ELECTRONIC DOG FENCES

Will an Electronic Dog Fence Really Contain My Dog? In a word, YES. Most dogs can be trained to be reliably contained with an electronic fence and with a High Tech Pet electronic dog fence you will be amazed how well your adventurous dog will respect the boundary. With a few days of training, your dog will act as just as if there's an invisible physical fence keeping him safely contained in your yard and out of harm's way.

How do electronic dog fences work? In-ground electronic dog fences transmit a low frequency radio signal through a loop of wire that runs around the perimeter of your yard creating an invisible boundary. The frequencies used vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but, all use frequencies at the low end of the AM radio band. These low frequencies die off rapidly with distance which is useful in the case of an electronic fence because we only want a field of a few feet running along the wire. More than that would cause the dog to get shocked well into the yard. The other advantage of low frequencies is that they tend to be less affected by rocks, trees and other objects common in the environment that will cause attenuation and field width variation with higher frequencies. Although, even the low frequencies can be shunted or reflected by large metal buildings, cars and underground power lines. Your dog wears a radio receiver collar which detects the signal emitted by the wire loop and triggers a warning tone followed by an electric shock stimulus if the signal is detected above a predetermined level. Your dog is trained to retreat when he hears the warning tone. If he does not, the shock stimulus is applied to cause him to back up.

How much do electronic dog fences cost? Cost of an electric dog fence vary depending on brand and model and whether you install it or choose to pay for professional installation. DIY electronic fence systems range from under $100.00 up to $400.00. A professionally installed dog containment system, like Invisible Fence ^®, Dog Watch ^® and Pet Stop ^® can range from 1,500.00 to over $3,000.00 depending on the size of your yard and the number of dogs to be contained. When considering cost bear in mind that low price does not always give you the best value and beware of very inexpensive electronic fence products sold on eBay and Amazon that do not work well causing untold headaches and putting your pet at risk. Go with a major brand, compare features and price and chose the one that gives you the best value for your money.

Should I pay for professional installation or can I install an electronic fence myself? Frankly, we see little reason to pay a lot of money for a job that most people can perform in one afternoon. Perhaps, people with physical disabilities who are unable to perform light physical tasks or those of us who are really too busy to devote a Saturday afternoon may find it reasonable to pay for installation. The rest of us should ask ourselves if a few hours of work and 30 minutes of training per day for about a week is worth saving thousands of dollars. The other consideration is that the containment system itself, extra collars and replacement batteries, provided by the fence installation company are not available at retail and come with a hefty mark-up when purchased from the company. There is nothing difficult about installing a DIY electronic dog fence and training your dog. You can do it just as well as they can (maybe better) and save yourself tones of money.

How do You Install an Electronic Dog Fence? Just follow a few simple steps:

• Step 1: Plan your wire layout
Make a bird's eye sketch of your house and yard and draw in where you want the boundary and where you want to locate your transmitter. From your sketch estimate the amount of wire you require. Most systems come with 500 ft. of wire. If you need more you need to purchase it before you begin.
• Step 2: Layout your wire, either buried or above ground
Starting at the transmitter position, layout the wire above ground according to your sketch.
• Step 3: Hook up the transmitter
Plug the wire into the transmitter terminals and power up.
• Step 4: Test the sytem
Take the collar and walk the boundary making sure that the collar beeps along the entire path.
• Step 5: Install the wire:
Bury the wire or fix in place with yard staples.

How deep do I have to bury the wire? You can either bury your wire 3 to 4 inches deep or use yard staples to hold your wire in place for above ground installation. The "Ultra-Wire" that comes standard with all High Tech Pet electric dog fences is specially designed to be tough enough for above ground installation. This will save you a lot of work and make future changes to your wire configuration much easier.

You do you train a dog to use an electronic fence? This is easier than you would expect.

• Step 1:
Place the boundary flags along the wire path 3 to 6 feet inside the boundary and approximately 10 feet apart.
• Step 2:
Put the collar on your dog and with a separate restraining collar attach a short lead. Training sessions will last 15 minutes (no more) and you will train your dog two to three times per day. Do not miss a training session.
• Step 3:
With the transmitter OFF take your dog up to the boundary flags tug on the lead to make your dog retreat and give a verbal command such as "Back!" Do this twice per day until your dog retreats easily when approaching the flags, usually a couple of days.
• Step 4:
Turn the transmitter on and adjust to the desired field width, typically 3 to 6 feet. Take your dog on the lead and take him toward the flags until the collar beeps. Immediately pull him back and give the command. Reward your dog when his does this easily or on his own. Make sure your dog gets it before proceeding to the final step.
• Step 5:
Using the lead and with the transmitter turned on, take your dog into the boundary field until he reacts to the shock. (This may seem cruel but it is necessary to teach your dog what happens if he gets too close to the flags.) The moment he reacts tug on the lead to pull him back and give the verbal command. Reward your dog if he does this on his own. If he does not immediately retreat or seems confused, go back to step 2. Within 1 or 2 sessions your dog will retreat on his own. If not, return to step 4.
• Step 6:
When your dog consistently retreats on his own without you having to tug on the lead and you feel confident that he will do this without the lead remove it and observe his behavior with regard to the boundary. If he challenges the boundary without immediately retreating, return to lead training. When you observe your dog staying within the boundary at all times the training is complete. Over the next few weeks gradually remove the flags.

Are electric dog fences humane? High Tech Pet electronic fences are. No one wants to cause pain or trauma to their cherished pet. The purpose of an electronic fence is keep your dog safe from traffic and other dangers that lie outside your yard. Now, we've read a few electronic dog fence reviews that claim any form of electronic correction stimulus is inhumane. But, when you consider what may happen if your cherished dog escapes, the application of a mild shock stimulus applied only when he tries to leave the yard is quite humane. We feel that keeping your dog inside or on leash in the yard denies your dog the quality of life he enjoys. A well designed electronic fence system with a properly trained dog gives your pet the freedom to roam free while being kept safe inside a protected boundary. To make its shock stimulus the most humane and effective, High Tech Pet uses a proprietary type of advanced stimulus called Pulsed Proportional Stimulus that is the most effective at keeping him contained while automatically adjusting the stimulus level to exactly what is needed (not more) to keep him safe in your yard.

Will the shock hurt my dog? No. The electric stimulus of an electronic dog fence is high voltage, low current electricity. To put it simply, voltage is what stimulates nerve endings, so the voltage used by most electronic dog fences is above 500 voltage, a few times greater that your house wiring. . Current is what causes damage to tissue and organs so, all electronic fence systems are designed to produce very low current, on the order of a few milliamps. That's a few thousand times less than your house wiring. This type of electricity does not travel far into the dog's body and cannot cause burns or tissue damage. A good corrective stimulus circuit uses very high frequency A.C. current. This will be perceived as more stimulating and allow for the lowest current levels. High Tech Pet electronic dog fences use a proprietary stimulus technology developed by some of the nation's most noted animal behaviorists, neuroscientists and animal trainers. We call it PULSED PROPORTIONAL STIMULUS  ^TM: With this unique type of training method, stimulus is delivered in short bursts. The bursts will get your dog's attention while giving him a little time to think, avoiding panic or trauma that can come with continuously applied stimulus. Our signal detection circuitry is extremely accurate and can precisely measure how far your dog is from the boundary wire. If your dog is within the correction range but, still far from the boundary the bursts, or pulses, are delivered at a slow rate, for example twice per second. As your dog moves closer to the boundary the pulse rate increases in inverse proportion to his distance from the boundary becoming more intense and uncomfortable the closer he gets. In practice, this type of stimulation has several advantages. It creates the very best type of run through prevention and it actually allows your dog to determine for himself how much stimulus is necessary to cause him to retreat from the boundary, making this system by far the most humane. Some dogs with a very low tolerance to the stimulus will retreat after taking a few steps toward the boundary. More aggressive dogs may venture further but, even the toughest, most aggressive and stubborn dog will not make it to the boundary wire. Only Pulsed Proportional Stimulus applies exactly the right amount of stimulation to cause a reliable retreat behavior.

What are the most popular electric dog fence brands? You may be surprised to know that with all the electronic dog fence models out there, there are only a few US manufacturers. They are High Tech Pet Products, Radio Systems Corp, DogWatch, Perimeter Technologies and Woodstream, makers of Havahart. High Tech Pet makers of advanced electronic dog fence systems marketed under our Humane Contain ^®, High Tech Pet ^® and Bluefang ^® brands. Radio Systems Corp, owns the Petsafe ^®, Innotek ^® and Invisible Fence ^®, Perimeter Technologies manufactures the Perimeter ^® WiFi fence and the Pet Stop ^® like Invisible Fence ^® this is a professional install only brand. Interestingly, Pet Stop is now run by John Purtell the original founder of Invisible Fence ^®. These four companies are the only US electronic dog fence manufactures. There are a couple of foreign companies supplying electric dog fence products in the US. Dogtra is a Korean manufacturer and Dogtek ^® is manufactured by a French company called Num'axes and imported by a company in Clearwater, FL. In our opinion Dogtra and Dogtek are not bad brands. However, please avoid the numerous electronic dog fences and other dog training products coming from China and sold on eBay and Amazon. You will definitely be disappointed if you go that route. A low price is a actually a high price to pay for an electronic fence that performs poorly or even worse, a system that may hurt your dog. And rest assured, the Chinese products are guilty of both. If you stick to the major brands your will get acceptable products and service. But, even with the major brands ALL ELECTRONIC DOG FENCES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL.

Who makes the best electronic dog fence? That's an easy one. The answer is High Tech Pet. Rated excellent in countless electronic dog fence reviews and sold by nearly every major online pet products retailer including Petsmart, Petco, Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart, High Tech Pet electric dog fences represent the most effective and humane electronic pet containment systems made. Here's why.


• PULSED PROPORTIONAL STIMULUS:
The most effective and humane stimulus method.
• DUAL RADIO, OMNIDIRECTIONAL COLLAR:
This is another unique feature of the electric dog fences made by High Tech Pet. Our radio collars contain two separate radios. The radios have their antennas placed at right angles to each other so that whichever way the dog turns, the signal strength received is consistent. Single radio systems, even those with multiple antennas, suffer from attenuation when the dog turns at right angles to the wire causing the collar to trigger at varying distances from the wire resulting in a confused dog. Only High Tech Pet electric fence collars are truly omnidirectional resulting in extremely consistent triggering distance.
• EXTRA LOUD PROGRESSIVE TRAINING TONES:
We use a waterproof speaker exposed the air to produce loud crisp training tones that reinforce the shock stimulus and speed training time..
• SMALLEST COLLARS:
Our small, lightweight, waterproof collars are comfortable on very small dogs but powerful enough to contain very large dogs
• CURRENT CONTROLLED TRANSMITTER:
High Tech Pet uses an advanced "current controlled" transmitters that provide consistent emitted field strength that does not drop off rapidly with wire length. All other brands use voltage controlled transmitters which are cheaper to build but do not provide as good field consistency. At High Tech Pet, we know it's all about providing your dog with a system that is not confusing because, in order to respect the boundary, your dog needs to know exactly where it is. Most transmitters contain an alarm to let you know if the boundary wire becomes broken. The TX-1 and TX-7 transmitters made by High Tech Pet include audio and visual wire break alarms, full system diagnostics and battery back-up in case of power failure.
• OUTDOOR MOUNTABLE TRANSMITTER:
Our TX-2 transmitter that comes with your HC-8000, X-10 and X-22 electronic fence systems is fully waterproof and suitable for mounting outdoors.
• OPTIONAL TRANSMITTER BATTERY BACK-UP:
Our TX-2 transmitter accepts an optional rechargeable battery that will keep your electric fence operating and your dog safely contained during a power outage and automatically recharge when power is restorred. The TX-7 accepts a replaceable 9 volt back-up battery.
• SPECIAL "ULTRA-WIRE":
Designed specifically for above ground as well as underground fence use, our heavy-duty Ultra-Wire has an extra tough, extra-strong coating that resists UV sunlight, and harsh weather. Perfect for use above ground. Just lay out your wire and use our e-fence wire staples to anchor into place. This will save you the work of making a trench to bury your wire. If you are laying the wire out on your grass lawn, the grass will grow over the wire in a few weeks making it invisible. You can also mow over a properly anchored above ground wire. Ultra-Wire is only available from High Tech Pet.


Simply, the Best Electronic Dog Fences on the Planet! Anyone with a basic knowledge of radio circuits can build a crude electronic dog fence. To build one that is engineered to perform at a level where you can be confident that your pet is ALWAYS safely, humanely contained takes the kind of scientific development and professional engineering for which High Tech Pet is well known. We are scientists and engineers dedicated to making the best electronic pet care products on the planet. If you decide to purchase one of our advanced electronic dog fence systems that's exactly what you will get.