Charlie Now Contained?

Today we had our Hidden Fence installed...

Peter cutting the drive for the loop wire.

The installer (Peter) started at 7.00am and by about 10.30am we were training Charlie with his new collar!

Those of you that know Curltriever Charles, would be well aware of his innate ability to escape, whether it be through a 140mm gap under my old front fence (see the photo of our old house and the front fence to see the gap), or over the side fence, or by chewing through chicken wire he always seemed to find a way out. 

Since we arrived we have been watching Charlie with a keen eye and any lapses were punished with his usual stealth. He has thrice disappeared on us, once to be kindly returned by our neighbours opposite, on another occasion he eventually returned of his own volition smelling of something unworldly - his ability to find something days dead to roll in is second to none!

The last successful escape effort came on Sunday when we headed next door for a BBQ lunch. We knew Charlie would not be able to stop barking on the chain so we locked him inside. Karren had to go back home very shortly after we had left and as she returned she saw Charlie climbing out the front window after he had skilfully removed the fly wire screen - without damaging it! He saw Karren then motored on and took off down the street to where he was sure I would be - along our walking track near the creek. When he heard me calling and realised I was not in fact walking the creek without him he came home post haste! We shut every window in the house and went back to the BBQ wondering if a little zap would work to keep him contained.

Given Sunday's turn of events I wasn't sure that relying on a small receiver collar and a signal loop wire would suffice! After lengthy and detailed discussions with the installer regarding the fence systems efficacy and Charlie's escape ability we decided to give it a go.

The installer went about his work this morning and after negotiating our garden irrigation, retaining walls and other unseen obstructions we were ready to flick the switch and get Charlie trained. The method included getting the collar fitted correctly, getting him aware of the flags, hearing the warning beeps as he enters the controlled zone and then feeling the correction as he gets further into the controlled area.

Flags indicate the start of the controlled area around the boundary

Initially he did not give a flying fig about the warning beep, nor the initial correction, in fact he did not even flinch, he just stood there unfazed! Peter decided it was time to increase the receiver from level two to three (of seven). His first correction on level three gave him quite a fright, no audible sign of discomfort but he certainly knew he had to get away from whatever had caused the zap. Three or four more introductions to the controlled area and associated zaps had him feeling a little scared and unhappy, it was now time to simply walk him around the safety zone of the yard for 10 minutes enforcing the area was his and zap free.

Look at my shiny red collar

Early in the afternoon we headed out for a second session, we did a similar thing, tried to get him up to the controlled area, with at first a beep then a correction, he did not like it at all! From then on he would not go any further into the controlled area than the warning beep, the third session was even better, he would not get close enough to feel a correction, the warning beep was more than enough. I now knew a couple of things, firstly the system works, secondly Charlie is a very smart dog, stubborn and single minded but very smart! 

After each session it was really important to play with Charlie in the safe zone to reinforce that it is good in the yard, just bad to go near the flags that indicate the controlled zone around the boundary. He is now playing fetch with the girls quite happily in the back yard seemingly not worried about the collar when there are no flags in sight.

There will be two or three more session each day for the next three days then we will let him outside while we remain inside to see what happens, if he passes that test he will be further tested one more time when the installer returns with his dogs to try and tease Charlie into crossing the controlled boundary. Finally after a month or so we will gradually remove the flags that indicate the boundary - our hidden fence system will then be complete.

For those of you that think zapping the dog is cruel, think about how much pain is associated with being run over!