Dog in Training

As I mentioned last week, we had an Invisible Fence® put in to keep Mikey contained on our property. He is generally a good dog, but he has a habit of running away and playing “chase” all over the neighborhood.

A few weeks ago, we had someone come out to the house and tell us about the Invisible Fence® brand and how the fence and training works. We discussed it for a few days, decided which package we wanted, and then made an appointment!

So on Tuesday, the trainer came to our house to begin the indoor training. But first she took Mikey outside to see how much he knew, how pushy he was, and how he responded to different commands. He did really well with her and was very obedient. He just has to know who’s in charge. J We then headed inside to set everything up. After a few difficulties with missing parts, she made holes in Mikey’s nylon collar, put the computer unit on, and did some training.



This is the indoor unit at the top of our basement stairs.
Photo by Roma.



After putting the indoor unit as well as flags at the top of our basement stairs (we don’t want him in the basement because that’s the cat’s personal space) she tested to see how he responded to the lowest level of shocking. He pretty much ignored it and went after the treat she offered him. She let us feel the shock, and it felt like the static shocks you get when you touch something in the winter time. The collar beeps as a warning as well. She turned up the shock one notch, and tried it again. Several times he ignored the beeping and tried to get the treat, but then he finally “got it” and started backing off.



He’s not so quick to run for the treat now.

Photo by Roma.



For the next few days, we left the indoor unit on and Mikey was good at staying out of the basement. Then on Thursday, a gentleman from Invisible Fence® came to actually install the perimeter fence!



This is the machine used to place the wire underneath the ground.



Hard at work installing the wire.


After hitting the phone lines once (oops, we forgot to call the company beforehand! It really is important to “call before you dig!”), it was finally installed and so were the flags used for training.



The flags lining the perimeter of our field.

Photo by Roma.



After the fence was installed, the trainer came by again to work with Mikey. We took him outside to teach him where his boundaries are.



Here she works with him on the command “out.”

Photo by Roma.



Surprisingly, he was pretty afraid of all the flags. This was a shock to us, because he is usually a boundary-pusher and throws doggy tantrums when he doesn’t get his way. But we literally had to coax him to go to the backyard, and then into the field.



Everyone heads to the field with Mikey.

Photo by Roma.



We actually let him play in the yard without anyone holding his leash for awhile. It’s been a few days now since she came, and he is still good about staying inside his boundaries. In fact, for awhile, he wouldn’t even go on the driveway because he was too nervous about the flags. But he is getting more confident, and each day we walk him all around the property to remind him of his boundaries. This week, the trainer will be coming back and working more with him, as he will probably not be bothered by the level of shocking then and she will move it up to a permanent containment level. I will post more about our Invisible Fence® adventure soon!