Underground pet fences are a great way to safely let your pets roam and play in your own yard. If your underground fence seems to not be working, here are the top 5 reasons that it may not be working properly.
5. You have a broken wire.
Any number of landscaping events can break the copper wire that was buried in your electric fence. Most systems have alarms to tell you when there is a break, but they are never going to be 100% reliable. It’s always a good idea to take a collar out to the boundary to see if it activates. You should do this periodically (maybe once a month), and should always do it if you have any type of digging in your yard. It’s not a big deal if it is broken, any electronic fencing company will be able to find the break and fix it. If you know where both ends of the broken wire are, you can fix it yourself. Just be sure to properly waterproof the splices.
4. Your collar doesn’t have power.
If you have a replaceable battery; it may be dead. If you have a rechargeable collar, it may need to be charged. Some have an indicator light, and some do not. Become familiar with your collar and check the power. If you got your system and collar from Derby’s Pet Fence of Louisville, Lexington, or Southern Indiana, most likely you have a rechargeable collar. Simply charge the collar and you are back in business. Just be sure to re-introduce your dog to the boundary on a leash if he has been getting out.
3. Your dog was not properly trained.
These systems are NOT plug-and-play. Without the proper training, even the smartest dog will not understand the boundary and could easily run through the boundary even though everything is working. Review the documentation that came with your system or call an electric fence company and have them come out for a training session. Truth be told, they will be training you more than the dog – so pay attention!
2. Your collar needs a different setting for your dog.
Many collars have adjustable correction levels. Some dogs feel the correction at a very low level and it will be effective to keep them in. Other dogs may not even feel the same level. This doesn’t mean one dog is tougher than another. This is simply a matter of them being physiologically different. Just like two people experience stimuli very differently, so do dogs. This reason is often mistakenly blamed, however. Typically, the male of the species (and I am talking about the humans here) wants to crank everything up to the highest level at the first sign of an issue with the dog’s training. More often than not; the reason for the failure is one of the other reasons described in the rest of the article.
1. And, BY FAR, the most common reason your fence isn’t “working” is … you don’t have the collar on snug enough!
This is good news – you don’t need to spend any money; you just need to tighten the collar to the point where you are confident the metal prongs are touching your dog’s skin – NOT just his fur. If he had been getting through the fence, and this was the reason, you will need to be sure he gets a correction from the fence before you trust him again. Remember, he doesn’t know you fixed the situation until he feels the correction again. You want this reminder to happen in a controlled environment (on a leash) to be sure he doesn’t go through one more time.
If you are in Louisville, Lexington, Southern Indiana, or any of the surrounding areas, Stephen Baralt is the owner of Derby’s Pet Fence and will be happy to help you with your electronic pet fencing. We are a local and independent company. We have a real live person answer our phone 7 days a week! We give free quotes right over the phone. In addition to the installation of new fences, we are happy to service and repair any brand of fencing, regardless of who installed it. Call or text us at 502-314-7398 / 859-327-7760, or visit our site at www.DerbysFence.com. Prefer email? Steve@derbysfence.com
