Please Do Not Use Electric Fences and Shock Collars

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by SoCalyorkiLvr

That's what I thought???? I think Kimberley just got confused maybe...I wouldn't worry about it....

I don't think anyone WAS worried about it.

But I DO want to thank Txshopper and most everyone who posted in this thread for what I just learned.... My husband and I were talking about moving recently and the place we were thinking of has NO fences... and that was my arguement for staying where we are. Both my girls NEED boundries. And that doesn't mean they aren't trained - they are just VERY nosy and they do chase birds and squirrels.

THIS would be a solution if we ever decided to move to a smaller place and I would for SURE use one of these fences if we did move. They sound wonderful.

[JHurtt]

Originally Posted by red98vett

That comment about Children on Leashes ? Hmmmmmmm.....not cool.

I laughed so hard when I read this because boy do I agree! My mom took me and my brother (2 years younger) to Disney Land when we were very little. The only thing that I even remember is that my mom bought those child harness/leash things because she was so scared of losing us in such a big park. Needless to say, we hated them......and my brother really hated his when Mickey Mouse managed to get a hold of his "leash"!!!

Sorry....back to the subject at hand. I know that a lot of people have posted their opinions already, but it seems like many people are interested in hearing from those who have used them. My parents installed an underground electric fence at least 6 or 7 years ago. Back then we only had our lab, but now they still have the lab and an English Setter as well. They live on a steep hill and their house is about 1/2 down where the road starts to curve a little. The cars just fly down the hill and last year alone took out at least 4 mailboxes (most completely destroyed). One car last year even flipped and hit the pole in their yard and took out the electric wires (the front yard is rather large and the house sits back from the road).......luckily the father and little boy were just fine. In their case, their main concern is keeping the dogs in the yard. As many have already said, you can adjust the voltage on the collars to make sure that the dogs aren't receiving too big of a shock. They marked the whole border with little flags and for the first day or two would walk them around the border on leashes to show them the where they could go. As the dogs would get close to the flags, they would hear a beeping noise and once they cross the flags, they receive a slight shock (each of us held the collars and crossed the line to see just how much of a shock it was and it is more of a surprise than anything...definitely doesn't hurt). Their lab doesn't even wear the collar anymore because she just knows not to go anywhere near the edges of the yard. The other one, bless her heart, just loves to run around outside and doesn't seem to be "all there". She has never left the yard, but they keep the collar on her whenever she is outside because they don't want to chance her running off after a bird one day (that's all she does is watch and chase birds). I personally think that these things are wonderful.

[red98vett]

HAHAHAHA WHAT A CUTE Memory about Disney World !

When I posted my comment on children and harnesses - I was actually referring to how we handle our yorkies when doing daily things - such as letting them outside....If I didn't have a fence ...my girls would be harnessed ....but I wouldn't have harness a child in the yard.

Being in a crowded place such as DW sound PERFECT for a child to be attached to mom - that is for safety and I see nothing wrong with it...but for everyday living - I can't see us treating our children the same as our yorkies when it comes to playing outside.

[red98vett]

JHurtt...you reminded ME of a childhood memory -

As kids we used to go to the beach every summer and a big landmark was this house that had this gigantic cage....it looked just like a Kennel only KIDS would be playing in there -

Every summer we'd always wait to drive by that house that had that awful looking looking 15 foot CAGE in the yard.... and we used to feel so sorry for those kids....It really looked like a Prison Yard.....

NOW I understand the parents logic but back when I was young - I only saw confinement.

[JHurtt]

Originally Posted by SoCalyorkiLvr

Dogs trained with shock collars and electric fences may develop fears of or aggression aimed at what they BELIEVE is the source of the shock (kids riding by on bikes, the mailman, the dog next door, etc.). Dogs have been known to run through electric barriers when frightened by fireworks or chasing a squirrel, and then are scared to cross back through the barrier.

Sorry, I forgot to add that the electric fence has not caused any type of fear or aggression in the dogs as mentioned. Dogs are very smart animals......they quickly learn that they get shocked for crossing the "line", not for chasing a squirrel or the mailman. They are not scared of the fence, they just know not to cross it.

[JHurtt]

Originally Posted by red98vett

HAHAHAHA WHAT A CUTE Memory about Disney World !

When I posted my comment on children and harnesses - I was actually referring to how we handle our yorkies when doing daily things - such as letting them outside....If I didn't have a fence ...my girls would be harnessed ....but I wouldn't have harness a child in the yard.

Being in a crowded place such as DW sound PERFECT for a child to be attached to mom - that is for safety and I see nothing wrong with it...but for everyday living - I can't see us treating our children the same as our yorkies when it comes to playing outside.

Originally Posted by red98vett

JHurtt...you reminded ME of a childhood memory -

As kids we used to go to the beach every summer and a big landmark was this house that had this gigantic cage....it looked just like a Kennel only KIDS would be playing in there -

Every summer we'd always wait to drive by that house that had that awful looking looking 15 foot CAGE in the yard.... and we used to feel so sorry for those kids....It really looked like a Prison Yard.....

NOW I understand the parents logic but back when I was young - I only saw confinement.

Oh, no, I didn't take any offense to what you said about children being on harnesses. I knew exactly what you meant......I just laughed so hard because boy did we hate those things!!!!

And wow to the cage! I too understand the logic behind it, but boy does that still sound a little extreme. I am picturing a prison yard just as you mentioned. Definitely sounds like it would take the fun out of playing outside!!!! Of course I'm sure that parents would put their kids in bubbles if they could just to make sure that they are well protected. I don't have any kids yet but know that I am going to be a nervous wreck when I do as I am overly protective of my furkids!!!!

[Lissie]

IMO.....I see Nothing wrong w/ the fences as long as they are used as they are intended. Such as...don't use a fence intended for cattle/horses on dogs. Of course, there's always that person that has NO common sense and would do that.

I have a friend that lives in a restricted community, a Golf course comm. They can't put up fences. She uses the underground fence for her 2 small dogs and its works like a charm AND does NOT hurt the dogs. The fence has adjustable settings and hers is set for 5 lb dog range.

I know of another man that has a LARGE dog he keeps in a run. The dog kept digging out so he tried using an Elect. fence inside the run. The dog would LAY ON the elec. fence, HAPPILY. He acted as if it weren't even there. So of course THAT didn't work. LOL. He then dug a 'trench' around the fence edge and poured concrete in it, also secured the bottom of fence to 'set' in the concrete. Worked like a charm. Hard to dig through concrete!

Just like w/ clothes...One size does NOT fit all. You do what works best for you and your pet.

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by JHurtt

Oh, no, I didn't take any offense to what you said about children being on harnesses. I knew exactly what you meant......I just laughed so hard because boy did we hate those things!!!!

And wow to the cage! I too understand the logic behind it, but boy does that still sound a little extreme. I am picturing a prison yard just as you mentioned. Definitely sounds like it would take the fun out of playing outside!!!! Of course I'm sure that parents would put their kids in bubbles if they could just to make sure that they are well protected. I don't have any kids yet but know that I am going to be a nervous wreck when I do as I am overly protective of my furkids!!!!

Oh good ! It's so funny - when I was back East in August - we still looked for that house and I'm happy to say after all these years - that cage was gone ! and I laughed about your Mickey Mouse post - I can just imagine that Memory and you all must get such a laugh about it all these years later - your poor mom !!

[ytsirk27]

ok...so Do the underground fences actually shock them when they have the collar on or do they do a loud noise?? just curious.

[YorkieRini]

Originally Posted by Lissie

Just like w/ clothes...One size does NOT fit all. You do what works best for you and your pet.

That sums it up right there!!

As for comparing Yorkies to Children. I can reason with my 5 yr old son, Yorkies just don't comprehend reasoning. They just do what comes natural..hunt and escape

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by ytsirk27

ok...so Do the underground fences actually shock them when they have the collar on or do they do a loud noise?? just curious.

You can get them either way--one that sends and electric pulse or one that emits a high frequency, unpleasant sound.

[diva pup]

Although I DO understand the need to keep a dog where he is supposed to be for his own good, I have to say that I think an electric fence is dangerous to little dogs. At the very least very painful. Whoever said it is most humane has quite a pain tolerance and is a bigger woman than me. I DO understand electric wire, It is made for LIVESTOCK. I use it to keep 1500 lb horses from going places I don't want them to be. The statement that you can adjust the voltage is true but please remember this is fencing used to contain large animals they did not have yorkies in mind. Unless you have been shocked by one of these wires you have no idea how much it hurts. I still remember the first time I got shocked -I was 5 yrs old. 42 yrs ago, it made quite an impression.

I wasn't even aware that you could use the underground fencing on toy dogs. They have come a long way since I looked into them. At that time they were not recommended for toy dogs.

Kimberley I KNOW you have had problems keeping Rebel in and I do appreciate that you have to do what you have to do but I would hate for anyone reading these posts to think it is a totally safe fence for any dog. This is in no way an attack on you. I also would rather see Rebel get the crap shocked out of him than hit by a car but in all honesty I think that kind of shock could possibly kill Mignon. I don't know for sure but I wouldn't test it.

[iowarobin]

I had underground fence for my dogs. Before we moved to our new home. I have 2 mini daucshunds that are 5 and 9 lbs. They wore the collar when they went outside until they learned where the boundries were, by the flags in the ground. You can set these low enough not to hurt our dogs. They also give off a sound before they get the small shock. One they do it, they will walk away from the border once the sound sttarts beepeing. After a couple weeks, I didnt need the collars on them. they just knew it was there. I had kids walking by our side yard and didnt want them to follow them to school. And it worked like a charm. I must emphasise that it did not give them a big jolt, as it was adjustable.

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by diva pup

Although I DO understand the need to keep a dog where he is supposed to be for his own good, I have to say that I think an electric fence is dangerous to little dogs. At the very least very painful. Whoever said it is most humane has quite a pain tolerance and is a bigger woman than me. I DO understand electric wire, It is made for LIVESTOCK. I use it to keep 1500 lb horses from going places I don't want them to be. The statement that you can adjust the voltage is true but please remember this is fencing used to contain large animals they did not have yorkies in mind. Unless you have been shocked by one of these wires you have no idea how much it hurts. I still remember the first time I got shocked -I was 5 yrs old. 42 yrs ago, it made quite an impression.

I wasn't even aware that you could use the underground fencing on toy dogs. They have come a long way since I looked into them. At that time they were not recommended for toy dogs.

Kimberley I KNOW you have had problems keeping Rebel in and I do appreciate that you have to do what you have to do but I would hate for anyone reading these posts to think it is a totally safe fence for any dog. This is in no way an attack on you. I also would rather see Rebel get the crap shocked out of him than hit by a car but in all honesty I think that kind of shock could possibly kill Mignon. I don't know for sure but I wouldn't test it.

Wow, I bet a wire meant for livestock would hurt like crap to a 5 year old! Ouch! But actually, you can by the hotwires for smaller dogs--the voltage can be adjusted. We found this out years ago when we had a baby goat that didn't want to stay put and had to have one installed. There is some equation about the setting vs the pounds, but I honestly don't remember...like I said, it was years ago. (It's like, X volts per pound up to Y pounds, then 2xX volts per pound up to Y pounds...blah blah blah...I don't remember.)
Of course, we had to get a higher voltage for a goat, but we looked into it for the pekes we had at the time that took great pleasure in taking off after the cows next door when they saw them. It kept the goats in place nicely...you know how goats will (try to) eat anything...well, that doesn't stop w/ fences...nasty little lesson for them I must say...

[txshopper73]

Originally Posted by StewiesMom

Kimberley - just wondering...

If you have an electric fence up at all times, is there a switch of some sort to turn it off? Is there constantly an electric current running through it? I'd bet something like that would do wonders for the price of your electric bill

It's plugged in at all times but no, the current does not constantly run through it.