invisible fences for dogs, and accessible iPhone applications

I hope you don’t mean the electric collar version of an invisible fence.

There is a citrus spray collar you could use instead of electrocuting your puppy.

If you’ve never had a dog before I think you would benefit from a lot of help especially considering the breed you have as your first dog. If it were me, I’d stay very far away from any of those collars that promise to train your dog for you. Dogs can be trained to do incredible things. Knowing boundaries would be easy to teach a dog but in the proper way. This isn’t really a buy an automated thing and have something happen type of job. Those collars can be torture for dogs especially if the dog doesn’t understand why they are being hurt. The Even the vibrating collars would need training so the dog knows that vibrating sensation means don’t go any further. The spray ones I’d definitely stay away from too. Remember you have a trusting loving relationship being formed with your dog, buying something that will confuse or hurt the dog hopefully isn’t what you’re going for. Think of your dog more like a best friend because thats how they see you. If my best friend put a thing on my neck that hurt or sprayed me and I didn’t really understand why, well let’s say I’d be pretty destabilised and question what life is all about. I might even become nervous and aggressive, If I bit someone because I didn’t have a good foundation of trust and confidence,… well its not hard to see how dogs can get in trouble when their owners haven’t done the homework to understand how to handle a responsibility as huge as a powerful animal who can do damage to people when not understood. I’m sure you’ll have a great life together with your new dog but I’d seriously warn against falling into the trap of buying something that does the job of training for you.

Try to stay away from anyone who talks about dominating your dog or showing them who’s boss or alpha roll overs or anything along those lines. When a dog is shown aggression, they learn that language. They might be submissive to the person who is dominating them but as soon as they find something they can bully like they’ve been bullied themselves then they will. I’d look for Positive re-enforcement style training at the very least. Again try to think of your relationship with your dog like a friend or family member. A good parent won’t beat their children up until they do what they want. They’ll build a trusting relationship with clear boundaries. Thats what makes a happy dog too. Good luck.

Ask your vet for suggestion. Instead of making you feel bad like here, he or she might suggest a good one that is safe or another alternative.

Right off the bat, he stated that he is looking for a collar that vibrates or something to let the dog know the boundary. People are responding about hurting the dog, electrocuting the dog, and such. Another option might be a retractable leash, although I don't think the would reach around the full yard. Just a thought. Good luck with your woofer.

My very first question was asking what type of invisible fence Jay meant. I admit I was pretty horrified at the thought right at the start then found out Jay was talking about vibrating collars which would require training, as a vibrating collar wouldn’t by itself tell a dog anything about what the rules are, that would require training. Another post then mentioned sprays as these are less cruel than electrocution collars which Jay wasn’t talking about but sprays are seen as almost as cruel as shock collars especially considering the oil is left on the dogs coat and can even get in their eyes. I was just trying to educate a new dog owner the more positive ways of building a relationship with a typically pretty strong headed breed of dog. I think thats really important but i have to admit I was also horrified at the thought of these kinds of collars being used so wanted to give reasons not to. I definitely didn’t want to make anyone feel bad if that was what Holgar meant but dog owners can be offered products especially in the USA which the rest of the world considers barbaric. Telling a new dog owner there are better ways than the adverts trying to get you to buy their products seemed like a sensible idea. I hope I didn’t cause any upset but dog welfare is something I care a lot about.

One absolutely horrendous idea! I always used training collars on my 5 guides since 1977. When giving a correction, when you release the pressure, the collar does not remain tight, like a choke collar does.

Positive re-enforcement training has emerged as a much better way of training a dog with their consent rather than as avoidance of pain stimulus. When I started with guide dogs in the 90’s choke collars were the preferred method, they then moved to half choke and now only use flat collars. Dogs can be made to behave correctly to avoid pain using chokers but positive re-enforcement gets the same results without damaging the relationship of trust and love that develops with our dogs. I prefer the new methods now I know about them but didn’t question he old when they were presented as normal. Trainers like Cesar Milan have done a lot of damage in the US by normalising outdated and barbaric training methods where more collaborative methods work just as well and arguably better as the dogs come out far more independent and mature with a better sense of self.

Again, to get input ask a vet. They would know more. You are going to get more info that you did not ask. If you takeyour dog to the vet for check up ask him or her.

Apologies to anyone else as this is going off topic but the whole dominance hierarchy model of dogs based on wolves social structure has been shown to be completely floored. Firstly as you said, dogs have been messed around with by us to create animals we find appealing or useful which means they aren’t wolves. They are much softer domesticated animals so any reliance on wolf pack structure is floored from the start but furthermore the dominance model was, and I can’t believe this is true but it actually is. It was based on observations of chickens who do appear to have a dominance structure however that entire model was cut and copied over 100 years ago onto wolves which was then cut and copied onto dogs. The more recent understanding appears to be if we put them in social groups where they have to fight for everything then they will. If however they grow up without a lack of resources, similarly to us they don’t develop that dominance and hierarchical social structure. They thrive more on feeling cared for and secure than fighting for position. Even wolves don’t have a purely dominance social structure. Each wolf has its job in the pack, some are peace keepers, some are hunters etc. It’s not as simple as one subservient to another dominant. It’s such an interesting story if you ever fancied an afternoon reading. Dogs weren’t thought of as interesting scientifically speaking until very recently but surprise surprise, as soon as people started looking they found interesting and unexpected realities that are deeper than our original beliefs.

of wolves and men is a good book to read about wolves, available on bookshare. There is also another satellite-based invisible fence called SpotOn that you may research.