Why I REALLY Hate Electronic Shock (Invisible) Fences comments by Lisa G
© June 2003. May not be reprinted without written approval.

Hi Pam! Really enjoyed talking to you the other day (about the Aussie puppies and Stacey).

I wanted to make some comments about your article on invisible fencing. I have changed the names, but the story is true. If you wish to use any part of it to add to your article, please feel free to do so.

While working for Guide Dogs, I was a Puppywalking Supervisor and basically was "head trainer" for the foster families who had our pups. I saw each pup a minimum of once a month for their entire puppywalking time...from 7 weeks of age until about 18 months. I was responsible for not only recruiting and interviewing foster homes, but also for evaluating pups and placing them with the right families, then providing training advice and written evaluations throughout the process.

When I arrived in the job, there was one puppywalker (Jane) who had walked 3 pups previously and already had her fourth. One dog had made it, then been recalled. The others had not made it to being a Guide Dog.

The fourth pup (let's call her Zena) was about 4 months old when I began supervising. Jane had an invisible fence, and although I was leery of this I wasn't sure of the possible side effects. I had never used one or known anyone who used one, had only read about them. She had used the fencing with each previous dog, with no apparent problems. After our first visit, I brought it up at a staff meeting and was told, no big deal, she's done it with all the others. None of the trainers had comments on any negative effects that might have been attributed to the fencing.

I recieved a call a few months later from Jane about suspicious barking that the puppy was doing. She was barking at visitors to the home, people walking up the driveway and children passing by the property. So I gave her some exercises to do to better desensitize Zena to visitors and passers-by, thinking she just needed some extra work. They lived just on the edge of a very small village, bordered on all sides by "country." So I figured it was just because their other (pet) dog was doing a lot of barking and the puppy was picking up on it, combined with the fact that it was rare that someone actually came up the driveway or passed by the property. I asked her to do setups with good friends familiar with the dog, rewarding as soon as they came into sight. I also advised that she should not allow the pet dog and the puppy outdoors together, hoping to prevent the puppy from hearing "alarm barking" and responding by doing the same.

Although Jane did the work, the situation did not get noticeably better. Then, the dog began to suspiciously bark at lone pedestrians when being walked in town. Jane called me after she noticed a few instances of it, and when I evaluated her it was apparent that she was also showing anxiety about being approached in general (Jane had missed the smaller signs of it).

At this point I was thinking that Zena's general temperament was just not suitable for guiding, but it didn't make sense to me. This was a Labrador from our own lines, dogs that had been bred for guiding for several generations. I was of course supervising her littermates, knew her mother, had information on her father, and also knew many dogs from the same family of Labradors. None were showing any sort of suspicious behaviour.

So right about then a new staff member arrived, an instructor from another country who had a lot of experience with puppywalking programs. I went to her with this problem, and after evaluating the dog she discovered the invisible fence usage. That's when things started to fall into place.

After some in-depth questioning, we discovered that Jane had asked the children next door to help her with walking the perimeters of the fencing initially. Zena quickly associated the flags with the shock, and then would not go near any of the flags after the first time she was shocked. Jane was concerned that Zena would only understand that the area where she was initially shocked was a fenceline, so to "hurry things up" she had the neighbor kids call Zena toward them across the flag line around the property. Zena was shocked 3-4 times before she learned not to go toward the kids.

Jane told me that later on she had caught the kids standing on the other side of the fenceline, teasing and calling Zena. Zena was barking furiously. Jane also admitted that often, she would allow Zena outdoors unsupervised and would hear her barking, and would just call her back in without investigating the reason. We discovered that there is a pathway behind the property that is often used by adults and children alike. It is probable that Zena was barking at people.

So from this information, I feel that probably Zena associated the shock with people in general, especially people that were approaching her in a "friendly" way. She responded by frustration barking, and then probably couldn't help herself from trying to approach anyway...after all, she was a gregarious Labrador. She would then get shocked again, and I feel that the barking became a "get the hell away from me before I get shocked" reaction, and then it began to affect her on the street.

After learning all this, we immediately informed Jane that she could no longer use the invisible fence with our pups. Zena never again wore the collar, but continued her suspicious behaviour. It did improve to the point that she was relaxed on the street, but she never discontinued her suspicious barking on her original property. She was rejected from the program later and went on to a pet home, where I am told she no longer seems suspicious. I would guess that the break in location, combined with the fact that the new property has a 6' privacy fence, was different enough that she managed to learn to be comfortable.

The most interesting thing about all of this? We looked back in the files on the other dogs that had gone through Jane's home at puppywalk. All of them, including the one that made it, had displayed similar behaviour at varying degrees.

After Zena left the home, we placed another puppy with Jane. That puppy never wore the collar and went on to become a Guide Dog. Jane has become a better trainer after all of this and we have learned something! Certainly that we will not allow invisible fencing in the future. Our program requires a fenced yard, and before I came into the picture, it had been decided that invisible fencing was fine. That has now been changed and only normal, secure, solid fencing is allowed.

Now...having said all that...I have to share my own personal experience with invisible fencing. We have recently moved to a new home which came with an invisible fence already installed. It also came with a fully fenced yard. The (non-invisible) fence is at least 4 1/2 feet high at all points, higher in some places. I have two Australian Shepherds.

The first day that we arrived in the home my dogs saw a cat on the other side of the solid fence and both cleared the wooden barrier AND a woodpile on the other side without touching any of it. I managed to call them off right after they jumped the fence (the point where they jumped was nearly 5 feet high) and they chose to jump BACK over the fence before I could manage to get around to them.

That incident occurred when I was standing right beside both of my dogs. Over the next few days, I noticed that there were several loose dogs around on a regular basis. They could not get inside, but if my dogs saw them my dogs would jump the fence.

What to do. I didn't want to use the collars on my dogs, but I could not afford to replace our wooden fencing, I would never tie my dogs out, and I did not want to use a run. We have a yard that is 200 x 100 feet, and one of the reasons we chose the new home was because the dogs would have a place to free run in safety. So my husband and I talked about it and we decided to give the invisible fence a try.

Knowing what I knew, I did the training at times when there was no one around. I was fortunate that my property is fenced totally...the only thing they saw behind the flags was our solid fence. The shock occurs about 3 feet away from the solid fence. They MOST DEFINITELY ASSOCIATED THE SOLID FENCE WITH THE SHOCK, not the flags!!!!! Both of my dogs were shocked 2-3 times at the lowest level before they noticeably began to avoid the area 3 feet inside the solid fence. They didn't need to hear a beep...they just did not go near the fence. As far as I know, neither of them has been shocked since that first day, or heard a beep. It is interesting to note that if I open the gate (only when I have taken off the collars) they both readily go through without hesitation. I am sure that to them, it is the solid fence that causes the shock. Without a shadow of a doubt. They behave the same way if we are in someone else's yard that is fenced...they do not go within three feet of the NEW fence.

Did I feel horrible, doing this to my dogs? Yes. Although now my dogs respect the solid fences and do not try to go over, I would never use this system without solid fencing. Matter of fact, in our next home, we will have adequate regular fencing and that's that. We will have to move in 3 years and the fencing will just be figured in with the cost of the move. I am happy that we have a way now for my dogs to enjoy the total yard, but I sure don't feel like it's ideal.

The reason I shared my personal experience with my own fencing is because I want to reinforce what you said in your article. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the dogs make associations that have nothing to do with the invisible barriers. In the wrong situation, and with the wrong circumstances, I believe that severe negative side effects can happen. Although what's done is done, and I am happy that my dogs are safe, never again will I do that to a dog.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long letter. I enjoyed your webpage, and now am going off to look at fencing (your fencing hobby, not yard barriers!) websites.

Lisa G