This pet containment system is an excellent alternative to the "bury the wire" systems. It cost about $100 more. But it is still considerably less than building a fence around your yard.

As our new puppy started maturing, she gradually began to roam freely around the neighborhood. She’s a small dog. Therefore, we never thought it would be a problem. It became evident that we needed to contain our dog when the dog pound brought her home one day. The lady was nice and gave us warning. She also explained about the leash law.

I liked our backyard without a fence. So we decided to purchase a fenceless containment system. This one in particular is a wireless, Instant Fence. Which means a wire buried around the parameter of yard is not needed. The Instant Fence unit mounted on the wall transmits an adjustable frequency, up to a 90ft radius.

Something to watch out for when buying one of these. The price at a (well known) pet supply store was $450. We found the exact item at a home center one mile away for $299. It's worth shopping around.

Out of the box, the gray plastic unit was completely assembled, with the exception of plugging in the power cord. The unit measures 9" tall x 9" deep x 9" wide. All you need is a wall inside your house or garage to mount it on with the (included) mounting screws with plastic drywall inserts, and an available, standard household electrical outlet. It is light enough to mount directly on drywall with no added support. The power cord is only about 6ft. long. So it will need to be relatively close to a power source. There are specific instructions included to help determine the most effective location to mount it.

Once you have it mounted, you will find four items on the unit: a power switch, a power indicator light, a boundary switch, and a parameter adjustment dial. The dial (settings 1-8) works in conjunction with the boundary switch. For small yards (boundaries less than 40ft radius) the boundary switch will be set on low. For larger yards (between 40ft and 90ft), the boundary switch is set to high. When adjusting the dial, you are fine tuning the distance, with respect to the boundary switch position. Keep in mind that if you set the limit to the maximum 90ft., that is 90ft in all directions. That could be a problem if your neighbor's house is very close to the side of yours.


Now, you'll install the batteries (two watch-type batteries included) in the collar, attach the (long hair or short hair) electrodes to the collar, and establish the boundary with the (50 included) flags. Whenever installing/changing the batteries, the collar must be within 10ft of the unit. This automatically tunes the collar to that particular frequency. For multiple dogs, extra collars can be purchased. The first set of batteries lasted about three months. This might be because the collar was used a lot during the set up. As we're going on six months with the second set. The only I know of to determine the batteries are bad, is to test the collar by passing over the limit.

The boundary flags are set by holding the collar in your hand and walking away from the unit. When the collar beeps, you stick a flag in the ground. This process is repeated until there are flags around the parameter 10 feet apart. If needed, additional flags can be purchased. You're not supposed to adjust the box, once the visual limit (flags) for the dog have been established.

The collar is nylon, one size fits all. Trim off the extra when putting it on smaller dogs. Before placing the collar on the dog, there is a video and detailed instructions to guide you through the set-up, and training procedure for your dog. They highly suggest you follow them step-by-step to prevent confusion. The training process takes about six weeks. With the flags gradually being removed over the next few months.

After training, when the dog approaches the limit, an audible alarm will give warning. followed by the shock warning if the dog doesn't immediately step back. The dog can not over-run the limit to stop the shock. The shock and audible alarm continues until the dog returns to the yard. The shock will not kill the dog. I don't know the voltage, but I can tell you that our dog has only been shocked once.

Unlike a buried wire, the frequency on this unit can go through the walls, just as your radio receives a signal inside your home. This allows for a little creativity. For example: Mine is mounted near the back of my house. I adjusted the (circle) frequency to cover half my backyard. It goes through the house, stopping just short of the front door and dining room table. The kids' playground is beyond the limit in the backyard, allowing them to play without the dog jumping on them, or their friends; prevents the dog from jumping on guests at the front door; and keeps the dog from begging at our feet when eating at the kitchen table.

Another added benefit:
Now that the dog has learned to turn-around when she hears the beep, we take it with us when visiting our family out of town. We plug up the unit at their house, and the dog knows what to do when she wonders too far off.
If you ever move, just unplug it and take it with you. There's no need to install new wire around your new home.

We have not yet had a problem (malfunction) with this product. However, our dog is very smart. It doesn’t take long for her to figure out when the power is out. I guess she is constantly "testing" the limits. When power returns, the unit will turn back on itself. The dog does not get shocked when the power is turned off.

If you're in the market for a pet containment system, I recommend investing the extra money in a wireless, Instant Fence.

Update: May 2006

We've added two dogs the household since my original review and the system has worked flawlessly. Because of the audible beeping sound from the collar when a dog breeches the parameter, we never had to buy another collar. When training a new dog, other already trained dogs can hear the tone and respond accordingly. This is a good thing since additional collars cost >$50. We also still have the original nylon collar that came with the unit, so there's no complaints with that.

I've never actually measured, but battery life in the collar seems to be a couple of months. The cost of batteries (#2032 watch-style) vary anywhere between $4 and $12/pair. It all depends on where you buy them.

One good advice I can give from my experience is to NOT let kids around the control unit. If it's in an area where it can be seen by kids, the light, dial and switch attracts their curiosity. Fix: A small piece of duct tape perfectly covers the small depressed panel where the controls are located...out of sight, out of mind and the tape matches the silver box.


Recommended: Yes