More About Fences

 Last week in my blog I talked about the different kinds of fences there were and why it is safer for a dog to have a fenced in yard than for them to run free around the town. One of the kinds I mentioned was an invisible fence. Our friend Beauregard reminded us that invisible fences can be very bad for dogs.

Some people like them because they can be lots less expensive than other kinds of fences and since you can’t see them, they let you see all of the outside. Some places make rules about what kinds of fences houses can have. Because you can’t see an invisible fence they fit the kind of fences those rules say are okay.

An invisible fence sounds nice but it is really an electric fence that gives a dog a shock and makes a screechy noise when he tries to go outside of the fence. Shocks hurt and I don’t think hurting is a good way to train a dog. I think there are already enough bad noises like fireworks and thunderstorms so who wants more ugly sounds in the world.

Also the dog needs to be wearing a special collar for the fence to work. That means that other dogs, other animals or even bad peoples can come in the yard and hurt the dog that lives there.

If a dog sees something he really wants to chase or if something scares him enough, he could run real fast right through the invisible fence. He would get a shock but he would already be on the outside. The problem gets worse when he can’t get back into the yard. He will walk up to the yard and get a shock and stay on the outside.

One of Mom’s friends tried an invisible fence at her house. Her dog got shocked a couple of times and refused to go out of the house. He didn’t understand that he could go outside, just not too far. Luckily he only thought it was the front door so they let him out the back door and stopped using the fence.

 Our friend Julee reminded me that collars can get caught on fences and could choke a dog so we need to always be careful when we are outside, even when we are fenced in. Caught collars are only one of the reasons I  reminded peoples that they need to watch their dogs even though they are in a fenced in area. 

I see Dad is ready to go outside to rake the big yard so DixieLee and I will relax in our pen and watch him work. Having a big chain link fenced in yard means we can be outside with Dad and pretty much keep out of trouble. Well, I can. I don’t know about DixieLee.

Love your outside friend,

Zeva

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