Fourth of July Already?

Not so much. Our yard if full of flags of this variety…

We knew before we moved back to the OLD ADDRESS that the existing 4 ft. fence around the backyard was not going to work for our smart and very curious lab mix, Jake.

We checked into replacing the fence in the backyard with a 6 ft privacy fence. As you can tell in this photo, that is a lot of fence to replace (taken from the side of the back porch). The estimate to replace the existing fence was upwards of $1,200.

The pros list for the invisible fence really outweighed the cons (which contained only the price).

· We could enclose the back yard and the front yard. Should the little boy next door continue to randomly open the front door (that’s a whole ‘nother topic) our dogs would not get out and be gone forever.

· We could take the fence with us when we leave and the new owners would never know the difference. So technically, we’d never have to pay for another fence.

· Our dogs could spend more quality time with us outdoors because no longer would they need to be on a leash tied to the front porch while we wash the cars or deal with plants, etc.

So this is Jake’s new collar. Seriously, it looks worse than it is.


I have to admit I was nervous. The idea of shocking our dog did not sit well with me at first. Jake is a temperamental rescue to begin with. But he did (and continues to do) well with it. Typically, he chases anything that moves. Squirrels, birds, rabbits, bugs, he’s not picky about his distractions. The real test for me was the neighbor’s cats. He doesn’t even try it.

It’s hard to see in this photo but between the chair and the flower pot across the street is a cat. What you can see however, is how far he is from the flag that represents the “do not cross” line and that’s he just sitting there watching instead of chasing.



I also have to mention how professional and seriously awesome this company is. This is one of those companies that doesn’t put their profits before customer service and that is just rare.

Total cost…$978 (yes, it was budgeted for). That includes the wire (whether it was half the yard, the whole yard or ours and the neighbor’s yard combined), the collar, a two-hour training session with the dog and me and the flags that will begin getting removed 14 days out. There’s also a $55 charge per year for replacement batteries of which they will send 1 each quarter.

All in all, we are extremely happy with it. And Jake is a totally different dog. I’m guessing it’s because he knows it won’t be long before he goes out again, now we can call him in and he comes right to the door.

Maybe you noticed I didn’t mention K and the fence. She didn't get a collar for this fence because she’s just that well behaved. I don't know what I did right with her other than I've had her since she was a puppy. I usually just blame it on her being a female. Here she is watching the cat across the street. Don’t pay attention to the peeling paint on the front porch, it’s on our to do list.