How to Use an Invisible Fence With Border Collies
An invisible fence is designed to keep your dogs in a designated perimeter using a specialized collar and radio signals. A wire marks the dog's acceptable boundaries, and the collar offers a brief, harmfulless shock when the dog crosses those boundaries. With the right training exercises, your border collies will learn the boundaries and stay within them on their own. You can buy invisible fence systems at most pet supply stores or online.
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Instructions
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Setting up Your System
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Choose your dog's boundaries. Keep in mind that border collies are disciplined, active dogs bred to herd sheep. They need lots of exercise and room to run.
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Plug the invisible fence system's transmitter into an electrical outlet in your backyard or garage.
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Run the provided wire from the transmitter all the way around the area your dog is permitted to roam. You can bury the wire or secure it to yard features like hedges or flower beds. Make sure the wire loops back to the transmitter, forming a closed loop.
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Outline your dog's new boundaries with a visual marker to help him learn how far he's allowed to go. Yard flags or wooden stakes work well for this.
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Put the invisible fence system's provided collar on your dog. Most systems offer a warning beep when the dog approaches its boundary.
Training
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Teach your collie to retreat when he hears the collar's warning beep. Walk your dog toward the boundary until his collar beeps. Turn around quickly and walk in the opposite direction. If he follows without tugging or straining, give him a treat and praise. Repeat this procedure until the dog can hear the beep on his own and move backward from the electronic boundary.
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Teach your dog to remain behind the boundary even when people, other dogs or toys are present. Start by performing the above test while a neighbor or child walks by. Praise and reward your dog for turning away from the boundary. If your dog tries to leave the boundary, wait for the collar to deliver a small shock and guide him back to the center of the yard.
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Add further distractions to your basic test, repeating them until your dog consistently stays within his boundaries. Throw a ball from inside the yard to the street. Ask someone to ride a bike past your house, and be sure to have someone from inside your house walk out past your dog's boundaries. If he can pass all these tests, it's a good bet he's ready for you to remove the visual markers.
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Remove the visual markers one or two at a time, over a period of a week. Perform additional tests to make sure your dog's behavior doesn't change without the markers.
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Give your dog small amounts of supervised off-leash yard time. Watch him at all times. If he tries to go beyond the boundary more than once, put him back on the leash. Gradually increase the amount of off-leash time.
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Give your collie unsupervised off-leash yard time. Watch from indoors and monitor his behavior when you're not there. If he's successful, gradually increase the amount of unsupervised yard time.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep training sessions short. Ten to 15 minutes at a time is plenty for your collie to absorb the lesson and maintain interest.
Don't soothe or comfort your collie when he receives a shock. This will make him think receiving the correction is a good behavior that results in praise.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit red border collie image by Earl Robbins from Fotolia.com
