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rex123 · Aug 28, 2009, 07:13 AM

Well I own a 4yr old Siberian Husky. Yesterday I began training him with a PetSafe Ingroud fence. The training is going great. After just one day he already refuses to go past the flags. Because of his breed he can not be trusted off lead. He is a mostly indoor dog, but anytime he wanted out we would tie him to a 50ft. Rope. We never tied him with a collar, because he could easily slip out of it. So we had a custom harness made and shipped to us. The Escape Artist Harness. And he never slipped out of it. So he would wear his harness like other dogs wear their collars, all the time.

But I'm thinking that when he is fully trained to the inground fence he will no longer need to be tied. So should I keep the harness on him or buy a collar. The reason I ask is I need one of them to keep his ID tags on. So what's better, a collar or harness??

Thanks for all replies guys, Alee & Rex

shazamataz · Aug 28, 2009, 08:21 AM

I have only ever had experience with collars v harnesses when walking, so I have just always used collars as they give you more control when walking.

If you think ihe would slip out of a collar then yes definitely a harness.
Problem is, they associate the collar/harness with the shock they get.

My mum just bought a citronella collar for her Dane and he barks his head off when he doesn't have a collar on but as soon as one touched his neck he won't bark.
Same principle with the fence, they are pretty smart dogs so he would probably figure out that when he doesn't have the harness on, he isn't going to get shocked and can run outside the boundary.

rex123 · Aug 28, 2009, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by shazamataz

I have only ever had experience with collars v harnesses when walking, so I have just always used collars as they give you more control when walking.

If you think ihe would slip out of a collar then yes definately a harness.
Problem is, they associate the collar/harness with the shock they get.

My mum just bought a citronella collar for her Dane and he barks his head off when he doesn't have a collar on but as soon as one touched his neck he won't bark.
Same principle with the fence, they are pretty smart dogs so he would probably figure out that when he doesn't have the harness on, he isn't going to get shocked and can run outside the boundary.

Great answer Shzamataz this makes a lot of sense. I would have never even thought of this. Thanks so much for the advice. :)

shazamataz · Aug 28, 2009, 08:36 AM

No problem, see what a few other people say as I have never used a invisible fence before, I'm just going off the way the shock/citronella collars work for barking ;)

Just Dahlia · Aug 28, 2009, 02:41 PM

I'm just thinking at this point if you take him off the lead, the harness might be better for him.
I know you have trained him well, but there are always accidents. If he did get out and only had a collar there is more of a chance of him hurting himself around the neck. (getting caught on something) if he got caught on a branch with a harness he might be able to pull himself free with out causing injury or losing the collar.

I've heard of dogs and cats jumping and getting the collar hooked on things.

I'd go with both and maybe a cell phone so he can call you to come and get him.:D

Just Dahlia · Aug 28, 2009, 02:44 PM

Oh and make it a bright (everyone can see color) so NO one mistakes him for a wild animal. My brother had a lot of problems with that, eventually got a dalmatian (no mistake there)

rex123 · Aug 28, 2009, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by Just Dahlia

I'm just thinking at this point if you take him off the lead, the harness might be better for him.
I know you have trained him well, but there are always accidents. If he did get out and only had a collar there is more of a chance of him hurting himself around the neck. (getting caught on something) if he got caught on a branch with a harness he might be able to pull himself free with out causing injury or losing the collar.

I've heard of dogs and cats jumping and getting the collar hooked on things.

I'd go with both and maybe a cell phone so he can call you to come and get him.:D

I'm so excited as the training is going so well. I just got in from a session with him now. And like I said today is only my second day. And he is already avoiding the flags. He got 3 pretty bad shocks yesterday, where he yelped pretty loudly, and it made me sad but I had to get past it as I know a shock hurts a whole lot less then getting hit by a car. And after those few bad shocks he's really starting to understand that going near or past the flags is a nono! Now he will sometimes go near the flags, but as soon as he hears the beeping he jumps back.

***And you laugh about the cellphone thing but every time I go for a walk with my dog around town, I clip my cellphone case(which holds my cell) on my dog that way if he gets free or something happens and someone finds him they will see my phone and my numbers and contact me, hopefully.

450donn · Aug 29, 2009, 07:44 AM

Personally for walking I prefer a Haltie. It goes around their muzzle and when you need to get their attention it is one quick jerk and they are looking at you. It does not interfere with their breathing or movements except when you need their attention.
As with any working dog you must pay very close attention to their needs and give them plenty of exercise.

rex123 · Sep 1, 2009, 04:08 AM

UPDATE: Yesterday we decided to let Rex off and he did great! Stayed around us and we gave him tons of treats and played with him a whole lot. We also started training him a hard core recall.He was doing great. But around 6:30pm he forgot himself. Saw the cat outside the boundaries and ran. As he ran he got the shock and kept going, into our neighbours yard.

I was disapointed but quickly composed myself. My mom took treats and went to grab him while I shut the system off and grabbed his leash. By the time I got out mom was holding him in the neighbours yard, so I ran over took off the collar and put his leash back on. Walked him over the line back into the boundaries. I remembered Cesar Millan saying that you should never end on a note like this. So I knew I couldn't give up the system. So my mom went and turned it back on. I put the collar and leash back on Rex showed him where he ran out and stood there seeing if he would try again but he did not.

So I took the leash off and let him go. Sure enough he wouldn't go near the flags. After letting him run around a bit we took him in and let him out at dark around 8:30pm. He stayed near us but used the bathroom. When he wandered away from us, we walked towards the steps and went in the house. And amazingly he ran after us. We let him in and gave him some more treats. He was let out again this morning and is so far doing great.