Invisisble fencing can be great for some dogs. My neighbors use it to keep their Boston Terriers in a 2-3 acre area. The thing I don't like about it is that dogs with a strong desire to get on the other side of the fence (as we all seem to agree a sighthound will have) will get "punished" for trying to get back into their area. Of course this is only if they are wearing the collar. You have to let them wear the collar, or any electronic collar for that matter, for quite a while so they don't associate that they will only get corrected when they are wearing the collar. I suppose you could only puy it on when you let them in the yard, but then you aren't training them to stay in your yard. I do like the way it gives a warning to let the dog change its mind about getting closer to the off limit area.
I too find the rescue workers suggestion a little off the "normal" train of thinking that most sighthound people seem to have. How about fencing in a smaller area with higher fencing until the pup is out of its puppy and adolescent stage? It makes walking your property a whole lot nicer too when you don't have to worry about stepping in anything. My dogs have a small fenced in area attached to my house and that's where they are let out to do their business or hang out when I can't have them running loose, but they still want outside.
I would wholeheartedly agree with you when a puppy should not be left unattended but from everything I have read and all of the people I have talked to say the the Ridgebacks are an excellent family dog. This is one of the primary reasons I selected this particular breed.
Thanks for your response. It appears that my path to sanity requires me to build a good sized kennel and my yard theory is just not going to cut the mustard.
Yep, I live a little ways southeast of Seattle (more in the mountains). I did go to college up near the LaConner area. That is a great part of the state. Also a great place to pickup antiques (and dogs - I guess).
Fred, It seems the consensus from this field of sight hound experts agree that I really need to build a smaller area with taller fence to keep the puppy at bay while she is growing up and testing all of her boundaries.
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback - looks like any hotwire situation is not only a waste of time but perhaps incorrect as well.
If you ever decide to take up lure-coursing with your RR, that's a good way for the dogs to enjoy the chase. There's a Cascade Coursing Club in your area. In the group picture on their home page, I think I can make out 4 RR's in the front row [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Boundary training is a combinations of skills and each needs to be taught. Sit, stay, come, stop and of course no must be taught before attempting to teach your dogs to respect a boundary.
After you can stop your dog and have them sit at a distance of a least twenty yards you are ready to start boundary training. The training will go much easier if you have boundaries that are easy for the dog to recognize. Our property has a road to the West, a creek to the North, a woods to the East and an old fence line for most of the South boundary. Our problem area is a four hundred foot stretch of the South boundary that is not fenced and is my neighbors lawn just meeting ours. To help our dogs I let our grass grow much longer there than my neighbor does. Probably does not make him happy but it is better than a fence.
There are several ways to go about it but I use a 26 foot retractable lead. I walk the dog as many time during the day as I can and always follow the boundaries. I am constantly talking to the dog and will stop them by command. I may have the dog sit or lay down and wait for me to catch up. I will have them sit and stay while I walk the length of the lead away from them. I may do each of these ten times during our walk. All of them at or very near the boundary. I never let the dog cross the boundary while on the lead.
After they are responding well to commands at the boundary, I start to let them walk off the lead with me. That is when the training really starts and the preparation pays off. Most people try to get to this stage too fast. If the dog is not ready he will show you that soon enough. If they cross the boundary over and over, go back to the prep stage. As you walk close to the boundary the dog will eventually go to it. That is when I use the “NO” command. If they cross the boundary I stop and give the sit command. I walk to them and scold them. Freyja, my two year old Giant Schnauzer, was boundary trained at one year old. It was difficult for her because we were not living at the property and the training time was limited. Seven to eight months would have been more like it if she had more training time. She made it easy for me to train her father who we just adopted. Eight days and Seigir was respecting all the boundaries. He was already well trained in the usual ways so teaching him the boundaries was easy. At five years old he was a very quick study.
Our two do not range on the ten acres that are within the boundaries but are trained to stay close to us. We never want them out of the range of our voice. If they do drift away, my wife or I correct them quickly. I almost forgot the most important part. I always have jerky or other treats in my pocket. When the dogs respond correctly, they are rewarded. Just a small piece is enough. The dogs are scolded when they do not respond correctly but never punished or hit in anyway.
Giants are large dogs that love to run. They will chase anything from a chipmunk to a deer. They will follow a scent relentlessly. Freyja will follow a scent to the boundary and then bark to let everyone know it went that way.
Giants are funny too. I was out working by the creek and Freyja was sleeping under a tree not far away. I looked for her and she was gone. When I called her she did not appear right away. Then she came over the hill from the house running to me. I could see that she was very wet and had been in the creek. My wife had seen her sneak down the creek and circle around behind me. The only thing she forgot was to towel off.
There are dogs that will not boundary train but it is usually a problem of getting them trained at all. Those are the exception, most dogs will make mistakes from time to time but they know they are wrong. Mine usually come and sit in front of me and give the OK I screwed up look. After scolding them they get a pet and we do some commands. After they do those correctly, they get their treat.
I sure did ramble on but I wanted to explain to you what I do. There are some that probably have better ideas but this works for me.
Thanks very much for the information. I didn't think you were rambling at all and as I am not very experienced in this area I have been trying to soak in as much info as possible from people who are.
I have had pretty good luck so far with basic commands. I have been using the "treat" method and as my dog loves food more than anything - this seems to work pretty well as long as it is just the two of us doing the training. She tends to keep her attention very well when we train in the evening. I do need to establish some boundary training in the front yard as she has discoverred the neighbors house and likes to explore. I don't have any fencing in the front yard yet so this would be a good place to practice.
One tip regarding the treat method. Mix it up a bit - give treat or loving attention (you're suuuuch a good dog + scratch the special spot) for good behavior.
My older lab knows if I have biscuits in my pocket or not & behaves accordingly. We've primarily been rewarding the puppy with love & attention. So far so good.
The treat method works & fast too. You need to decide if you want to be a walking cookie jar. I think this can be avoided if you treat sparingly.
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