some views. The disadvantages: some dogs learn they can run through the barrier and that momentary punishment passes, then they are trapped *outside* the yard, unable to get back home. One owner mistakenly put her female Rottweiller out in the yard and while she had no interest in leaving, even when in season, every male dog in the neighborhood could easily walk into the yard without any deterrant.

These units are not cheap and take training the dog, something that some owners seem to think isn't necessary so the fence fails. Careless digging can interrupt the underground wire and render the fence inoperable. Many people object to the use of an electric shock as being a cruel means to deter behavior.

Remember also that with these fences the collar has a unit that needs to make contact with the skin. For heavy coated dogs, such as shelties, collies, huskies and others make sure that the probes on this unit make contact with the skin, not just the fur.

A slightly different type of fence is a central unit that adjusts up to 1500 feet in diameter in range. This unit is good for those who travel - it can be set in an RV and scaled down to cover just around the RV. These will be about $300 and can be put to use immediately.

The disadvantage to these - they go in a circle around the unit. If you want your dog to be in the back yard but not front yard, placing the unit is difficult in some applications. This is more a wireless option but doesn't cover a typical fenceline in a front yard only or exclude the dog from landscaping as a buried wire would.