Quite a few people in my neighborhood have invisible fences in their front yard, and the past couple times I've taken Bode for a walk, there's been big dogs completely unattended in the front yards. One time was a big GSD puppy that was just barking at us, but didn't really show any signs of wanting to come at us. Today we walked by a house with a SharPei or something that was posturing and growling and followed us along the whole perimeter of the front yard. It makes me really nervous. How am I supposed to know if these dogs are in an invisible fence or just loose in the yard? And I am not a very big person, so I would likely not do very well if I had to fight off any dogs that attack. I guess I should just start carrying mace or something to make me feel a little more secure.

I wonder if the owners even realize that dogs can break the field, and that the collars malfunction.. My friend had an amstaff who wanted something bad enough that he broke the field and got himself hit by a car.

A lab broke out of an invisible fence and attacked my dog Angel once. I was Maybe 8 years old so I was really scared and didn't know what to do. The owner came out and got his dog before it got too bad. I've been a little weary of dogs inside invisible fences now. Never know if they'll break out or not and I don't want one of my girls attacked. That lab was put on a chain outside later.

K9_Eric wrote:

I wonder if the owners even realize that dogs can break the field, and that the collars malfunction.. My friend had an amstaff who wanted something bad enough that he broke the field and got himself hit by a car.

I know they can work great for some people, but I would never trust one to keep my dog in, especially just left outside unsupervised, even if he wasn't a husky!

Id trust the Chihuahua/Papillion, but not the rest..

I think a lot of dog owners don't research enough about invisible fences. I have seen some people with electric fences whose dog is known to have a high pain tolerance and would run right through in the right situation. It's up to the owner to be aware of the capabilities of their dog. The only time I would get one would be to supplement a real fence to prevent digging at the fence line.

I'm against them too. A lot of people don't know how to use them right, or just don't research them at all. IMO, they should be used in addition to something (like a real fence) as a backup, not the only thing keeping them in the yard!

Plus, I've heard horror stories where some dogs are emotionally scarred (scared to go outside) because of invisible fences.

I agree with what Katie said. I've known a couple of people with an invisible fence and in both cases the dogs learned it only hurt for an instant and kept going.

Sara - we've been attacked a couple times and almost a few more times. Enough to carry Mace and Animal Shield (From Petsmart - citronella spray). I've had to use the Animal Shield about 3-4 times this year - interestingly enough it's almost always little yappers. Although one time it was a CAT! Hubby called him gangsta cat. LOL when we hike, we carry a water bottle with a sport spout that you can squirt - that has saved us a few times with off leash dogs charging at us. Clueless owners!

I'm not sure if I like knowing people are ready to launch a defensice against an off-leash dog on a hike. Mine are always off-leash for hikes, and love to go meet new people and dogs. If someone maced my perfectly social dogs out of fear of attack, I would be livid. Hell, the Rhodesians next door go crazy at the fence between our yards. You'd think our packs were sworn enemies, but once they can touch each other and play, they shutup. If you don't like walking past invisible fences, choosing a different route would be much easier than worrying about needing mace all the time.

I don't think anyone is implying they would mace a social dog for no reason. They had said a dog that attacks. The other day I had 2 dogs run up to me and the owner was nowhere in sight. If they had attacked us are we supposed to be defenseless? I weigh 108 lbs I couldn't have taken on 2 large dogs alone. What I was simply saying is know your dog for the sake of other people, if they are likely to break through an invisible fence, then please invest in a metal/wood one. There is a difference between a dog that runs up to you socially and one that runs up aggressively.

I'm not saying don't protect yourself. I carry a pistol on walks in the woods, because the order of things is human>dog>cougar>bullets. its just easier to pre-emptively mace a dog you believe is aggressive before it attacks than it is to shoot before you have a reason. My fear is that in a moment of fear it is easy to react rather than respond, and then a dog is hurt for no reason. I'm not saying carry a gun, I'm just saying that it takes a cooler head to prevail in a moment like that, and a lot of dog owners are not cooler heads. If you are going to carry mace, you need to do it with the same aire of confidence as if there were no dogs out there to worry about.

Dogs bark at Karli and me all the time...a couple weeks ago a little yorkie slipped right under the fence (base housing fences suck) and came charging at us, barking. Karli was little, so she hid behind me. I tried to catch the yappy thing because we were in the street but it kept backing away from me further into the street and cars were coming. I said very loudly (the owner was standing in the yard just starring at us) "come here little doggy I don't want you to get hit by a CAR" and he finally jumped the fence and got the dog. I've only ever had one other dog come up to us on a walk and it wasn't aggressive at all, I tried to grab it to find the owner but it took off again. The key to carrying mace is knowing when a dog is aggressive and when its not. There are definite signs, so its not hard to figure out. I think one of the members on here carries a stick on her walks to scare off dogs, which is a great idea!

cinnamonbits wrote:

Dogs bark at Karli and me all the time...a couple weeks ago a little yorkie slipped right under the fence (base housing fences suck) and came charging at us, barking. Karli was little, so she hid behind me. I tried to catch the yappy thing because we were in the street but it kept backing away from me further into the street and cars were coming. I said very loudly (the owner was standing in the yard just starring at us) "come here little doggy I don't want you to get hit by a CAR" and he finally jumped the fence and got the dog. I've only ever had one other dog come up to us on a walk and it wasn't aggressive at all, I tried to grab it to find the owner but it took off again. The key to carrying mace is knowing when a dog is aggressive and when its not. There are definite signs, so its not hard to figure out. I think one of the members on here carries a stick on her walks to scare off dogs, which is a great idea!

Knowing the signs of aggression is definitely key. Like I said in the original post, the GSD we came across, I wasn't too worried about. He was barking a lot, but I wasn't too concerned if he came out to us, I could tell it was just attention barking. He wanted to play. This other one yesterday though, definitely aggression.

Since Ewe is my only off leash dog I think i'll chime in... If he's off leash and i'm not around... I would 100% understand someone being nervous about an approaching dog with no owner in sight- especially one charging at them. I would hope they wouldn't shoot him... But as an owner taking the risk (regardless of breed- it is ALWAYS a risk) of removing the leash I would hope there is some form of verbal control and they would have enough common sense to keep the dog in sight.

If there is a dog in a front yard we walk to the other side of the street or walk in the street if it's just in our neighborhood.