Life with dogs

I installed a “Dog Watch” electronic fence after the March 2011 wind storm fell a 100’ Douglas fir tree down my property line and wiped out the side yard fence in its path. I created a dog-free zone in the front yard to curtail Moose’s habit of lolling in the planting beds playing havoc with flowers and Rosie’s annoying pastime of standing on the porch top rail and barking at passersby. This worked well for nearly a year.

Until one day I came home to find Mr. Moose hanging out front. Rosie, who I suspect is smarter or possibly more sensitive to pain, was still in the backyard. Good girl. I went to great lengths searching the boundaries to see if wires were too close together, thereby making a void zone, which I suspected my tenacious big dog of finding.

Bear in mind that I personally installed this system so presumably I know how it functions. Presumably… After a couple weeks of Moose greeting me from the front porch I had an “Ah ha” moment (this is embarrassing to admit) and realized the dog collars needed new batteries. Duh. Not just any old battery of course, ½ AA, so a trip to a battery store followed. I installed the new batteries, got the collars back on the dogs, and within minutes Moose was out front, leaping and cavorting, and I suspect laughing at me in his doggy way. I could hear the collar warning beep - so why was there no shock?

The next conclusion I jumped to: a circuit was out in the controller. Wrong again. Eventually I made the ultimate sacrifice and broke out the owners’ manual where I discovered I’d selected the “audio only setting” instead of “correction setting.” I reset the controller then dangled a collar until I heard the warning beep. I touched the receptor prong thingy to my hand. I got shocked. By then Moose was again on the wrong side of the boundary but he wouldn’t cross back over. Ha! He got shocked too.

I highly recommend Dog Watch for any interested pet owners. Just double check the settings…

Comments

L. D. said…
What a great story. Our neighbors use a device like this and when I walk my dog I have to say away from it as the little dog gets tempted to be shocked as he is very friendly and wants to visit my border collie.
Sun Feb 05, 04:28:00 PM
Janice said…
Ah, mystery solved!
Mon Feb 06, 01:35:00 PM
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