Customer Reviews

PetSafe In-Ground Deluxe Little-Dog Fence with Collar, Transmitter and Boundary System, PIG00-10773

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was somewhat skeptical whether the inground fence would work for my dog. She is a 5-year old Shichon that loves to chase squirrels, rabbits and cats. We decided to give it a try and installed the system about a month ago. During the initial training I had the collar set to "2" on the 1 to 5 scale and it didn't do much. Then I set it to "3" and allowed her to venture past the white flags. She gave a small yelp and immediately came back in the yard and headed for the house. It took a few days for her to be comfortable in the yard again. But now, a month later, she loves going out and we don't have to worry about her running off. When she sees rabbits or squirrels she keeps a very close eye on them and may chase a little, but once she gets close to the boundary she stops.

I've heard many comments about the RFA-188 battery in the collar not lasting very long so I ordered a couple spares, but I'm still on the original battery and it seems to be holding up great. We take the collar off whenever she's in the house. When she's in the yard the collar takes very little energy since she usually doesn't get close enough to the boundary for the tone to sound. One comment I do have regarding the collar is that it is not very compliant on either side of the control module so it doesn't fit all that well on my dog's small neck (approximately 12" circumference). The module doesn't hang at the bottom of her neck the way you think it would. It seems to work its way up around to the side of her neck. The good news is, it seems to work just as well no matter where it ends up.

Installation was straight forward, although you should allow a full weekend to get it done. The control box allows the boundary zone to be easily adjusted. I have just a little over 500 feet of wire and a setting of a little over 6 gives a boundary width of about three feet.

It is so nice to see our dog running loose in the yard instead of constantly getting her rope all tangled. She really enjoys her freedom. I highly recommend this product.

Update: We've had the fence for 14 months now and are still on the original battery! Can't say enough good things about the quality of the system and how well it works for our pet.

We have 2 beagles whose noses would lead them anywhere. They dag under the chain link fence before, run at the slightest sound to see what it is, so I was leery about this product where there was no "visible" fence to keep them confined safely. However, it works like magic! Once trained (which did not take long at all - they figured out that they cannot go past the flags really fast after getting corrected a couple of times), they stay perfectly confined in the little dog area. We were very comfortable taking off the chain link fence and knowing that the dogs would stay put. Even when we are walking around past the perimeter and they want to be with us, they stay behind the flags. When they run after noises, they stay behind the flags.

The only drawback was that the battery for one of the collars was already dead when we got it. Luckily, we received two extra batteries so that was not so much of a problem.

One nice feature is that the collar correction level is adjustable. The beagles didn't even notice the 2 setting but when we put it up to 3, it worked great.

Installation was a breeze. If you read and understand the directions, you will have no problems at all. Twisting the wire is tricky so it may not hurt to purchase a roll of already twisted wire.

Training the dogs ~ well that depends on the dog. From the reviews I read, some dogs figure it out real quick (and minimal training is required). Our dogs were like that. Some dogs may take a little longer to adjust. In any case, it isn't a problem with the system (the system is great) and some extra attention may need to be given to more stubborn dogs.

In sum, this system works and is well worth the investment!

We purchased this product after receiving quotes for invisibile fences costing $1,300. The instalation is easy and anyone can do it. All you need is typical side walk edger to cut a slit in the ground to stick the wire in. We installed the main unit in the garage and drilled a hole thru the wall for the wires. I purcased conduit separately to protect the wire until it reached the ground. You should also consider purchasing asphault filler to cover the wire along the gap between the driveway and sidewalk. Overall the installtion took me 5 hours by myself with the majority of the time dedicated to putting the wire in the ground. This was easy but time consuming. Training our dog was also very easy and we could let him loose in the yard after only three training sesions. After we installed our fence, many of our neighbors also were convinced that they could do it as well. By doing this yourself, you can realize savings of $200/hr compared to paying someone else to do it for you. We are very satisfied and would recommed this product to everyone with a small dog. One of our neighbors went for the professional installation and had it installed three weeks before we did. Our dog was trained well before their's as their company had to come out each time to adjust the settings on the collar as they we not able to control it themselves. If you have any ablity with tools, you can do this yourself.

I rarely review items, but this item has changed our lives. We recently moved to a 1 acre yard with a wrought iron fence around the back yard. Our 10 lb., 1 year old miniature schnauzer could walk right between the bars! We spent the first two months after our move chasing our dog around the neighborhood, as she would constantly get loose and make a break for it. We knew it was only a matter of time before she escaped and either was hit by a car, or picked up by someone. The only way we could keep her safe in the yard was to walk her on a leash or put her on a tie out. She was not a happy camper with either option, as she wanted to explore the back yard on her own. I studied the in-ground fence for over a month before purchasing it, deciding whether I could deal with the "shock" aspect of it on our sweet little dog...

After our dog escaped for the last time, I decided to try the in-ground fence. It was very easy to install - I used our edger to make a 2" trench and dropped the wire in. You have to make a "loop" with the wire (to end in the same place you start), so I went around the entire back yard and finished by dropping it against the front of our house foundation to get to the back yard again. By running the wire this way, it protects our front door and garage door from her escapes (our dog was an escape artist!). In a few hard to bury places, I used landscaping staples (often used for holding landscaping fabric down) I bought at Home Depot. This keeps the wire low enough to run the lawn mower over it without cutting it.

I watched the PetSafe video about training your dog before we started. Our dog learned so quickly, it was almost unnecessary to follow the steps. Within 1 day, she was trained. The system works by producing an audible tone a few feet away from the wire. If the dog continues and crosses the wire, they will receive a small shock, which you have the ability to set the level on. (I tried it on level 4 out of 5 myself - I wouldn't put anything on my dog I had not tried. It did not hurt, but it was enough to make me flex the hand holding the collar. I now keep it set on 2). She learned extremely quickly -- Hear the tone, back up! Because our yard has some crazy angles, it did take her a time or two at each odd angle to find the "tone" spot, but within a week, we stopped hearing the tones. She quickly learned exactly where she can go and where she can't.

Something to note - In spaces where the wire has no above ground barriers (like an above ground fence), the fence has not always been 100% effective with our dog. In these open areas, she has darted across the wire (she does get shocked, but if she's running very fast, she's on the other side before she realizes it). If she makes it to the other side of the wire, there is no incentive to come back. (in fact, coming back would shock her again). This was the case when our garage door was open, so we had a harder time training her in these open areas and had to increase the shock level to train her there. However, if there is something to slow the dog down (like our wrought iron fence that she had to wiggle through), she never escapes, because she would have to stay too long in the "shock" zone and receive multiple shocks.

We've had the fence now about 4 months, and the battery just needed replaced (we never turned it off). It was very simple to do on your own using a Sanyo CR-1/3N CR-1/3N Photo Lithium Battery ($3 at Walmart). The collar seems to be pretty durable; it has been in the rain and mud and continues to work without fail.

In short, we love this product. It has allowed us to give our dog her freedom. She runs anywhere in the backyard, without us worrying about her escaping. Since she has had the collar, she has never escaped out of the backyard, even when temptations like squirrels and cats were outside the in-ground fence zones. While we continue to leave the shock level on low as a precaution, often the audible tone is enough to make her backup to the allowed areas of the yard.

This is a great product. My little dog was completely trained to this underground fence in just 2 days. The only change I would suggest is that they make the collar out of something soft instead of the rather stiff rubber. Regardless, it works great.

We adopted a small dog from a nearby shelter and installed a dog door, giving him access to the backyard. Within the first week, we realized he was an escape artist. We needed to find some way of keeping him safely in the backyard without having to lock him in the house. A friend at work suggested an in-ground fence system. She had great success stopping her dog from jumping the fence with this type system. I was hoping it would work to stop digging and it did. The system was fairly easy to install. It did take some time to dig around the fence to install the wire, but no big deal. There was more than enough wire provided to go all the way around the backyard. I got this particular system because it claimed to be designed for small dogs. The collar was easily adjusted to fit. A few flags were placed around to indicate the warning area and the system was set on a low setting. We went through the training steps, and in no more than a day or two, he was completely trained. The only complaint was the battery for the collar did not work when we took it out of the package.

Even after a new fence my two dogs liked to dig out. I thought over all my options and went with the wireless fence. Well this put a stop to it. Easy installation and the collars are nice and light for small dogs. I can sleep easy knowing my dogs are not roaming the neighborhood! I should have gotten this system along time ago. I can even leave my gates open when I am working in the yard and both my dogs know not to go through the gate.

My wife and I took in an abandoned dachshund/schnauzer (Schweiner Dog as we like to call it) who is a runner. At first we just used a tie down, which works fine, but we flet bad that he could run in the yard with our other dog. We decided to go with the deluxe little dog. Installation was easy, just time consumming. Training went smoothly as well. At first I had the collar set at 3 (of 5); but he would still charge through and take the shock. I then bumped it to 4 and he hasn't left the yard since. I heard poor reviews on this product because of short battery life. I installed the fence in August and just bought my first replacement battery today. If you leave the collar turned on 24 hours a day the battery will die; we take his collar off when he is indoors. All-in-all I am very happy. $200+a little sweat labor to install beats $1500 any day!

We have a small dog (8 lbs with a 6" neck). This fence is great because the collar is small, lightweight and fits our dog. This is one of the few systems that is rated for small dogs. It only took our dog a short time to learn the fence. He now enjoys more freedom outside with the family.

I was a bit skeptical about purchasing this product as my 2 dogs are Maltese mixes, therefore pretty small. The product has exceeded my expectations - my dogs had to only go near the fence once to realize that they can no longer "sneak" through the regular fence.

My only concern is that the collars are too stiff for such small necks, and therefore the proper placement of the electrodes does not stay at their throats as recommended. I have moved the collar back to the correct spot numerous times just to see that they are not in the correct location five minutes later. If the collar attachment was connected to the throat module with some sort of hinge, this would alleviate this issue.

I do recommend this product even with this minor issue.