pets and invisible fence
 

We are trying to decide between a CYV and a Cottage home. We have two dogs that weigh approx. 20 lbs each. The CYV seems to have that "closed in" feeling were as the Cottage feels open and more spacious for the money. Has anyone had experience with the invisible fence? How effective and safe is it? I know the dogs will have to be surpervised in both the CYV and Cottage. Your imput will be greatly appreciated. Anxious for our house to sell so we can get to TV very soon.

Cyv
 

I feel the same way. My thinking is that our visitors will all bring dogs with them. So I think for everyones saftey we should do a courtyard. Everyone has two. Two Cavachons, two min pins, two chihuahuas, two Scnauzers! Then of course my daughter is having TWINS!

We previously had a Courtyard Villa for our dogs. We sold the CYV and bought a house, and installed invisible fencing.

If you type "Invisible Fences" in the Search area, you will find a thread with a lot of comments. (Hit the Search button in the blue bar up above).

We also bought a CYV primarily for the safety of the dogs. They run our lives...we have accepted that. Hubbie and I both also like the privacy since I intend to drink coffee every morning on the lanai and NO ONE wants to see me when I first get up looking wild eyed and bushy haired. LOL
When we were there, I saw a dog running through a neighborhood and Gracie has said she has seen a coyote! Those fences might keep your guys in, but they will not keep other dogs/animals out. I don't want to scare you, but this is something you need to put into your equation. I told Hubs if anything happens to my little Gertie (mini dachshund) he would have to hospitalize me. So it was the courtyard villa for us.

We adopted a very active border collie when she was a puppy. It became a full-time job exercising her. After a year or so we installed an invisible fence hoping that it might allow her to have the run of the yard.
Training took a month but amazingly it worked!
The freedom that it gave her made her happier and healthier.

We had Invisible Fencing installed at our home in TV and love it. We have two German Shepherds who are used to a large yard to play in. Our lot in TV is larger than most and backs up to a farm.
We weren't planning on buying a home in TV were actually there with my parents trying to convince them to move to TV, but we fell in love with the area! I said the only way I would buy is if we found a lot that was good for dogs. They love it and so do we.

We too have two dogs, one big one, another about 12 lbs. They were used to a big, fenced in yard to run in.
We bought a designer home with a villa wall behind us and on one side. That gives us privacy without being boxed in.
We had an underground fence installed by Dogwatch and found it to be a very good investment. The dogs learned their boundries very quickly and now don't need their correcton collars when they are outdoors. The training that comes with Dogwatch is probably as valuable as the hardware. The trainer comes by and works with you and your dogs and it's extremely effective without being stressful to the dogs.
If you're wondering if the correction collars are painful, they aren't. Before I put them on our dogs I buckled them around my arm and walked through the correction area repeatedly. The correction is more of a tingle than a shock. It gets their attention but is not at all painful.
Still, you have to keep any eye on your dogs. We never let them out unsupervised. There are some pretty nasty creatures out there, both on the ground and flying above. This would apply whether you have an underground fence or a courtyard villa. You are your dogs' protector. Please stay with them at all times.

additional info
 

Just an addition to my previous post...make sure your lot will accomodate the invisible fence.
Our lot is pie shaped. (narrower in the front, wider in the rear). The side yards are fairly close to our neighbors toward the front. The buried cable that acts as the transmitter sends a signal 6-8 feet. If you don't have more space than that, your puppy won't be able to navigate from the front yard to the rear. Investigate different makes before you buy especially if you have a narrow lot.

:agree::agree:

Very well said Bluedog.

Even though my girls are very large I never leave them outside unattended.

:doggie:

We currently have an invisible fence in our yard in Columbus. We used to hook her up to a stake, but she was forever getting tangled on the stake or patio furniture. Now it's great being able to just open the door and let her out. She takes care of business and comes right back. One suggestion is to have the yard set up with 2 separate zones, front and back. If we're out with the dog in the back yard, she can't go wondering out to the front yard where we can't see her, and vice versa. I definitely recommend it.

Billnterri is right. 2 zones makes it much easier to keep track of your dogs. Our yard isn't big but it's good to know where the kids are. If we're in the front, they're in the front, if we're in the back, thats where the kids are too.
You definitely want the underground fence to cover the front yard and driveway too, in case one of your dogs scoots out the front door or garage door. It all adds and safety peace of mind.

Electric fences
 

There is just one exception that I know of for the electric fence. We have friends who had a gray hound who was too fast for the electric fence. He would back up and take off and be through the fence before it could register to give him a shock. LOL

I just posted in another thread our feelings and experience with the invisible fence system. Unfortunately they are not a 100% cure for containing all dogs but they are still pretty reliable and safer than other means of control. Also glad for no fences rules on TV. Installation of a regular fence can be 2 to 3 times the cost of an invisable fence.

Our experience with invisible fencing was identical to Bluedog. We used Dogwatch, tested the collars on our arms first, and we have a 10 lb dog and a 70 lb dog. The key to use of invisible fencing is the pretraining. I cannot emphasize that enough. There is a beeping noise as the dog approaches the fence. The whole idea is to pretrain your dog to avoid the fence when he hears the beep. We pretrained for two weeks before turning on the correction system. We turned on our system to the lowest correction level, which as Bluedog stated, is more of a surprise tingle than a shock.

Each of our dogs went through the fence once and felt the corrective tingle. From that time on, they avoided the perimeter of the property. When ducks come up from the golf course to tease our 70 lb Lolli Pop, she takes the high road and ignores them.

At this point in time, we don't even have to put the collars on the dogs. (Although we do use the collars some of the time to refresh the beep training). When we returned to The Villages in October last year, after a six-month Summer Sabbatical, we had to order new batteries. The dogs remembered the perimeter of the property without the collars.

Like Halle and Bluedog, I strongly believe that your pets should be supervised, whether in a CYV or your backyard.

Possibly, this greyhound wasn't given enough beep training. The correction part of our electrical system wasn't turned on until our Dog Watch Trainer felt our dogs were sufficiently beep trained.

I agree with supervising pets. We never had children but know you can't leave them alone for a minute either. I'm usually outside in the garage or doing yardwork when our dog is with me and he can't go to the front yard unless I have the garage open. We have a neighbors cat that seems to figure out our dog is restrained by some method and he'll parade up and down the street just out of reach of the 8 ft border. On occasion he will stop right in front of the house as if taunting the dog.