They say good fences make good neighbors and that's probably especially true if you have dogs. Ron is hoping that an underground fence makes for even better neighbors.
When Ron lived in the city, there was no place for his two dogs to run around outside, especially without a leash. Ron's move to the country changed all that. He wanted to keep the look of the wide-open spaces on his Connecticut property, but at the same time, provide safe boundaries for his dogs.
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this project.
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How it works:
A small wire is buried in the ground and a radio signal is transmitted from it. The dog wears a receiver on his collar and as he approaches the buried wire, he hears a sound and then feels a mild correction like a static shock. The shock, or correction, is not painful, but strong enough to get the dog's attention and cause him to turn back.
For more information on the PetSafe Underground Fence line, please visit the PetSafe Professional website.
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1. Draw a plan
The first step is to create a plan. If you have a large yard, you may want to consider separating the back and front sections with two sharp bends that go in towards the house.
With this type of layout, the only way the dogs can get from one part of the yard to the other is through the house or garage.
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| Note: In the case of Ron's house, he has a breezeway that the dogs can go though if the gate is open. If the gate is closed, the dogs are confined to either the back or the front yard. |
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2. Mark fence location
Temporarily mark the fence location with flags. These will indicate where the cable is to be buried and then later the flags will be used to show the dogs where the fence is during their initial training.
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| The laying of the cable is done with this specialized piece of equipment that cuts a slot into the ground and then lays in the cable all in one operation.
The process moves surprisingly quickly. In fact, you can bury over a thousand feet of wire in less than half an hour.
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3. Obstacles
If the fence needs to cut through a driveway, pathway or patio, etc., you will need to get a specialized saw for this purpose. You can rent one at your local rental yard or home improvement center.
Tell the rental people what type of material you will be cutting through and they will help you select the proper equipment and the right saw blade for the job.
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| Simply snap a chalk line where you would like to make the cut and then follow along the line with the saw.
Once you have your cut, stretch the wire out along the opening and then pack the wire down into the slot.
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| Use a sealer and overfill the crack just a little bit so that the caulk comes just over the top
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4. Splices
You should be able to lay most of the underground fence as one continuous piece of wire. However, if you need to make splices, it is not complicated.
Take the two ends of the wires and strip off about three quarters of an inch off the jacket. Make a hard connection with a wire nut, which will also help to keep it from getting pulled out of the connector.
The splice unit contains an environmentally friendly synthetic base gel that doesn't harden. Take the connected wires with the wire nut and push it all the way down to the bottom of the splice unit. The nut will displace the gel so it fills up to the top.
Stick the splice unit underground and backfill it with dirt.
Once the underground wire is installed, it should be completely Invisible except for the marker flags.
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5. Install transmitter
The transmitter, which emits the radio signal that travels along the buried wire, needs to be installed in a protected place near a power outlet. Bore a small hole into the base of the garage wall (or wherever you'd like to install the transmitter) and bring the ends of the wires inside where you will connect them to the transmitter.
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| Install the screw that mounts the unit to the wall, and then attach each end of the wire loop to the two terminals.
Staple the wires against the wall using an arched staple that is designed for cable tacking.
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| Plug the AC adaptor into the outlet and the transmitter. The two indicator lights on the transmitter unit will show you that you have power and that the installed loop is continuous.
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6. Training
The final step in making the invisible fence successful, is training the dog.
Place the training collar on the dog. |
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| Gently lead the dog just close enough to the boundary flags that they only hear the tone. Then lead the dog back away from the fence and reward them.
The correction is very mild at first (almost undetectable) and then becomes slightly stronger as the dog moves closer to the boundary. As he begins to feel the correction after the warning tone, most dogs instinctively turn away. They should be immediately rewarded for this.
These lessons should be repeated frequently until the dog understands that the fence boundary flags represent a correction, and they will avoid them.The training process will be different with every dog, but with a little patience, most dogs are very successful.
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