With so many options in electric dog fences out there, you may be wondering where to begin. There are wired electric dog fences and wireless fences. Other than the obvious, you may be wondering the differences between the two. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of them both.
Pros of a Wireless Dog Fence
- With a wireless dog fence, installation is a breeze. All that you need to do is plug in your transmitter, set the size of your containment circle, plant your flags, put the collar on your dog and train him or her.
- Portability is another appreciated feature. If you are going camping, you can take your fence with you. The same goes if you are moving to a new residence. Simply take it to your new house and plug it in.
Cons of a Wireless Dog Fence
There are many different things that can cause a wireless dog fence to fail. These factors include:
- Any hills or sloping in your yard
- A metal roof
- Stucco siding
- Too many trees
- A metal object within your containment area
If you have any of these situations, a wireless dog fence is not recommended. Your dog will either be able to get out, or the collar will shock the dog when it shouldn’t.
Another issue with a wireless dog fence is that your containment area must exist in the form of a circle. This means you cannot customize your perimeter. Wherever you have your transmitter, becomes the center of your containment circle. This means you cannot contain your front yard or backyard only, for example.
In addition to this, a wireless dog fence can only contain one acre of land or less. In contrast, a wired fence can contain several acres of land, depending on the brand of transmitter that you have.
Now, let’s take a look at how wired fences compare to this.
Pros of a Wired Dog Fence
- Your border is 100% customizable. Wherever you lay your dog fence wire, becomes the perimeter of your electric dog fence.
- Nothing beats the reliability of a wired electric dog fence. All of the things that will throw off a wireless fence will not have any effect on a wired fence.
Installation
As you might expect, the one thing that is more difficult about a wired fence is the installation process. Here is a quick rundown of how to install an electric dog fence.
Keep in mind that there are many different ways to layout your wire. But no matter how you do it, you must have a complete circuit. This means that your dog fence wire must begin and end in the same place.
Now that you have laid out your wire, you will need a way to connect your loop to the transmitter located inside of your home. That is what twisted wire is used for. Simply splice the twisted wire to the two ends of your boundary loop and carry it into your home, where you have your transmitter located.
Next you hook the wire up to your transmitter. Program your settings on the collar. Take the dog fence collar outside to test it on the boundary. As soon as you know it is working, it is time to bury your dog fence wire.
Your wire should be buried about 3-6 inches deep. The easiest way to do this would be to rent a wire trencher. It digs the groove, plants the wire and then covers it up with dirt too. Another option is to use an edger to cut a groove in the soil. Then you can just insert the wire in the groove and cover it up.
In general, you should expect to spend about 1 day of work installing your wired electric dog fence.
Conclusion
A wireless dog fence is easier to install, but it is not as reliable of a solution. In addition to this, if you need to contain more than ¾ of an acre of land, you will need to choose a wired system.