Will an invisible fence work for my husky?
Friday, October 30th, 2009 at
6:52 am
The house I just moved into has an existing invisible fence system and I am having someone come out to train my husky on the invisible fence. My husky will chase anything that moves, cats, dogs, bunnies, birds, squirrels etc. I am worried that he will still run through the shock if he sees an animal to chase. Has anybody had success with a husky and an invisible fence even though they love to chase small animals?!
Filed under: Pet Insurance
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I have had six Siberians in my life.
They have a very strong prey drive.
They also have a very strong running/wandering drive.
I would never trust an invisible fence period, and especially not with a Husky. Honestly with their urge to run and chase, they will be very prone to just running through the shock, the reward they get by running will outweigh the "punishment" of that short shock.
The other thing about invisible fences is that they do nothing to keep other animals out.
I can not even imagine not having a six foot block wall around my yard for my pets.
i have a jack russell and they love to chase as well. it worked for them.
Good Luck!
Generally no.
The husky breed is notorious for running and will stop at nothing to do it.
I would suggest a very high physical fence because they have been know to climb/scale 8+ foot privacy fencing.
you should put like a shocker on the fence.
whenever your dog touches it, he will get a tiny shock
soon enough he will learn not to leave and will be cautious about wanting to go chase a squirrel or something.
Hmm. I have never heard of the invisible fencing. However, Husky’s in particular are EXTREMELY smart dogs, and I’m sure after one or two small shocks, he will get the message. My dog loved to chase rabbits, but after some stern words every time he ran away, he soon stopped. Just remember, it is your dogs instinct to chase and run. Husky’s were built to run very fast!
No it will not work huskies have to high of a prey drive they will go right through the fence and then will not be able to get back into the yard. Most huskies can not even be kept in a yard with a normal fence they need to have an at least 6 foot fence that has 3 feet of it buried. I would not risk the invisible fence! Good luck!
ADD- haha who ever game me thumbs down must not own a husky! A husky is like no other dog! They will not care about the shock they will just go after what ever they are chaseing! When a husky is on a mission they are on a mission and will not stop. You being a husky owner should know this. I would not risk it your husky could end up hit by a car and hurt really bad or dead. I know 3 people who have tried the invisible fense with their huskies and all 3 of them ended up getting out one ended up dead and one of the others was hurt badly. Please do not risk it!
Don’t know about Huskys. But I do know about the predator Dachshund.
My neighbor up the street has an invisible fence and it keeps her two very sweet Rotties contained.
I took one of my more ‘challenging’ Dachshunds to her yard to get an idea of what happens when they try and run through it.
First time? Whoa! Stopped, backed up and sat down. Circled the yard, watched and looked for the critter which caused the ‘shock’. After about 7 minutes, rushed it again. Didn’t stop. I followed him home.
worked for My dobermans and they both have and had a high prey drive.
With proper training and monitoring it should do fine. While I don’t have a husky. We keep 2 labs in ours. People walk down the street w/ dogs and kids all the time and they don’t leave the yard. If we throw the ball and it crosses the line they won’t chase it. Good luck!
probaly not… in some cases electric fences will scare the dog more than train it… also there is a possibility that your dog would become scared of the backyard or where ever the fence is…. it probaly would be better for you dog if you got a trainer but thats a bit more expensive….
Hello,
as you know huskies are specials dogs, the only I can tell you is try and check out if the invisible fence works
dog work for home , becose they ovey his owener , when the dog owener did not stey house the dog protect his house any anemy.
Nope.
Sorry. I can think of only one person in the history of Siberian-dom that I know of who successfully managed to keep Siberians behind an invisible fence. He used to be a contributor here, but I haven’t seen him in awhile.
A Siberian in prey drive doesn’t give a fig about the shock, if they can even feel it through their thick fur. The shock is worth the chase. In fact, the shock is worth getting out to what they want just about all of the time.
I have had two experiences selling puppies to people with invisible fences, and I won’t do it again. The first dog had to have her neck shaved down and two – not one, TWO – transmitters on full power strapped to her skin to keep her inside the fence. And even then, if a cat wandered past, it would only make her stop and think about it for a few seconds (hopefully long enough for her owners to get to her) before she decided it was worth going through the fence.
The second dog respected the fence when it was on, but developed a sixth sense for when it was down. After 2 years of respect, the power went down one day, and he and his Malamute "sister" walked off the property and into the mountains, never to be found.
I will admit that it does depend on the temperament of the dog – some Siberians really don’t care about the shock, and others are more sensitive. But ALL of them seem to know when there is a weakness in the system, and they will exploit it.
I really hope the training works for your dog…but, frankly, I’m not optimistic.
Why would you want to torture your dog with an invisible fence? Ever hear of dog obedience/training classes? Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………
I have an 11 year old husky and have had the invisible fence for him his entire life. The first year or two, he would jump the fence and get picked up by animal control constantly. It took a lot of hard work and training to get him to obey and figure out his boundaries. But now, he doesn’t even wear the collar anymore. He knows where his boundaries are and he won’t go past them unless he is on a leash going for a walk. My 2 other dogs do not use the electric fence and when running around the yard, they will run outside the boundary lines and my husky will not run past the line. He waits for them to come back to him. So yes, I think it can work, but you must make sure that your husky is well exercised before leaving him in the yard. If he isn’t, he will probably take off as they need TONS of exercise. I take mine for a 3-5 mile walk or run (even at 11 years old) every morning and he stays in the yard all day. As far as chasing small animals, mine chases them as well and he has caught some that were in the yard, but if the small animals are past the line, he won’t go after them. We also at first, had to get extra prongs added to the collar. The 2 that come out of the box that goes under the neck were not enough. We had to have the invisible fence people modify his collar so that there were 2 prongs on the back of his neck as well. As a vet tech, I am not a huge supporter of the invisible fence or any shock collar devices, but we have a huge yard and I felt that it would be best for my dog to have full run of the yard while I was at work.
I’ve had success with Huskies and Malamutes by training them to know the boundaries they’re permitted – when they’re still pups. Once the dog is an adult (and it sounds as if yours is the pack leader), he trained you, and you’re not going to train him.
Use a trolley with a short enough lead to keep him safe (just short enough that he can’t get within about 10 feet of the street). If you use 1/8" aircraft cable (that’s what any of the good systems come with), he’ll give up trying to break it unless your life is in danger.
Don’t bother with a fence – I’ve seen even a Husky clear a 10 foot fence (for a Malamute, a 10 foot fence is a joke) when he had sufficient motivation (a baby in the family screaming in pain on the other side of the fence).
If you’re the pack leader (and you have to establish that from the first moment), he’ll do anything you tell him to do. If he’s the pack leader (if you don’t assert dominance, he will – SOMEONE has to lead your pack) he’ll do what he wants, and expect you to do what he wants with no argument.
My g/f’s 10lb Miniature Pinscher went thru her invisible fence 3 times breaking her leg all 3 times b4 a real fence was put up. Her leg is permanently ruined and useless. If one won’t contain a MinPin chasing prey do you want to bet your dog’s life on it? Your husky will be so jazzed on adrenaline while chasing he won’t feel the shock which with his coat you will have to shave his neck but when and if he tries to come home he will feel it so you will teach him coming home means=OUCH. A friend who owned an obed trained Rott sold the Invisible Fences and swore by them despite my telling him the dog would one day blow thru it. His dog died the ONE time he went thru it, right under a truck. He now has a new rott and a real fence. The dogs it will work with are the low key submissive types who probably wouldn’t try to leave their yard anyway.
***READ***
The chances are too high that it will NOT work. I’d say it doesn’t work on 95% of Siberians.
The rescue I volunteer for does NOT allow people to adopt who have these.
They some times make exceptions if you have an electic fence AND a fence.
With those kind of chances I wouldn’t take the chance. However if you do attempt it, be present at all times with treats. The recall technique does not work well on Siberians when chasing an animal.
Visit http://www.petstop.com
I am a dealer for Pet Stop and have installed the fences for 43 huskies (just checked my books). The fence works fine if you are able to train the dogs. One problem most people have is using one of the cheap systems and only using high shock, or allowing a company to come out and put in a system that doesn’tt have the technology to be programmed so that the dog can be trained. Pet Stop systems are the most advanced systems on the market. The systems are able to use very low shock levels in order to facilitate proper training. Proper training is using repetition to introduce the dog to the fence and then gradually increasing the shock level until it becomes uncomfortable for them to go to the fence. This is the level that most of the training will occur at as the level is high enough to be uncomfortable but not too high that it causes pain. Once the dog is showing respect for the fence and avoiding the boundaries the level slowly increases through the rest of the training levels. Once training is complete you complete a couple of observation days, one with the dog loose with you in the yard and the second with the dog loose with you indoors watching. Upon evaluation of these 2 days a simple conversation with you Pet Stop Dealer will either result in more training or a dog that is safely and happily contained in their yard.
Absolutely! We have 100s of huskies and malamutes on the Invisible Fence Brand System. Be careful with other brands or over the counter systems. They need to be trained properly and as long as they are they will not test the system or breach their boundaries. There is a containment guarantee!
First, let me give my background. I have been in the invisible fence business for over 17 years. My wife and I established the installing fence business for PetSafe, the company that owns Invisible Fence. I have personally trained thousands of dogs on invisible fences. I have trained virtually every breed of dog.
An ‘invisible fence" will work for virtually any dog of any breed as long as the dog is trainable. And training is the key. People who say an underground fence did not work for their dog, are people who did not properly train their dog.
Huskies are extremely smart and quick learners.
We were having a problem with our huskies digging under our privacy fence. My husband put up an electric fence around the bottom to keep them from digging out and it only took one time of them getting to close to learn that they didn’t want to dig under the fence anymore. We turned off the electric fence and they still wouldn’t go close to it.
A friend of ours, has tons of rescue huskies and she told us a story where she had an electric fence with a light indicator indicating when the electric fence was on or off. The dogs learned to watch the light indicator to know whether it was a day they could escape her yard. She didn’t want the fence to be on all the time so she had to rig up a light indicator that would stay on even if the fence was off and that solved her problem. The dogs saw the light so they thought the fence was on and wouldn’t go and try to escape. That just goes to show how smart they are!