[yorkietalkjilly]

I would never trust my dog's life to an "electric fence". Plus, who in the world wants to zap their dog when training is a far better and more fun way to go? Tibbe is going to be 4 years old 8-30-11 and has been trained never to leave his front yard - and he hasn't so far. I watch him like a hawk whenever he is out and he was really challenged the other night. There was a big cat fight 2 houses down and all that yowling and screaming was like a siren's call to him - he was shaking all over from anticipation and wanting to bolt but I told him to "Stop" and in a second told him to "Wait" - and he did! Another screaming and yowling bout followed and he raised up and restarted and I repeated "Stop" and he went back down!!! Not saying it will work every time but training has kept him in his front yard on more than one occasion when an ordinary, untrained dog would have been long gone.

I trained him not to bolt his front yard after my sister's dog did it at her home and got runover right before her eyes. If she had trained her dog to "Stop" and "Wait" on command, it might not have happened. Tibbe is very rarely let out in the front yard - usually only for training, but occasionally I permit it so that it is not a siren's song and not something he can never have so that it gets to be a big, big want.

For the back yard, if you can, buy a fence or accompany your dog outside at all times and train him not to leave the yard.