road problems

[Purdue#1]

I have a aussie puppy that never listens. He keeps going to the road and i'm afraid he will get hit. we live in the country, but the road that we live on used to not have a speed limit so people would do 80mph, and people still do. I was thinking of getting an underground fence. There are two that i'm looking at which is petsafe and innotek? Anybody got an idea of which would be better?

 

[Lizmo]

Sounds like you are not the "alpha dog". What you need to do is put him on a NILIF(nothing in life is free) and type in Alpha Dog Boot Camp in on goolge and click on the first one. Also he is just a pup he does not need to be outside by himself. Do not let him of the leash outside if you are not sure what he is going to do. You need to use lots of treats when first training and there might be some thing over there that is a lot more "interesting" than you and you need to be more interesting than what ever is over there. Oh and I have seen people use the underground fence and have not a had very much luck with then. The dogs that I have seen found a "weak" spot in the fence so that they know that it is not that bad to run through the fence because what ever is out their is better than the little shock that they will get. Good Luck!

 

[Herschel]

I'm not sure if dominance is the problem..

It could be the other way around--is he scared of you at all?

 

[Jynx]

I'd say you would be best getting yourself and the puppy into a good obedience class. If you can afford invisible fencing, a good obedience class should be no problem.

This dog would also not be outside unless it was on a long line or leash. YOU have to make yourself more important than his desire to take off looking for adventures that may end up killing him.

Aussies do have an independent streak however, with good training, a good bond formed with your dog, making yourself more interesting than anything else , they can be wonderful companions. They are VERY smart dogs.

My suggestion, find yourself a good obedience class and instead of invisible fence go with something more secure, it will pay for itself in the long run
diane

 

[Renee750il]

Aussies are very likely to go right through an invisible fence. They are highly focused and able to ignore a good deal of discomfort in order to get to what they're focused on. Also, no herding breed should be anywhere NEAR a road without a secure, tangible, barrier fence. It's in their nature to go after things that are moving - even more so than other types of dogs - and many a herding breed has met a tragic end chasing cars.

By the way, welcome! My Dad's a Boilermaker School of Engineering.

 

[Purdue#1]

He's not scared of me, he's never outside by himself, our house is a good 300ft. from the road. it's when he catches the smell of something on the ground, hears, or sees the neighbors across the road that he wants to go across. with our last aussie that we had for 15 years, she had to be put to sleep this year because she got cancer, never went to the road. We never needed a fence to keep her in our yard. We could leave her outside while we were inside all day with no problem. She never chased cars. She was never independent. There's this dog club in 4-H that we talked to someone about when we had my dog down at the fair cleaning my pig pens from the show. He said it was good thing to get a dog in. they do training, obedience , herding, and agiltiy. They also have professionals come in. I also wanted a fence so he wouldn't be locked in the garage all day long because i will be going to back to high school and no one will be home all day.

 

[Doberluv]

I wouldn't leave him loose outside without a solid fence, not if people are going 80mph on the road. Even a well trained dog is not 100% reliable when in full prey drive. I agree with Renee.

 

[Renee750il]

I think the females have a lot more sense about it than the males do, lol! We had a BLIND Aussie who managed to find where someone had opened the gate and left it (probably on purpose ) and took a nice little jaunt through the neighborhood!

 

[Aussie Red]

As previously posted aussies chase anything and everything. They are fearless in their pursuit. A good strong fence recomended here or a picket line. You will loose your pup if you think you can train him to stay away from the road. When they are in chase mode they focus only on the object they are going after and if it is a cat or rabbit and goes to the road ( EKKKKK)
protect the wee one please because he will go after cars too. I lost a beautiful, highly trained, great working Blue Heeler this way and not an experience I would ever want to go through again or wish on any one else.
One of our cows got out along the road and he was doing his job but the cow made it the dog did not . That was who Whiskey is named after my beloved Whiskey 1.

 

[Purdue#1]

that's why i want to get an invisible fence. My mother never in a million years would put a fence up in our yard. None of my family has ever had to fence their dogs in and they all had aussies. My aunt had a dog that never went to the road. He was an aussie. My uncle bred aussies and not one had to be fenced in. My grandfather bred aussies too and never had to fence them in. I have a cousin who has an aussie and isn't fenced in. It doesn't go to the road.

 

[Brattina88]

You grandfather's dogs sound like awesome dogs...

However dogs are individuals and you can't expect all dogs of the same breed to act the same

Aussies are very likely to go right through an invisible fence. They are highly focused and able to ignore a good deal of discomfort in order to get to what they're focused on.

-Fence or a leash
-a lot of excersize and training

 

[Purdue#1]

my mother won't put a fence up and I've heard good things about invisible fences. I know of at least 5 people with them and they say they work fine.

 

[poodlesmom]

I have an Invisible Fence which works well for my 2 standard poodles even when they are on a full run chasing squirrels. However, I live in the last house on a long dead end road which only has 5 houses total. If I lived on a road with traffic I would not trust an I.F. to keep my dogs safe. They are also never outside if I am not home.

 

[Purdue#1]

our road is not that busy of a road, it's just when people do drive on they drive really fast. My friend has an invisible fence for their beagle mix and they live in a subdivision. She says it works just fine. they have no problems with it.

 

[cowgurl6254]

First of all, your dog should NEVER be allowed outside without being on a leash....especially if you live near a road...busy or not. You are just asking for him to be hit by a car, or worse, to cause someone to get seriously hurt by swerving to avoid him. Please be a responsible owner and keep him on a leash. Second, I don't agree with underground fences. They may keep your dog in, but they don't keep danger out. What if a large aggressive dog were to come in your yard. Your dog would be trapped with no protection. Plus, most dogs will run right through them.

 

[bubbatd]

I've never had an invisible fence ..but even if I had , I would never count on it if I wasn't home. Each dog is different. Here I could trust Bubba and Chip ,when I left, in the back yard with door openned to the house,,,, When I keep Elin's Hunter , I know he'd jump the fence in the wink of an eye.. Ollie's new, so he goes into his huge cage, I don't take chances , unless I;m home to catch a miss hap.

 

[Purdue#1]

1. there is no big aggressive dog on our road the largest dogs around here are labs and are strays from a house up the road(the people moved without taking the dogs).

2.all the people i know who have an underground fence say at one time or another the dog was in full prey drive, came to the fence and stoped.

3. My aunt lives next door to us and she's home all day. he will be watched.

4. now, over the weekend, I found 5 more people who have them and say they work fine.


P.S. when we bought it this weekend at Bass Pro, The cashier said that she has her pit bull on one and it keeps him in.

 

[Brattina88]

why do you continue to ask for advice when your ignoring what's been said, and your mind is already made up

 

[Purdue#1]

all I asked was which brand of invisible fence was better, petsafe or innotek. Instead i got ten thousand answers that didn't answer what i asked. I kept telling everyone that i couldn't put an actual fence because my mother wouldn't. instead you guys kept telling me to put one up. you keep telling me to keep the dog on a leash. When my dad dad and i are working around the house we don't like leaving the dog stuck on a tie out or in the garage because he whines. He needs to be able to run freely without us having to worry about him chasing something down the road. Saturday he chased byciclers 2 houses down while my dad had him out. Let's see. Invisible fence and dog that lives or dog that gets killed by a car? I'll choose the first one.

 

[Jynx]

an invisible fence will not guarantee your dog "lives". I will say invisible fence is better than no fence, but I would have suggested finding a company that installs invisible fencing along with training the dog (we have a couple of those around here).

You can have that sucker on 10,000 volts but if the dog is not trained properly and is determined to go thru it, they will.

My suggestion, now that the deed is done, train the dog to the fence, don't think for one minute the dog will train itself YOU need to reinforce the boundaries constantly.
Good luck
Diane