Wireless Invisible Fence

Now let’s get into my favorite system.  Hands down from ease of installation to maintenance to portability, the Petsafe PIF-300 wireless instant dog fence is the way to go.

This product operates by transmitting a RF signal that the collar must be able to detect.  If it doesn’t, it knows that it’s too far away from the base station and starts correcting the dog until they get back within range.  There is plenty of safety circuitry in place to keep your dog safe  in the event of power outage or accidental unplugging.

The signal is a circle around the base station, obviously, and can be adjusted out to about a 180′ diameter circle.  Of course obstacles ,walls, buildings, and so on do affect the range and the pattern, but over all it’s quite predictable.

The best part is that there’s no wire to maintain, and your dog can’t run through anything since it’s RF-based.  And when you move, grab the base station and set it up at your next house.  Problem solved.

Invisible Fence

Invisible fence does it all, and their system is probably the most advanced on the market, and they claim that your dog would have to be able to run over 200mph to get past their collar’s digital circuitry.  They offer installation, training, customization, in-house zones to keep your pet out of the garbage, carpet, or whatever.

All this comes with a steep price, though, so make no mistake you are paying dearly for what you’re getting.  However, if you want to make a phone call and have someone show up, bury wire, run the loop into your garage, customize your collar settings, and get things going with your dog, you’re in luck.  It’s a premier system for a hefty.  But, if your dog can’t run 200mph, maybe you don’t need it..?

Petsafe Deluxe System

This is a very nice, basic system that doesn’t offer many bells and whistles.  The best part is that the price is set to reflect that.  This system can be had with one collar for less than $140, and additional collars can be had for a reasonable price as well.

Petsafe used to have a “contain and train” type system that had a remote trainer bundled with the fencing, but I can’t seem to find it any more.  This was a nice system except for the fact that the remote trainer could not be used with more that one pet.  The method it used was to quickly boost the signal in the fencing wire to flood the yard, thus setting off the collar just as if your pet was trying to run through the fence.  So, any pet in the area wearing a collar would get a correction.  Not cool if you have on good and one naughty dog..!

Innotek Ultra Smart

This in the newest system from Innotek that has a lot going for it.  They streamlined the collar and receiver into an attractive, waterproof unit that can easily be cleaned with soap and water.  The collars are rechargeable, which is nice.  If your dog is a chewer and gets their muzzle around the rubber collar, you can get replacements for $10 or so and they’re easy to replace.

If you opt for the contain ‘n train collar, don’t expect miracles from the ‘n train side.  I found the remote to be woefully short-ranged, almost to the point where it was worthless for any type of correction at a distance.  The “perfect fit” feature emits a clicking noise when the contacts are snugly against your pet’s skin.  I didn’t finds that feature to be useful either, since it doesn’t handle starting and stopping very well, and my pups are constantly moving around while I’m putting the collars on.

Electronic Fence Intoduction

I’m continually amazed at the number of options available for electric pet fences.  There’s Petsafe, Innotek, DogGuard, Invisible Fence, SportDog, and on and on.  But more than that, each brand has multiple models with different levels of features, and they’re constantly coming out with more every year.

In the next few posts I’ll go through a quick review of some of my favorite systems, why I like them, and what they’re lacking.  Over the years, I’ve been through almost every brand, and several of the different models in each brand as well.  There is one specific fence that I keep coming back to, though, and I’ll get into that one as well.  So stay tuned!