Well, sheesh, ZipperJJ - who’d have thought you weren’t prepared to do that? ![]()
The neighbourhood dogs (two German shepherds and a big mutt) are social butterflies who are good at chasing away the bears, so we have an invisible e-fence that plugs into my outlet and collectively surrounds all our properties. Cheap security, and great for the dogs’ social lives.
I have a cat, not a dog, and the cat stays close, so it is not constrained by the invisible e-fence. The mutt has great respect for the cat, for back when the mutt was first learning the boundaries of the fence, he jumped toward the cat who swatted back at him, only it happened that the cat was at the fence and the mutt got zapped just as the cat connected with his nose.
Anyway, dog are social animals, so if you have neighbours with dogs that get along with your’s, consider installing a loop about the various properties so that they can enjoy being dogs together, rather than being lonely.
(Just for clarification – the zap was due to the dog being close to the wire, and nothing was transmitted through the cat, but of course the dog didn’t know that. Now the dog is more gentle with the cat.)
Mousetraps. I have a dog who used to counter-surf, and a trainer told me to set out some mousetraps. They don’t snap closed on the dog’s paw - they just jump and make a scary noise! I set one off every now and then just to remind Blaze they’re there. Order a few dozen of the cheap ones and set them on top of your wall. You could also try soda cans with 5-6 pennies in each. Either option will be a bitch to clean up after a storm, though.
I had the problem with my dogs going over and under my fence. I used a small hotwire charger and ran wire along the top and bottom of the fence. A few zaps and the dogs stay off the fence. I ran an insulated wire under hte gate, which becomes a weak spot, but only if they know that one small section is weak. My dogs never figured it out. You could get some step-in posts to hold the wire, which can be easily removed after the dog is trained to the yard.
StG