I bought this after having a company come out and quoted a price of $1,583 to install a wireless fence. We have a little over half an acre and there was more than enough included wire to install. I rented a gas edger at Ace for $23 for a couple hours. And used a thin piece of plastic to push the wire in the slot from the edger. I was very leary of doing it myself but didn't want to spend the money having it done. And I'm glad I did because installing this thing was so easy I couldn't believe it.
Now as far as effective it WORKS! Our black lab was very easy to train. In a week of walking her around the yard showing her the flags she figured it out. She is also a lot more laid back in the yard. Instead of chasing birds and rabbits she now sits there and watches them. I recommend this product to everyone. The collar takes regular 9 volt batteries so no special ordering and paying an arm and a leg for them. However I would not use it on a very small dog because the collar is pretty wide and the box isn't as small as others. There are others at Amazon that would be better for a tiny dog.
Everything needed other than the edger was included in the box. Also took about 3-4 hours to install from start to finish.
UPDATE:3-21-08 After having this for nearly a year we are still very happy with it. I was worried it wasn't working because I never have seen the low battery indicator light up on the collar. So I tested it and it is still good. So after 11 months we have not had to replace the 9-volt battery. It also has no interference with our neighbors underground fence either.
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They really thought of everything with this one! I love the added vibration feature on the collar as an additional warning to the dog. I've had and used many other systems throughout the various homes I've owned, but this is the most comprehensive system yet.
The collar unit is a bit large, but that's necessary to acccomodate the 9-Volt Battery. Which is great because battery replacement isn't a problem!!!
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I did a lot of research before buying this product, and ended up buying this brand for the positive reviews, and good name.
It works, and has made my home more delightful. My dog loves to run in the yard, and was miserable being tied to a run. He is very fast, and before we had this fence would get loose frequently... every time directly into traffic.
The price of this product is reasonable when compared to some of the others on the market, and it seems that you get good value for the cost. It sure beats having to pay an emergency vet bill with the dog finally gets hit or causes an accident.
I have two small complaints about the product, and something I think people should be aware of when buying this product.
First, I find that the fence doesn't give the dog as much warning as I would prefer. You can change the setting to allow the for maximum amount of beeping warning before the dog is shocked, but it significantly cuts down on the "free" area. In my case, if I were to turn the fence to a higher warning level, the dog would not be able to pass between the house and the fence to get from the backyard to the front yard. I personally wish that the dog was given more time to react to the beeping warning before the shock correction.
Second, the training manual in the product didn't work for my morals. In a number of instances it tells you to trick the dog into going out of range while you are training them, sometimes by throwing a treat out of range, and other times by going out of range and calling the dog. I preferred not to have the dog associate the shock with being with me, so after the initial few shocks, and the showing the dog his boundaries, I allowed him to roam for small periods while I observed from my porch. In the few following times that he was shocked, he ran directly for me or the house, and eventually would run for the house when beeped.
It may be different for a less timid dog, however it was something I thought people should think about first.
That all being said I love this product, we are all happy... including the dog :)
PS. do get the power edger, I couldn't imagine doing the instillation without it! we found an attachment for our weed-wacker right at home depot.
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Installation was not difficult. Using a drill to twist the lines worked really well.
Only one complaint. We have a long, narrow lot with a house close on one side and a fence on the other. The boundary width is adjustable, but at the low (narrowest) settings, the signal seems inconsistent (as in the boundary width is different at different places along the length of the wire.) At first I turned it down to a low setting so that the dog could pass safely from the front yard to the back, but then she could run right through the fence elsewhere without getting a "static correction". When I widened the boundary to keep the dog from running through the fence in those places, she couldn't get by the sides of the house to get to the front yard without getting buzzed. We tried to set it at a compromise level, but never found a workable setting where the boundary was complete but where the dog wouldn't be shocked when she was simply trying to move from front to back.
What we ended up doing was let her be shocked a couple of times so that she would associate the flags and the sound and vibration of the collar, then we turned the shock off (just let the collar vibrate and ring). This has worked well, she does not cross the boundary, and we don't have to worry about her getting shocked when she is standing in her own yard. Bottom line, this may not be the best system if you have a small yard, or one that has an unusual or narrow shape. I'm sure it would be much better on a square quarter acre or larger.
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This review may be a bit premature because I only finished the fence and started training yesterday, however, I must say that I am extremely pleased with both the product and the results that it has had for our two yellow Labrador retrievers. They have quickly learned what their boundaries are and won't even go near the line of flags outlining their outer limits.
The system is comprehensive in that just about everything is adjustible from the range of the boundary to the level of correction and even the type of correction. I have the collars set on 2, the lowest correction and it's more than enough for our Labs to get the idea that once the collar starts to buzz and beep that a static correction is not far behind.
When they say that the system comes with everything you need, they mean it. It comes with 1000 feet of wire if I ever need to replace my fence I have more than enough line to do the whole perimiter again, about 15,000 sq ft. You don't have to buy the special twisted wire either just twist it up yourself to create an area of cancelled signal.
My hope is not to create a situation where my dogs get shocked I intend to follow the training guide to the letter so that they KNOW their limits and stay well within them, thus allowing them more time to be where they should be anyway without my worrying that they will take off only to get into heaven knows what.
My only regret with this system is that I didn't buy it sooner.
Patrick Gleason
