If you don’t have a fenced-in yard or aren’t allowed to have one because of your HOA, it’s important to find another way to prevent your dog from running out into the street or even running away completely. There are several wireless fence options out there and each of them has its own pros and cons. Here is a look at the GPS dog fence system along with its advantages and disadvantages.
What are GPS Dog Fences?
GPS stands for Global Positioning System, mainly used for global positioning apps like Google Maps or driver delivery apps for navigation. When used with a dog fence, the focus is on determining a pre-defined area to fence your dog. A GPS dog fence involves using satellites to create a fenced-in area, and some of these GPS fences will let you design the boundaries using your smartphone and also adjust them later if you need to.
A GPS fence works through a dog collar. This collar lets you know when your pup has gotten too close to the pre-determined barrier and give him a warning. Once the warning has been emitted, the collar can then give your dog a correction, which can be a small shock, vibration, or loud noise. What options you have for correction depends on the type of GPS dog fence you buy, however, they are all created to stop your dog from leaving the pre-determined area that you have created with your phone.
GPS Dog Fence Pros
Ease of Use
With a GPS dog fence, you get a lot of flexibility in creating and adjusting the fence’s boundaries. Easily set or adjust the fence based on your property and find the best settings that work with any obstacles or irregularities in your yard. Plus, you can do it all on your phone and do not need to dig up your yard like an in-ground fence.
Keep in mind that the bigger your yard, the better the fence will work. While the fence itself gives you a lot of flexibility, it is working off of your property’s global position, which means that you can adjust the fence easily to make it the perfect setup for your pup. Plus, you won’t have to make any physical changes to your yard to accommodate the fence.
Not only is this system easy to install, but it is portable, so you can take it with you when you move or go on vacation. You also won’t have interference issues with electrical devices that you may have around since the collar is operated through a satellite and doesn’t use a transmitter box. Your dog’s collar will never have to be reset but will continue to work as long as he stays outside.
Training Options
A GPS fence can also help you train your dog as he learns his new boundaries. Many of these systems will help train your dog not to get too close to the boundary, which helps busy dog owners. Depending on the version you choose, the collar will either make a noise or provide vibrations or a shock, which will train a dog where the boundaries are and also that he needs to stay within them.
So, if your pup starts to get too close to a boundary, it’s possible to program the collar so that it will emit a noise, and that will help to encourage your pup to stop where he is. This method is perfect for those pet parents that want their dog to have the ability to run and plan in the yard, but also remain safe. This allows a dog to have fun outside, but it won’t give him the ability to go anywhere else where he could get hurt.
Tracking
Obviously, the best part of using GPS technology with the fence is that you will always have a general idea of where your dog is. In the event that your dog does get out of the yard, this system will allow you to know where your dog’s location is and help you to find him quickly and bring him back home. Some dogs might ignore the corrections from the GPS fence and get out anyway. This is also a handy feature for those pet owners that have large properties, and your dog is somewhere in the woods having fun.
GPS Dog Fence Cons
Errors
When you use any GPS system, you will encounter a variety of errors, which means that the boundaries that you have set may not be the exact settings that you wanted. This is because of the flexibility of the system as well as how it all works. So, your dog may not get a warning as soon as you expected, and, depending on the unit you have purchased, this error range can have a range of up to 30 feet.
GPS dog fences tend not to work well with a small yard, or if your pup needs to be blocked immediately from getting out. So, it’s important that when you choose the fence boundaries that you think about the unit’s margin of error so your dog doesn’t end up escaping and getting hurt.
Boundary and Interference Issues
When creating a boundary for your dog, you will find that you can only create a circular fence, so it’s not going to cover each and every nook and cranny of your yard. As a matter of fact, if your yard is under 98 square feet, it probably will not work well.
And while it won’t get interference from other electrical devices, a GPS dog fence can be affected by bad weather and nearby tall buildings, which can limit its usefulness. If you have potential obstructions, then this type of dog fence is not recommended.
No Physical Presence
Since there isn’t a physical presence to the GPS dog fence, it’s not going to give your yard and home any protection physically. A wood fence can prevent intruders or other animals from coming onto your property, but a GPS dog fence isn’t going to stop anyone from coming into the yard, it will just keep your dog from getting out.
A GPS dog fence has a lot of great benefits if you have the right sized yard with few obstructions. Giving your dog an incredible amount of freedom to run around and play while you are at work, make sure that you read through the disadvantages of the system and do your research on the different models to ensure that it is the right choice for your dog.