Does it work as advertised? Install and any maintenance issues? Looking for first hand experience/ advice if possible. Have two small dogs (not my choice overruled by family on this one lol) that we need to keep contained in the backyard (standard city lot). Pet safe fence is the one I’m thinking of but there are other brands I’m sure.
I use the petsafe wireless setup with our doxin/corgie mix. It's been quite flawless in 8 years.
On a side note, if the collar is turned up to high, it will drop a 250lb man who's been drinking around a fire.
Not me.
My neighbour has one and it generally works quite well for his two large dogs
I have the YardMax which I think is made by the same people as Petsafe. It works very well. I would have gone wireless but my neighbors have an in-ground system and the wireless wouldn’t work because of signal interference.
I installed it myself using a lawn edger (for sale $100, only used once!) and it was a fairly simple job.
We have had a wireless PetSafe system for about ten years. Thought about the buried cable system, but with the rocks we have, I would still be digging the ditch. Keeps the dogs out of the river in salmon season so they don't get salmon poisoning which can kill them. It works well doing that.
The transmitter quit about four years ago and PetSafe replaced it for about half the cost of a new one (apparently a known issue with that transmitter), even though it was way out of warranty.
Our dogs can come into the house and the signal from the transmitter doesn't go though the building as well as the yard (duh!). Just have to make sure that the collar doesn't alert anywhere they can go inside. When we got it, the batteries were expensive - still are at the pet store. I order mine from Amazon at $20 for six.
Finally, the collar is fairly large. Since we have golden retrievers, not a huge issue. Might be for a very small dog.
How do you handle driveways/walkways? I'd love to have this around my front/side yard, but the side yard includes my 3 car driveway and the front yard has the front walkway.
In reply to docwyte :
With the buried cable system, you might be able to do something like that. With the wireless system, you get a variable sized circle based on how high you have the potentiometer set, assuming there are no obstructions (buildings, etc)
The systems all generally work, but certain breeds aren’t good with it. Make sure you do some research on that end of it. For instance, a Great Pyrenees will walk or run right through it, fall to their knees from the shock, and get up and keep on going.
We never had one growing up because the first dog more or less stayed home anyways and the second dog would have run right through it if it saw a deer or coyote.
I have the Petsafe underground but am pretty lazy. I laid it on top of the ground of the ground in the woods down the sides and in the back of the place and attached it to the vinyl post and rail fence in the front. I've had it for two years with two boxers and it works great at keeping out dogs contained. This is actually the second we have had. the first one was with a malamute and as mtn noted it didn't work so well. I have about two acres 'fenced'. To go across the cement driveway I put the wire in the expansion crack and put that cement repair stuff that comes in a bottle over top if it.
One difference with the wireless. If the animal leaves range, it's ON. Where as the buried ones, they can run through.
In reply to 68TR250 :
OK, I could do that. My yellow lab is pretty old now and he's beyond running out but will wander away from me if I don't keep a really close eye on him.
Sounds like this "fence" will work perfectly in letting him be outside with me but keep him in the yard without me having to constantly watch him.
In reply to drainoil :
They work very well and if you are carrying the collar will drop you to your knees. On the other hand some Giant breed dogs like St Bernard’s and Newfoundland’s will wander across it without a pause.
In part that’s because those breeds are bred to ignore pain and just get on with the task at hand. They are so kind and gentle around children and especially toddlers that they watch to ensure their tail doesn’t knock over children.
Children can grab handful of fur to pull themselves up and they patiently stand and wait. They are so smart and gentle you learn to trust them completely around your children.
They helped raise both Daughters. However they do not live all that long. 5-7 years is a full life and when they pass away they teach your children that nothing lasts forever and you need to cherish their time with them.
Both girls ( who were 5 years apart in age) had their own dog and learned lessons about responsibility and what unrequited love was like. Both have their own St Bernard to help raise their children.
Musing high quality dog food is the secret to keeping their droppings to modest size and not smelly. Their food dish was always filled and water dish kept clean and filled with fresh water. Because of that they never got aggressive or anxious and did a great job of guarding the house when we were away and barked only to alert us or when we were playing with them
oh as for the fence? It’s still buried and probably still works if we hooked it back up.
I had a PetSafe system a decade or so ago. Worked perfectly for several years until one day we had a lightning strike. The surge blew the transponder off the garage wall and left a scorch mark. PetSafe replaced it for free, good company.
My neighbour has one for his two Portugese Waterdogs. They're so used to it , after 8-10 years that they wouldn't cross onto my lawn to play with my grandson even after the owner removed the collars and told them to go. They just sat close to the line and watched. The dogs are even clever enough to understand that there's a time delay between the collar beeping and the shock, so one of them is pretty adept at lunging across the line to retrieve his ball and getting back in time.
We also have the petsafe wireless. It works as advertised (9years). It was nice because we could take it to the cottage on the weekends.
Grtechguy said:One difference with the wireless. If the animal leaves range, it's ON. Where as the buried ones, they can run through.
That’s not the case with the YardMax. You can set it either way. YardMax mode encourages them to get back into the safety zone.
My parents just had one installed last week for their two lab puppies. My family has had dogs my entire life, but this is the first invisible fence we have had for any of them. So far so good, the pups have a lot more room to run than they did previously in their little fenced in section of yard and have been respectful of the boundaries. I've thought about putting one in at my place for my lab/aussie shepherd mix, but I'm not sure I would completely trust him unattended if he spotted a deer or something.
One of my clients had a dog that quickly figured out that if he just kept running, the collar would only shock for a moment. The solution was a six foot privacy fence, so then the dog just dug under the new board fence. He buried rocks under the fence line, so the dog jumped the six foot fence.
OK, we've got to be smarter than the dog, right? So next was an eight foot chain link, which the dog climbed.
The owner finally kept him in by running an invisible fence four feet inside of the chain link. He couldn't get at the fence to jump it, climb it, or dig out.
I told him that it would have been a lot cheaper and easier to follow my suggestion: let me neuter him, then he's got no reason to get out!
Another client told me that their beagle would sit at the end of the driveway just inside of where the fence ran under the concrete. Every evening, wild rabbits would come out and taunt the dog from the other side of the zone. Somehow the rabbits had figured out that the dog would only come that far, and then stop!
I had good luck for 3 dogs in my childhood.
It worked great for 4 years for my dog. Now it does not. It is turned up all the way, and he will pass through it like it isn't even there. https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/dog-help-invisible-fence/127771/page1/
Floating Doc said:Another client told me that their beagle would sit at the end of the driveway just inside of where the fence ran under the concrete. Every evening, wild rabbits would come out and taunt the dog from the other side of the zone. Somehow the rabbits had figured out that the dog would only come that far, and then stop!
Ha! We had a beagle growing up who was kept tied in the backyard most of the time. All of the wild rabbits and neighbors' cats knew EXACTLY how far he could reach 
That was also a dog who would have never worked with an invisible fence. If his nose was locked in on a smell, he would follow it anywhere.
cdowd said:We also have the petsafe wireless. It works as advertised (9years). It was nice because we could take it to the cottage on the weekends.
That’s also what I was hoping to hear-an invisible fence that’s portable and can be taken with you to use elsewhere. Not that I plan on moving soon but in case we do, it can come with us.
Do you just afix yours to an existing fence or trees/shrubs?
Mine worked well to teach our dog not to climb over the fence. Two lightning strikes in four years and by the second one she was trained. She still won't walk through the open gate unless you invite her and we haven't had it on her in over a year.
In reply to drainoil :
I just plug it in, and it puts a 90' radius around the unit that the collar works off of. It is pretty slick.
cdowd said:In reply to drainoil :
I just plug it in, and it puts a 90' radius around the unit that the collar works off of. It is pretty slick.
Didn’t know they operated like that thanks!
I had one years ago (bury-the-wire type) that worked ok.
What I haven't seen mentioned here in any significant way is that the fence does what it does but it's the TRAINING that makes them work. You will spend a lot of time training the dog so that the fence is effective.
If you don't have time to do the training, don't worry about it. The fence install is quick and easy, comparatively.
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