What You Need to Know About Training Your Dog on Invisible Fence

Wireless fences or invisible fences can be quite cheap and easy to install in your yard. However, introducing and training your dog about this new system will undoubtedly take up much of your time. As a pet owner, it is your responsibility to ease your four-legged friend in the transition into this new fence system.

It will take some time and a bit of patience, but you owe it to your pet to teach them how to manage within wireless fences. With that in mind, here are some essential tips on training your dog on wireless fences.

Training your pet is the most crucial step when you choose to use an invisible or wireless fence on your land. This cannot be reiterated enough. To assist you and your dog during this transitional period, here are several tips that you should implement.

Always read the instruction manual thoroughly. Some products might include particular tips in regards to how you should install and use their invisible fence system. Having a full grasp of how this system works will be vital once you have begun training little Fido. Being prepared will always help yield positive results in any endeavor.

Use visual markers for your dog to help them distinguish where the boundaries are. You can use flags, cones, or even rope to designate where the invisible fence is placed. Take your dog with a leash, and walk them around the perimeter fence line.

Whenever the signal in their collar lights up, slowly pull them away from the boundary. Give your dog a treat every time they successfully move away from the wireless dog fence. You should also give them a treat when the signal/alarm turns off on their collar. Positive reinforcement is a highly effective training method.

At the beginning of your training sessions with your dog, Only activate the boundary signal for the time being. As you can see from the previous advice above, make sure that your dog is familiar with the boundaries and the collar signal first.

Once your dog understands that they need to step back whenever the alarm goes off, you can now activate the correction stimulus feature. Remember to set the static to the lowest possible level for your dog's safety.

Now that the correction stimulus is activated, you can advance with your dog's training. You should still keep your dog on a leash during these sessions. This time, you should allow the dog to patrol the boundaries of their own accord.

In the instance wherein they ignore the alert on the collar and move past the boundaries, they will receive a mild corrective stimulus. They might jump because of this, which is why you must help guide them back within the safety area. Hence, the leash.

This will be the more demanding segment of the training for your four-legged best friend. Place a distraction over the other side of the invisible fence. Maybe their favorite toy or your other pet, something that will get your dog's attention. This will test their discipline in staying within the invisible fence's boundaries.

This can take a couple of tries so not only will it test your dog's discipline; it will also test your patience. If your dog ignores the corrective stimulus of the collar, you can increase it a bit. Once they retreat into the safety area, make sure to give them a treat.

Before buying a wireless fence, you need to choose one that has a particular feature built-in. This feature is the alert signal that activates whenever the collar is nearing the invisible fence. You should also place flags to designate the boundaries so that there is also a visual cue for your dog to follow.

The signal alarm is essential to give your dog a warning. This will be of great help during training and will help avoid unnecessary corrective stimulus to your pet. Remember that this is a crucial element of wireless dog fences, so only pick one that has this feature included.

Believe it or not, even though it looks simple, it may take up to 6 weeks to fully train an adult dog on wireless dog fence. So, make sure you equip yourself with a good dose of patience. This is a process that takes place gradually and it’s recommended to go through one step at a time for best results.

Regardless of how effective wireless dog fences can be, they are not suitable for all dogs. Some dogs may figure them out and manage to escape. For instance, if your dog realizes that the beeping or shocking stops once he passes over the fence, you won’t be able to retain it on the perimeter this way.

You can expect the training to last about six weeks before your dog gets used to a wireless fence. If your dog is older, you should expect the training period to last a bit longer. Remember to treat this as a team effort, bring lots of patience (and doggie treats) and note that consistency is the key when training a canine.