Perhaps you have heard of an electric dog fence, but you may not know how they function. Let’s take a minute to discuss how they work to keep your dog in your yard.
The Components
An electric dog fence is made up of a transmitter, dog fence wire, and a special receiver collar that your dog wears. Without any one of these elements, the system will not work.
The transmitter is the “brains” of the dog fence. It sends a radio signal through your dog fence wire, which encircles your yard. On the transmitter, you are able to control settings, such as the correction level, the boundary zone width and the frequency if necessary.
The dog fence wire defines the boundary that your dog cannot cross. In order for your dog fence to work, your wire must be laid in a complete circuit. In other words, your dog fence wire must start and stop in the same place.
The receiver collar that your dog wears is the last crucial element. It picks up on the radio signal that emanates from your dog fence wire.
The Concept
As mentioned, your dog fence wire works as a perimeter around your yard. It should be laid in the area where you don’t want your dog to cross over.
Your dog comes out of the house with his special collar on. He is allowed to roam anywhere he wants, except over to the wire, that you have marked off with dog fence flags.
Should he or she happen to approach the flags, they will hear a beep and receive what is known as a static correction. What exactly does that feel like? It is akin to running across the carpet in your sock feet and then touching a doorknob. It is annoying to the dog, but by no means is it painful.
A Word About Training
You can’t expect for your dog to understand what this whole thing is about. The dog can’t just be let out the door and expect him to know what to do and what not to do. He or she will need to be trained for a couple of weeks.
You would begin by setting your dog fence collar in beep only mode. Next, you take your dog outdoors on a long leash. Play with him in the “safe zone,” which is all of the area that exists within your dog fence wire. Next, you allow the dog to approach the flags. Don’t encourage it, but just allow it to happen.
Then, you would just shake the flag, firmly say “no” and pull the dog back into the safe zone with the leash. By doing this, your dog will begin to associate the flags with the beeping of the collar. Your dog will begin to understand that the flags represent the area that the dog cannot cross. End the session by doing a “victory lap” around your yard.
You will need to repeat this process a few times a day, in short 10-15 minute sessions, for several days. After that, you can add the static correction, and follow the same instructions. After a week or two, your dog should be well-trained on the electric dog fence.