We have an invisible fence and still have to keep an eye on the dogs. We had excellent training with "bad flag" and the dogs learning to stay away from the flags with the command bad flag. They each had a couple shocks and know to stay within the flagged area. But, if a bunny runs by in another yard they may take off after the bunny. If we're there and say bad flag, they equate the term with the shock and back off. The flags should work, but we have labs with ADHD!

As Toms River T&D said in the above post, the dog owner should not allow the dog to be unattended even with an invisible fence. It may be worth the shock to them to take off after what they see beyond the flag. It's wonderful system allowing them to play in a larger area while supervised, but not a containment that can be guaranteed with all certainty.

Barefoot, Yep that was the same company that came down to install our wire. And they will come back for retraining.
Well I just found out that I will be down on a permanent basis sooner than I thought (Yeah) but due to layoffs here in VA (Boo!). So the timing was perfect after all.

Hope to see ya in one of the squares!
TV Man

I doubt you'll ever regret being in The Villages sooner, rather than later! Happy Days ahead for TV MAN. I hope you'll come to one of the TOTV Crispers luncheons. There are always reminders posted on this site.

The invisible fence works very well for us. The guys at Dog Watch are such nice guys, and as you said, they will come back to help out with retraining.
Invisible fences are the best solution we've got for dog containment (except for CYVs). However as many have pointed out, the dogs always need to be supervised. Predators can come into the yard, or dogs can charge through the fence.

The invisible fence works well for our two dogs, even for our 70 lb Portuguese Water Dog. The ducks waddle up the hill to tease her, cheeky little devils, but she ignores them. Before the fence, she would have chased them back to the pond.

I have an invisible fence as well BUT I also have several neighbors who seem to refuse to put their dogs on a leash. As I always accompany my dog outside I still have to keep my dog on a leash because if by chance they happen to see her in our yard they'll run over and my girl is not a socializer. I've asked them nicely to keep them on a lease but no luck. I don't want to cause any trouble for anyone so I'm not sure how to handle this. I would appreciate your suggestions!

I have a question for those with the invisible fence. I plan on getting one and I've seen the flags lining the border of a yard. I always thought those flags were a temporary thing but I'm now thinking I'm wrong after reading your posts. Do you have to leave those flags in the ground? What about when the landscape people come to mow or edge? Do you have to go pull up the flags then put them back?

The flags are temporary! Our mowers just mowed around them until they all came up.

The flags are a temporary thing and are a visual training aid for your dog. The dog will associate the location of the flags with the warning tone if he or she gets to close . When we installed ours I let all our neighbors know why the flags were there. I'm always present in our yard when our dog is out with a lease ready and have never had an issue with having our dog under control. Yes a dog could bolt thru an invisible fence as easily as break a physical lease. All are containment systems. The only problem I have had is with other irresponsible dog owners walking their dogs on the street now having to yank their dogs away from our yard because it's one less yard to mess in but I have had some let their dog meet our dog and socialize.

Betty, the flags are temporary, used for training. The training part of the Invisable Fence process is extremely important.

We had our flags in the ground for about one week. During that week we trained every day.