How do I get my dogs comfortable with my new hotwire fence?
I recently had to put a hotwire fence around my yard to keep my dogs from escaping through the chain link fence around my house. They now seem too scared to get move off the porch. How can I get them comfortable with the new setup and back out into the yard?
Thank you for all the real comments concerned readers submitted. I was not looking for a lecture from close minded people. I appreciate the feedback from people who understand I am not cruel, just concerned. I live on a busy highway and the last thing I would ever want to happen is for my dogs to get killed. I take them everywhere with me and they love me to death and I couldn’t do with out them. They are working dogs, not "pets". They serve a purpose and are not like the family pet. They help me work cattle on my ranch. Any dog owner with any concern for their pets knows that this is not "cruel" but is necessary to ensure the saftey of their animal. Discipline and boundaries are bases of a good relationship with your animal. Especially with a working pet that I depend on for many things. For those of you with legitimate answers, thank you very much. For those of you with nothing but contempt and ridicule, please understand the situation before you make a fool of yourself.
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They’ve learned what you wanted them to learn- that there are places in the back yard where they will experience pain. It may be that they hear or sense something that you don’t hear from the eletronic system or sense out there that is very uncomfortable for them.
If this fence involves collars the dogs wear check the collars often. I know of one family who had one of those things and it got a short and stuck on for at least 24 hours. Poor, poor dog had some really serious behavior problems afterwards.
Also, if you forced them to experience the shock, they are probably quite frightened. (Don’t be insulted- lots of people force their dogs into the shock when they get those fences.)
There are a lot of problems with those fences, although I do understand why you got it. I’ve just seen so many problems with them I discourage people from getting them.
If they continue to experience problems, there are alternatives. I had good luck by stapling chicken wire at the base of the fence, folded out onto the grass. Within a short time the grass grew through the chicken wire and we could mow right over it. This way when they tried to dig under the fence they were stopped by the chicken wire. It was practically invisible- you could only see it when you were close to the fence.
I know another family that made a foot deep trench and filled it with concrete all around their fence line. It was quite effective.
When my former dog went through a phase of jumping over the fence, I criss crossed the corner with wire so that she couldn’t pull herself over the edge.
Good luck.