Roaming

[kvanorman]

Ok, so my 2 dogs, Shooter & Ruckus - very smart dogs. They have always been left alone at home while my boyfriend & I are at work. They have always been great about that. They would kind of roam a little around the house & fields surrounding it, but were always home when we got home. However, we got a 3rd dog a month or 2 ago, and after being good for a couple weeks, they would start disappearing. They were gone 5 days in one week at different neighbors' houses. We got rid of the 3rd dog hoping that they would quit b/c he was kind of a bad seed. They have continued to roam though, going miles away from home & having to be picked up when we get a call.

We have begun tying Shooter (the dominant one) while we're gone during the day & that works OK, but he is constantly getting tangled in his rope. We do not own the property & I am not going to pay for a fence to go around our yard when we will probably be moving w/in the next 6mos. Does anyone have some tips as to how to get them to be happy to stay at home again like they used to do?

[Orrymain]

Well, if you care about your pets, you do need to get something like a large pet crate. They do have very big ones that you can put your dogs in when you're gone. It's not the huge space they have now, though. However, I could never let my dogs run loose like that. Too many dangers. They need a safe environment.

[kvanorman]

The problem is they now run off when we're home even! It's getting ridiculous. We got that underground electric fence though, and that seems to help A LOT.

[Justontime]

As a responsible pet owner you need to fence your garden and keep them in. If they are out and they cause an accident it will cost you a whole lot more than a fence!

[kernow]

You need to keep your dogs in the house when you are out and if there is no reliable fence you need to supervise them whenever they go outside. Please do whatever it takes to stop them roaming before they get killed or cause an accident.

[Orrymain]

I am not familiar with an underground electrical fence. How does that work?

[kvanorman]

I do not need to keep my dogs in the house. There is no way that would work b/c we are gone too long during the day. There are better solutions than coming home to messes every day. We have things under control though now, I promise.

[kvanorman]

It's really pretty snazzy. I ordered mine through Wal-Mart & it's from some place called Humane Contain or High Tech Pet Products or something like that. You get special wire/collars/control box & you bury the wire 2-4" underground (you don't have to but it's nice to be able to do that under your driveway & such). The dog collars will beep when they start to come w/in a few feet of the fence. You can adjust it to make the "no zone" larger or smaller depending on your yard/animals, etc... If they continue past the first beep, it will begin to beep a little faster & give them a short shock. The closer they get to the line, the faster their collars beep & the harder the shock they receive. This way they can decide how much they want to take before retreating to the "safe zone." They've worked very nicely so far. (Thank Goodness!)

[Bill]

It's basically a shock collar that shocks the dog when he gets too close to the buried wire. It is an inhumane way to contain a dog. It has several other problems, such as when a dog runs through it, he doesn't have a way back in the yard. It doesn't keep other dogs away from your dog. I have known several dogs who have gotten out of the fence then got run over by a car. In this case, the answer is to keep the dog in the house unless you are there to supervise him.