Welcome to TV and TOTV! I know you will love it here. An electric fence is probably your best bet. You might also be interested to know that there is a free dog park in TV in the Village of Springdale where you can bring your dog off leash for exercize and socializing. It has separate areas for large and small dogs. It's a great place to meet other dog owners. There's also a popular commercial dog park nearby called Doggie Do Run Run.

Congratulations on your new home and life in TV. All best wishes!

Caveman, I had heard that such birdcages existed, with grass floors. And I enquired about them earlier this year as we were adding another large birdcage with a concrete floor; and I thought we might also add a separate little cage for the dogs with a grass floor.

We were recently told by a couple of different construction companies that The Villages will not approve a birdcage with a grass floor, even though they did it in the past. And that the floors must be concrete. Perhaps the "rules" have changed.

I suppose you could put down artificial grass on top of the concrete as Bogie suggested.

First let me say that I'm not a dog owner.

Why would anyone want dog smells in their lanai? You can pick up the solids but the urine will still smell. Yes?

Right on Russ!

Army Guy

Fences don't hurt anyone and should be up to the homeowner. IMO

No fences.

AGREE! NO FENCES!

Army Guy

I agree!.........................as long as it is not in TV.:boxing2:

NO FENCES. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If you want to know how it smells.....linger at your postal station.

No Fences! Get an electric (underground) fence put in and you and pooch can be happy...and the neighbors as well! :welcome:

Oh, I know what it smells like!

I can never resist a thread on dog doo. :doggie:

I suppose that someone would put down rocks in the doggie birdcage and hose them off several times a day. Just a guess. But I agree that idea is not an attractive idea at all. And it would probably only occur to people who are desperate for ways to contain their pets.

When my spouse made it know that he wanted to sell our Courtyard Villa and move to a larger house with a huge garage, I was desolate. I never, ever thought I'd be a fan of invisible fencing. I thought it was inhumane and cruel.

But I've found the Invisible Fencing works very well and has exceeded my expectations. Even when ducks waddle up from the pond in back of our house and taunt the dogs, they don't go through the boundary. They hear a beep from their collar, they don't need a correction. The guy from Dog Watch was great. He helped us train the dogs and did follow-up visits regularly. And the dogs are not confined to a small area, they can use the whole yard. (Also, I take them daily to the dog park for some real exercise).

Bare.... slightly off topic...but, when you return to the bubble in October, will you have to re-train the pups on the electric fence?

Good question and I've wondered about that myself. I'm almost positive the dogs will remember the boundaries. As soon as I arrive, I'll do a refresher course with the collars that beep, no current.

I've found that animals can remember anything important to them. After six months in exile, my Himalyan cat (almost 18) can remember exactly where I feed her. I feed her in the bathroom, away from the dogs. When we arrive at our house in TV, she immediately goes into the bathroom and sits and stares at the empty floor until I put her food down.

Our two year old kittens do the same (in the kitchen).

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Oh do they ever remember routines. My husband used to take our Gordon Setter with him into the hardware store in NY. One day Angus found a doughnut that someone had left on a rear counter. For years after, he made a beeline to that counter.

When I saw the discussion here had turned to Invisible Fence, I looked back, way deep, to find something I wrote a few months ago. At that time our dog Annie was nearing her 16th birthday which we think was sometime in April. At the time Annie showed up at our back door, the vet was able to get a really good guess at her age. He said her teeth looked like she was approximately 5 months old. She showed up in September. On a full moon. I thought about naming her Moondoggie but decided Annie was a better name for her.

Annie is now past her 16th birthday by a few months. We took her to the vet the other day for a checkup and he gave her a good look-over and listen-to and then he just shook his head and smiled. Even though her mobility issues are getting a little worse and she is completely deaf and has been for a couple of years, her heart and lungs and attitude have not changed. She is a beautiful dog, if I do say so myself. When people ask me what kind of dog she is, I always say, "Annie is Nature's Finest Genetic Engineering."

Anyway, I am going to do a repeat story here. (I have been telling you stories for a long, long time and every now and then, I have to do a repeat so just close your eyes if you have already read this one.) But for those who have not and who are considering Invisible Fence, here is Annie's story.

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About that Invisible Fence....I think our Invisible Fence probably saved Annie's life -- or lifestyle, for sure. (As I write this, Annie is here beside me, sleeping at my feet, and probably dreaming about what she would like to have for her 16th birthday, coming sometime in April -- we think.)

Annie showed up at our back door one day in early September of 1994. We tried to find her owner. We put the "Found Dog" notices in mailboxes and on phone poles and in the newspaper.

And then, after a few days of all that trying to do the right thing, we got worried that somebody might claim her. She was our dog. We knew.

She came to us housebroken, calm, sweet, loved kids, and knew what a refrigerator was. Annie was somebody else's dog first. But she had run away from them. How? Why? We never found out for sure. But we soon developed a theory.

(There is a line in the play Sylvia where the dog says to the man who finds her when she is lost, "There are some things about me that you will just never know." -- and that is what Annie said to us.)

We named her Annie because she was an orphan when she arrived.

As we got to know Annie better, she soon revealed her secret vice. Even though she never got bigger than about 35 pounds, she has always had big ideas. Annie chased deer. Herds of deer. Bucks and does and fawns. Whatever. She chased them.

And at that time, we lived on a few acres with a woods in the back. Annie knew the deer's schedule and she waited and watched and ran after them. Mr. Boomer would chase after her. She was fast. (We were all a lot younger then.)

One day, Mr. Boomer, in pursuit, was in a clearing just to the north of our woods, when out of those trees came a thundering herd of whitetail deer. Nine of them. The herd split, 4 on one side, 5 on the other, ran right around Mr. Boomer. Geez! And following behind, in hot pursuit, was Annie. Running like a deer herself. She could not catch any of those deer, though she was barking threats of what she would do to them if she did.

Finally, Mr. Boomer caught her when she quite simply ran out of steam -- for that chase anyway.

That was when we decided to spend the money to fence an acre with Invisible Fence.

Had Annie lost her first home because of her vice of chasing deer -- for who knows how many miles? Well, she won't tell us for sure. But we do know that we would have lost her eventually. And that she might have ended up dead or with somebody who would not take good care of her.

And so Annie spent a lot of years, watching for those deer. If she was in the yard, she would chase after them by running just inside the perimeter. From her safe position, she could shout her threats to those deer at a distance. Annie has always been a lady but where those deer were concerned, I heard her say things like, "If I did not have this :censored::censored: collar with this :censored: battery around my neck, I would come after you and I would kick your :censored::censored: asses, every last one!"

Several years ago, Annie and Mr. Boomer and I downsized to our geezer ranch-style house with the small yard. We put in Invisible Fence again.

Now, Annie is old, really old. She sniffs the trail where maybe a whitetail has passed through in the night But she does not run anymore. Not much anyway. But she still wears that collar with the battery pack. She wears it proudly. And I think I hear her, every once in a while, out there in the yard, shouting, "If I did not have to wear this :censored: collar with the battery, I would chase you :censored: deer and I would so kick your :censored: asses!"

(That Invisible Fence gave us all these years with Annie. I just know it.)

Boomer

Great story, Annie sounds like a good dog. i think I've been convinced that invisible fence won't harm my dogs. I can tell that you love Annie and want what's best for her! Thank you

Just to follow-up I bought a CYV on a large corner premier lot. Not only do my doggies have a lot of land to run around in but we have great privacy too!. Only one neighbor and he is only here a few months a year and does not rent. Just added another 12x17 bird cage with a doggie door for my kids, er, I mean dogs. :wave:

This fence discussion keeps coming up, over and over. I don't understand why people complain about something that's written in to the basis of the community. If fences are so important, go where there are fences. I hate the look of fences.

Fences & Villa Walls
 

Got to love fences & courtyard villa walls.......that gives folks enough privacy to run around in their birthday suits.... ;-)

Yeah, but in TV peoples birthday suits are so wrinklied that they look like clothes. :D

I am so happy there are no fences in the Villages. Here in Michigan, almost all of the new subdivisions (and our entire city) have No Fence rules. It looks so much better, to see expanses of land not marred by ugly fences. Sure, it's possible to envision pretty, clean fences but the reality is, it wouldn't be long before it looks like a mess.

Like many of us I have moved around the country. I have lived where folks used shubbery and trees to create natural barrier and I have lived where a neighbor will literally slap a chain link fence up against a six foot wood panel fence. Guess which location had the friendlier and more caring neighbors and which neighborhood didn't even know the names of the people who live on their street?

I love my CYV. If we didn't have a dog I might think differently.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl::clap2:

Regardless who thought it was a good idea, no fence would be the popular vote hands down.

:highfive:If TV allowed fences they would probably have to allow Pink Flamingos in the front yard. No thanks!!

Closed thread . Over two years old.