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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 54 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 85 found the following review helpful:
 Great Fence - But here are some tips Sep 13, 2008
By entropy_generator
We have 3 acres and the fence works great so far. I have learned a couple of things that I want to share. First, the installation manual says you can only twist the wire (to cancel the signal when getting from the boundary to the house) a total of 50 feet. Since my boundary is 160 feet from the house, this was a real problem. After 3 calls to PetSafe, it appears that exceeding the 50 foot limit will cause 'hot spots' or 'inconsistency' along the twisted section. My solution, which I verified with PetSafe, is to run the wire in metal conduit from the boundary to the house. This worked great, I didn't have to twist the wire, and it also kept the silly dog from digging up the wire near the house, it's protected in the conduit. I used 1/2 metal conduit, ~$2.80 for a 10 ft section. Don't worry about buying the metal connectors (they cost nearly as much as the sections), just use cheap PVC or anything to keep the sections lined up as you lay them in (do be careful not to knick the wires).
So far, the collar appears to be waterproof, the dog hops in the pool several time a day.
As for training, I recommend following the PetSafe guide closely those first two weeks. My dog has been shocked a total of 5 times over 3 or 4 days and wants no part of the flags, even though his favorite digging spot was in the (now protected) flower bed. He's been within the fence for about a month now.
My dog is ~60 lbs, about 9 months old, and is a very active lab/boxer mix that loves to run.
There is much peace of mind now, the dog doesn't get yelled at for leaving the yard, and we are happy campers. Now, if I can just keep him from shredding aluminum cans and digging holes in the yard....
**UPDATE after almost 2 years (May 2010)**
Lightning zonked the base station, but PetSafe replaced it for $35, which I found reasonable. The dog hits the pool about 20 times a day and I was getting a little moisture in the collar. I bought a little tub of 'pool grease' at the pool supply store and when I change the battery I just smear some on the threads and o-ring. The dog is now 70 lbs and 2.5 years old and greatly respects the fence, even if his nemesis 'the squirrel' taunts him on the other side. With the metal conduit approach mentioned above, I plan to now easily extend another loop around a different flowerbed.
34 of 34 found the following review helpful:
Pleasantly surprised Mar 21, 2008
By Dog owner in Portand
We were expecting some issues based on the reviews, but actually now that ours is installed and the dog is trained, we have to say we're happy-it installed on the first try and works as advertised.
The video CD instructions included installation and training beyond the detail the written manual. Both are adequate.
The only negative surprise is once we read the instructions it indicated the unit should be grounded to guard against lightening strikes- so they recommend connecting a wire to the house ground rod or burying a new one 3 feet deep. Not a big deal if you locate the unit near your house grounding rod. They also recommend locating the transmitter 3 feet from any large metal objects in your garage- ie. the metal garage door, washer, hot water tanks, or electrical breaker box. (We did 2 feet and it seems to work fine)
We rented an edger to bury 1700 feet of wire around 2 acres (3 extra wire kits were purchased), and used a paint stick stirrer to push the wire in about 3". The edger worked pretty well, assuming I ran it twice over the cut to get the full depth. This process took a full day.
The unit has an adjustable range knob - it changes the distance to when the collar picks up this signal from the wire.
Our 7 month lab was fairly easy to train- starting at the low setting (of 5 levels, the lowest being beep only) on the collar and working up until he noticed it. Took about 2 weeks, and he respects the boundary, but without fear or emotional scars (best we can tell!)
One pleasant surprise: The collar will beep first as the dog nears the fence, and if he gets closer, then it zaps him. This was not clear to us from the instructions or the box.
Overall very happy with this unit.
32 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Works, good value, needs heavier wire Sep 23, 2008
By James G. Wheeler
The fence transmitter and receiver collar work just as well as the expensive ones that the pet containment companies would like to sell you. But watch out for the light guage antenna wire that comes with this kit. I've had 3 problems with the wire:
- Stapling the twisted pairs to the side of my house - the flat staples cut right through the insulation and shorted the antenna loop. Took a while to track that down.
- Easy to break. Above ground stretches of the wire (along a fence) have broken twice.
- Apparent high impedance - the transmitter chirps intermittently because it thinks there's a break in the wire when there isn't. I suspect this is just the impedance from 1000 feet of tiny wire.
I plan to buy a roll of heavier wire at the hardware store and replace the antenna entirely.
Follow Up (Dec 2009): I found 14 ga solid core copper wire at the local home center for a reasonable price, and used it to replace the wire that came with kit. That seemed to fix the problem. I later had to buy a new transmitter after a lightning strike fried the original, but I know from experience that the this happens to the expensive dog fences just as often.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Faster, cheaper, and more humane than a traditional fence. Mar 26, 2010
By S. Graves
I started with the PETSafe PIF-300 wireless fence, but to maximize the yard space for Miles, my 85lb chocolate lab, I was half in both neighbors yards, so the traditional in-ground fence made more sense as I could choose the extreme boundaries on all sides of the yard.
I bought a second hand 1/2 hp edger to dig the trench which did a great job. Laid out the boundary line and used a paint stick to tuck in in the trench. My two boys helped cover the trench by doing a congo-line along the rift twisting their feet as they walked. Lots of fun. Ran a line from the side yard nearest the garage and used a power drill to twist the wire. Plugged them into the unit and it was good to go. Very easy installation, but requires a little patience to tuck 500 feet of wire into a trench.
We set the collar on beep only first, walked Miles around the perimeter marked with flags, and gave him a treat each time he came back into the safe zone. Did this many many times. Then increased the static correction level on it's lowest setting. He seemed completely unaffected by it. I tried it on my leg. Not much to write home about, but I'm sure works for a smaller dog. So, I increased the level to 3 (flashes). Better, but we finally settled on 4 before Miles even had a reaction to it. This is good because no matter what size your dog is, you can adjust this to your needs. Again, I tried it through my jeans on my leg. It was enough to get my attention, but was not inhumane or painful. Within a couple of hours, Miles had figured out the flags and beeps went together and he stayed in the yard.
Over the next couple of days, Miles only got outside the boundary twice. We figured out the collar was too loose and wasn't making contact. A little slack taken up, and he's not even tried to get out since. Miles loves the new arrangement. At the old house he had the backyard to himself with a chain-link fence. He paced paths, barked at everyone walking the neighborhood, and seemed anxious. With the in-ground fence going from the front curb to the boundary of the backyard, he has total access to everything which he loves. He just lays in the front yard during the day and watches people, cars, and dogs walk by without a bark. I guess the distance between the front and back with the chain-link was just too much for him, but now he's really happy.
I would highly recommend this product and intend to install new wire should we move again and take the unit with us. Money very well spent. Note: If you don't have close neighbors, the wireless option is very cool, just keep in mind the shape of your yard and how large a diameter circle you want to work with. Wired is great in that you can exclude flower beds or other areas of your yard like a garden that you might not want the dog getting into.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Wire Breaks Jan 05, 2008
By B. Murphy
I have had to reconnect breaks in the loop six times. I followed the installations to a tee, yet every week the loop breaks and I have to find and repair the breaks in the wire. First break I dug the whole fence up to finally find and repair the break. It took about 4 hours to find, repair, and re-bury the fence. On the second break I went out and bought a Wire Break Locater Kit for $50, which worked pretty well. Since then I have had four more breaks I have had to repair. There is quite a bit of maintenance involved in this fence.
So overall the fence works well when it is working but I would highly recommend the Wire Break Locater. Also you need to be willing to repair the fence frequently.
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