Four Legged Scholars LLC – Dog Training – Garrettsville and Surrounding Areas

Are you struggling with getting your dog to stay in your yard? Do you have an invisible fence or are you thinking about getting an invisible fence? We wanted to let you know on a secret that the public pet stores will not tell you.

Invisible fences are common and work great to get your dog stay in the yard most of the time. However, there are some side effects that are important to keep in mind that could cause huge harm to your dog and create a huge liability for you.

Your dog will stay in the yard is because he is afraid of the pain from getting shocked. Unfortunately, when you use pain as a motivator it can cause your dog to become aggressive or fearful.

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has an awesome article about the side effects about punishment that could help you with your decision.

Let me start by telling you a personal story. I live in Garrettsville. Dog training was a huge inspiration of mine when I was younger. As I got older I became more and more obsessed with dog training.

When I reached high school, I was learning the difference between reward-based training and punishment based training. I definitely trained most of my dogs through punishment as a child, and I was taught much through dog 4-H.

Of course my dog 4-H group had good intentions. I didn’t know better so I followed their lead. As I researched, I learned that reward-based training is much healthier for my dogs.

When I got my dog, Shadow, I wanted to make sure she stayed in the yard. My parents didn’t approve of having a dog live in the house. We struggled with building a fence so my dad suggested an invisible fence.

I already had learned more about how pain can alter a dog’s psychology so I was a bit reserved about this idea. I did decide to agree. Unfortunately, Shadow began to associate the shock with people because she saw people outside of the yard when she got shocked.

She became really aggressive. One time she ran through the fence boundary and bit our mailman. She sent him to the hospital because the bite was severe. Luckily, no charges were pressed.

When a dog is shocked by the fence, you have no control with the stimuli that are associated with the shock. He could associate the shock with people, dogs, cats or other animals outside of the boundary. This can create a huge problem, and it is unfortunately not uncommon.

A recent case of mine was dealing with the above. The dog had become extremely aggressive with dogs, cats and even people. The owners had an invisible fence. Of course, there were other factors that contributed to the issue and the shock was a huge factor.

The owners were very dedicated and chose to stop using the shock on their dog. Their dog greatly improved through much dog training. Garrettsville is where they lived.

It is common to want to use an invisible when you have a large yard in Hiram, Nelson, and Garrettsville. Dog training instructions with the fence make it seem so easy. However, they avoid to tell you about the worst possible side effects.

This is definitely a sticky topic for me because there are many dogs that never develop serious problems from an invisible and some of them are clients of mine. I definitely don’t want people to be unaware of this huge problem. As a result, I think education is important.

If it is possible for you to use a visible fence in your yard or a visible fence in part of your yard I would highly recommend doing this. You can also leave your dog out when he is supervised whether you have fence or not. Then bring him inside when you are inside.

I don’t generally like tethers but they are generally okay if you are watching your dog at all times. I wouldn’t recommend leaving your dog outside alone on a tether. However, it is another option.

If you are definitely going to get an invisible fence there are a few things that you can do that will lesson the chance of aggression or extreme fear from developing that could result in dog bites.

Live in an area that has low traffic that passes your house. A sidewalk in front of your house allows for many people or dogs to walk past. So if you don’t have a sidewalk that will lesson the chance of your dog associating the shock with people or dogs.

Only fence your backyard or an area of the yard where your dog will NOT see other dogs or people.

If you live an area that has alot of people / dog traffic or dogs that live next door that come out often, I would encourage you to NOT to get an invisible fence.

Of course, you do not have to agree with this post. I just want you to have knowledge. Knowledge is power and power is what I want you to have in your life with your dog.

You will have more success with dog training, Garrettsville visitors will be impressed by your dog’s good behavior because you are not afraid to learn.

I have chosen to have an invisible fence in the past, and it caused many problems for me. I don’t want you to go down the same path as I did in Garrettsville. Dog training can help to get your dog to stay in the yard when you are supervising him. Then, you can avoid an invisible fence.

We are happy to help and serve Portage County and surrounding areas.

Johanna Teresi, Garrettsville Dog Trainer, Four Legged Scholars LLC, Dog Training, Garrettsville

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