Creating a safe area for your pet to enjoy the outdoors is an essential part of pet ownership. You may wonder how to train your dog to stay inside an invisible fence system so that you can create a safe area for your pet, but you may wonder how to train them to stay inside the boundaries. So, how is it done?
You may place the invisible fence at the property's or yard's edge or wherever else you wish your dog to be contained. The dog wears a radio collar that picks up transmissions from a radio transmitter that the invisible fence signals and It's best to train your pet in 10–15-minute intervals.
Putting your dog out there to learn how the invisible fence works by trial and error, on the other hand, will result in a lot of negative reinforcement. With that said, let's take a look at the best way to train your pet so that you both can enjoy the freedom that an invisible fence provides.
An Effective Way to Train Your Dog for an Invisible Fence
Whenever training your pet, it is essential to be patient and consistent. Make training fun rather than stressful for your pet. Train your pet for 10 – 15 minutes at a time; take it slow if you want to accomplish a lot. It's better to do short sessions more frequently than longer ones less frequently.
You want your pet to make positive associations with the containment area, so make it fun! Give your pet lots of praises treats, and have some playtime while you're going through your training. If you are training your dog, you should also use some other containment method, such as a leash or tie-out.
You should also remove the receiver collar in between sessions. If your pet shows signs of stress, such as their ears are tucked back, or their body is lowered, slow down the training. Schedule additional days of training or increase the amount of playtime with your pet during the training.
You can also use filler treats to help you for the sake of communication. Let's call the safe area of your yard the pet area and the end of your containment area the boundary zone.
Setting Up the Invisible Fence
Your containment area should be completely installed before you start training. Ensure that you are satisfied with the area you have provided for your doggo and stick to it. It will confuse your pet to undergo another training session if you extend or withdraw space.
The flags you received in your kit should be placed 10 feet apart once. So, once you have your flags placed around the desired border of the pet containment area, get ready to get started with training.
Training Day: One
Day one is about getting your pet familiar with the pet area and associating it with the tone that your receiver collar makes. If the collar you received with your setup has adjustable settings, set the collar tone to level one, known as the tone-only setting.
If your collar doesn't have a tone-only setting, you can still help your doggo recognize the tone without getting a static correction by holding the collar close to their ear as you're getting them familiar with the area.
Another way is by placing a cover over the contact points to avoid the static correction so that the pet only reacts to the tone. So before you start, have a few treats ready and spend about 5 – 10 mins playing with your pet to get them started as well.
You want to try and get them familiar with about three flags on day one. You want to keep working with them until they resist that first flag you started with. Again, offer them plenty of praise, rewarding treats, and keep the training at 10 – 15 minute increments.
Training Days: Two to Four
On your pet's training days two through four, you'll want to start using the static correction feature of their collar. If the collar has multiple correction levels, I would recommend starting at level two and testing their recognition to that level. This time, your pet would be hearing the tone and receiving a static correction.
However, all pets are different, so they may not recognize level two. If you don't see any recognition, increase the collar to level three. Recognition could be anything similar to their ears going up, looking at the ground; that way, you'll know it is the correct level.
Training Days: Five to Eight
Around the training days five through to eight, your pet should be very familiar with the pet area. They should recognize the static correction and the tone along with the flags and not be tempted to go outside the area.
However, dogs can always get distracted, so you would want to test it out with one of their favorite toys to see how far they've got in their training and ensure they won't go outside the boundary when something is distracting them.
After the eight days of consistent training and the results you are looking for, you are ready to allow your pet in the pet area without a leash. Don't include toys or distractions that may tempt them to run outside the boundary zone during this time. It's best to get busy with other activities and allow your pet to enjoy the yard.
If for any reason they fail to stay in the pet area, take the receiver collar off and lead them back to the pet area, and reinforce the training mentioned above. After about two weeks of consistent training, most pots are ready for the freedom the pet area brings them.
Regularly checking in with your pet at regular intervals to ensure they continue to respect the boundary area is a vital part of their training experience.
Training Days: Completion
After you're satisfied with the training results, you can begin to remove every second flag for the next four days until all flags are removed. You may want to save your boundary flags for future use; you never know when your best friend may need some training touch-ups or when you may welcome another pet into the family.
Three final points to note down are the following:
- 1If you are going to take your pet out of the pet area. Remove the receiver collar, replace it with a regular collar and leash, and leave the containment at the same place every time. It will help your pet associate it with leaving their containment area with you, the leash, and the specific spot.
- 2You may also issue a response code of your choice, noting that your pet that it is acceptable to do so, for example, "Okay," or "Let's Go," or "Yip Yip" to let them know it's alright to leave.
- 3You'll want to take the receiver collar off regularly; we humans can get bedsores for lying in one place for too long; the same can happen to our beloved pets and a collar. So for their comfort and health, take the collar off at least daily.
Conclusion
You'll love the freedom that a pet-safe invisible fence gives you and your pet. Again, being patient with your pet throughout the training process is critical. Always remember that keeping your pets stress-free, praising them, and rewarding them with treats results in a happy pup eager to learn and live in a safe and friendly pet area.