****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
We had a single, lovely rescue dog that had no interest in escaping until we rescued another dog who was used to life as a street urchin and decided immediately that he would love nothing more than to rove far and wide in search of adventure. We have three beautiful acres completely fenced, mostly with a horse type fence made from steel well drill pipe and square wire mesh. Quite sturdy, except it is very easy for an enterprising young dog to dig UNDER the mesh and escape from just about anywhere. And they often did, in pursuit of gophers who ran from them through the fence, or just as a way of exploring the larger world.We wanted them to retain the run of the whole property, and we finally resorted to the idea of radio shock collars only when nothing else worked. The last straw was them being found wandering the main road nearby just waiting to get hit by a car, as so often happens here to other wildlife.I looked for something that was made in the USA, or at least owned by a US company, for reasons of support and quality, and this was it. Well worth the extra money.I ordered the above-ground rated wire just to get it going quickly, and I was also afraid of gophers possibly eating through the wire underground in some places. I strung it along the top of the fence, all 1,500 feet of it, and expoxied it in recesses in the formed concrete slabs of the driveways to get past the two driveway gates, and then carried it inwards as an inert twisted pair through some conduit and concrete and through the wall of the garage where the transmitter was to be located and powered. (you must put the transmitter and lightning surge suppressor indoors; they are not outdoor rated, this part will take most of your time if you do it right.)All in all it took about three days to do everything and test it, mostly due to the special bits where it is not just hung on the fence with some bailing wire.The instructions give you a two week training regime which I can only describe as being written for 1950s housewives that have nothing to do all day but keep a close eye on their dogs. It IS fair and equitable for the dogs and you need to do at least a bare minimum of introducing them to the fence first with just the audio warning and pulling them away from it, and then putting the collars on the lowest setting to allow them to experience what I can describe after trying it myself as an annoying tickle, or the feeling of a big insect buzzing around the electrode spot. This was a relief to us as the first setting was in no way painful.We did try the second level once on one collar when one dog was not responsive to level 1, and that's all it took. After that we put it back on level one, and we're happy to say that's all that's ever been needed for either dog.We had only about two to three days to condense the training regime down before we both had to go back to work after a long thanksgiving holiday, and I am pleased to say it worked perfectly. They have not escaped a single time, and even when I walk out the gate to get the mail and they want to follow, they will not get within 10 feet of the fence, ever. Where they used to put their front paws up on the fence menacingly to bark at passers by, they now sit farther back and carry on with it there. I can only describe it as a small miracle, especially given the shorter training period we had with them.Do be aware that you need to remove the collars nightly so as not to develop bed sore type spots on their skin, and we rotate where the collar is clocked on their neck each morning from where it was the day before to prevent any one spot from being continually pressured. After a few months we don't see any issues. If you're not willing to do this daily then please don't buy this or any other shock collar system. We take them off every evening after we let them in, and put them on in the morning after they have had breakfast. A small price to pay for them to have their freedom and us our peace of mind.Since they hardly ever trigger the collars anymore, the batteries seem to be lasting a long time, though I will be ordering some replacements soon. It is likely that even without the collars they will not approach the fence, but one day if we stop using the collars one might accidentally run up to the fence chasing something and then figure out that he might be able to get out again, so we put the collars on them religiously.Now we have two dogs who can occupy themselves on three big acres in a safe manner while we are gone during the day, and then come in and be loved when we get home at night. Thank you Extreme Dog Fence.
