When we moved into our new house last year, there was a big adjustment we needed to make in regards to our dogs. We needed some sort of fence to keep them in our yard. Our old house, sitting on a little more than a tenth of an acre, was easy for me to build a fence around to keep our dogs confined to our yard. Our new house, sitting on 1.6 acres, with true new England soil (meaning every square foot of dirt contains about 88.5 rocks in myriad sizes) was going to be near impossible to build a physical fence around. It would take me months of pain and anguish, and in the end would not be pretty or nearly as functional as I would like. We were left with two options, creating a run for the dogs that we would have to walk them out to every day and hook them up so they could have a little exercise, or install an "e-fence" around the perimeter that would keep them inside our yard via an electric shock if they got too close. The concept of the e-fence or invisible fence is simple; you lay a wire around the entire area that you want to confine the dogs too, put collars on the dogs, and train them to know that if they get too close or cross the line, they will get a mild shock. Well of the two options, we actually went with both. We started with the run just so that we could put them outside and utilized that so that we could install the e-fence ourselves. There are companies out there who will install it for you and train your dogs, but we honestly didn't feel like paying someone else to do what we felt we could do ourselves. So we ordered the fence and collars, installed it, and I trained the dogs. The installation was simple enough. The training, however, was a weeks long process, 3 times a day, that was time consuming and sometimes frustrating. But in the end, and with only a few mishaps, our dogs were trained to stay in our yard without getting shocked. Both Princess and Aspen (our two dogs) tried crossing the boundary a few times during the training. Each one had a different reaction. Princess, a female and the older of the two, would walk right across, yelping the whole way at which point I'd have to go, take her collar off, lead her back into our yard, and put the collar back on. Aspen, a male and younger, would freeze right over the wire, his neck twitching and would not respond to any verbal commands, he had to be dragged back into the yard. Both were funny to watch and luckily neither happened again. (For those concerned, there is a safety feature built in to kill the shock after 30 seconds so that if, like Aspen, a dog freezes over the line, they don't get shocked indefinitely).
So how would dogs escape you ask if they are trained to stay inside the yard? Well, not only is there training for the dogs, there is training for the humans who install it as well. That training is called remembering to put the collars on the dogs every time you let them out the door. You see, the collars are not supposed to be left on the dogs perpetually. They are only meant to be worn while the dogs are outside. So every time they go out, you have to put the collars on and take them off when they come in. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, after having two dogs at our other house for 4 years and being in the habit of just opening the door to let them out, it was not so simple. All this is leading me to my little story of how they "escaped" our yard.
New Years Day, a few months ago. We had both gone to bed early on New Years' Eve because being the parents of two little kids, we have no life. (There, I said it) January 1st, we had planned on heading to my parents house around lunch time to spend some time with them, eat some food, and just hang out. I went outside in the morning, let the dogs out, and then came back inside. After a few minutes, I went back outside, couldn't see the dogs, and came back in asking if my wife had let them out. As soon as she said "no", I knew that I had let them out without their collars on. I immediately ran back outside and started shouting for the dogs at the top of my lungs. Being New Years Day morning, it was very quiet to begin with. After every yell, I stopped and listened. Nothing. Not even faint jingle of their tags in the distance. No movement either. Damn it, I thought to myself. So I told my wife what had happened and she started calling the local animal shelters to notify them what had happened. My biggest concern was the busy 4 lane road we live on. I trusted my dogs to fend for themselves in the woods, but not when it comes to major roads. Unfortunately, our backyard butts up against the backyards of a dozen other houses. In our town, every house has to be on at least an acre of land, so that is a lot of room for them to roam with very little chance of my stumbling upon them should I go venture into the woods for them. So I hopped in my Jeep and drove around the block a few times. Nothing. After about an hour of searching, there was still no sign of them. At about the second hour, Princess returned like nothing had happened, she just showed up at our back door, ready to come in. My being a typical dog owner, I asked her where her brother was, but got no response. I took one more drive around the block and realizing that there was really nothing I could do to find Aspen, we decided to head to my parents house. When we left, I propped open our garage door enough for Aspen to sneak underneath and inside the garage I put his dog bed. We also left our back door slightly ajar so he could nudge his way into our mudroom if need be. At our parents house, I agonized the whole time about him and where he could be. He could have gone anywhere and even technically made it too my parents house without crossing any major roads. So heading home, we still kept our eyes open for Aspen, but didn't see him along the way. We pulled into our driveway expecting the worse. As soon as we parked, however, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw Aspen running towards us from the garage with a look on his face saying, "what took you so long and its about time you came home people". It turns out that New Years Day was my training moment. Since then, I always remember to put their collars on. I think Princess might still wander off if I didn't put her collar on, but Aspen, I think, wouldn't go anywhere.
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