Our Furry Family Members
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When we brought our new puppy dog Chandler home he wasn't much larger than a squirrel. We expected his full grown size to be about 15 pounds. After a few months we realized our backyard fence was never going to contain him. Not only was he small enough to slip through in several places, he was also a very determined dog and going to roam when he wanted to.
After he disappeared a couple of times we were determined to find a way to make sure he couldn't run off. At the time we were also going places with our travel trailer camping quite often and we would take him with us. That was even more difficult because he really didn't like being tied up on a leash or run of any kind. I researched wireless fence options thinking that would be the best solution. The problem I had with most wireless fence options for our dog is that they required burying a wire to make the perimeter. I really didn't want to do that and that also didn't solve our problem of taking him with us away from home. I found the perfect solution in the PetSafe Wireless Virtual Fence. I think the search term that ended up finding it was when I added the word "virtual". The PetSafe Wireless Fence for dogs is a completely wireless solution for a virtual fence. There is a base station that puts out a radio frequency signal to create a virtual perimeter. We bought one and it was very easy to set up. The base unit is placed in a central location indoors. The signal is put out in a circle that extends about 90 feet from the base unit. They say it covers half an acre, so I guess that is the approximate square feet if you calculate the 180 foot circle of virtual perimeter it creates. It worked perfectly! I walked around the yard holding the collar and listened for the beep that told me I had reached the virtual fence perimeter. That way we new exactly where the perimeter was and I moved the base station around to different places inside to get the perimeter exactly where we wanted it. You can also adjust it so that the circle for the perimeter is smaller down to just a very small space. That worked great for when we were out in our RV and wanted his perimeter virtual fence area to be very small. When we first put the included dog collar on him it looked funny. There is a small black box on the collar that is a radio unit that received the signal from the base station. He was such a little guy, it looked like he was toting around a little tool box on his neck. The collar unit has a specialized battery on it that is replaceable. We've consistently gotten about 40 days out of each battery change. There's a little red light on the collar that blinks to lets you know the battery needs replacing. We like the replaceable battery because it's very quick to change and any kind of charging need would have made it more maintenance to keep up with. Dogs learn very fast where the perimeter of the radio signal is. The unit on the collar gives a few very high tone beeps when they are approaching the perimeter. Then the electric static shock buzzes them if they don't get back. You can adjust the intensity of the static shock so that it is very low or the highest settings for very stubborn dogs. Chandler figured out that the shock comes right after the tone sound and only got buzzed a couple of times before he became very good at knowing exactly where the perimeter was. Years later we got our three other large breed dogs. From the time they were mid sized puppies we also utilized the PetSafe Wireless Fence collars on them. You only need the one base unit for the perimeter signal and you can have multiple dogs with collars. They learned the gig very quickly too and the tone warning helped them learn the perimeter. We originally bought the PetSafe Wireless Fence for the first dog in early 2010. Having used it for over 9 years now, and with four different dogs, I can say that it has been an excellent benefit to us. We love our pets and it's nice to be able to let them roam without worrying they may run off. The cost of the replacement batteries is a small price to pay for how great of a system it is and the peace of mind. We have always had a proper fenced area that are dogs are in. I think that is important to protect them from outside dogs and other animals. The wireless virtual fence just adds an extra layer of peace of mind and has come in handy numerous times when we've taken the dogs with us away from the house. The base unit is easily portable, you just plug it in where you are and adjust the perimeter to where you want it to be. My sons have used the collar to intentionally shock themselves. I think the first time was when my youngest was about 6 and he wanted to know what it felt like because he was a bit worried about what the dogs felt. I told him to take it off the dog and go to the perimeter and let it shock him. He did it and said "that wasn't very bad". I'm sure it isn't pleasant to a dog when they get shocked, but it is definitely a harmless reminder that is probably a lot like getting buzzed by the static electricity from another person. Our dogs all only needed the shock buzzing them a time or two and then they were completely aware what the beeping tone was if they came close the perimeter. If you are looking for a solution like this for your pet dog I hope this has been helpful. You can buy the exact same PetSafe Wireless Virtual Fence set up we've used for 9 years on Amazon. Ruff ruff, - Harvster www.Harvster.com
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It was a very sad day. I got a call at work from from our twelve year old Braxton frantic that Chandler, our 18 pound Jack Terrier - Beagle mix, was acting lethargic. We had noticed about a year earlier that his heartbeat was a little irregular. I feared that this was probably also something related. I told Braxton that they could try to get him to a veterinarian. He said that was what they were going to do and hung up.
I later found out that Erica was in the middle of needing to get our oldest son to a soccer game within about twenty minutes and she had a doctors appointment for a cancer treatment infusion in about an hour. I wasn't there, but I can imagine the chaotic scene. Braxton decided to call his Nanna (Erica's Mom) to have her come over and take them to a veterinarian he had just made an emergency appointment with. He had apparently done all of that within about five minutes of me hanging up with him. I had put my thoughts back into work and about thirty minutes after talking the first time the phone rang again, and my stomach did a flip. It was Braxton again, he said Chandler had just taken his last breath in his arms. He was devastated to say the least. Poor guy was home alone with a buddy that had stayed over the night before. I told him to call his Nanna back and let her know she didn't need to come over. I left the office right away and got home about forty minutes later. I've had plenty of tough moments while raising our boys, but this one was very very difficult. Erica and I had an American Eskimo named Princess that was about five years old when our oldest Harvey IV was born in 2003. By the time Braxton was born Princess was getting to be an old lady. Harvey IV was more into Princess because he had been around her since birth. Harvey IV loved Chandler too, but Chandler was definitely Braxton's first best friend. We got Chandler when he was about eights weeks old and Braxton was about four. Princess passed away just just a few months after baby Chandler Bing came into our life. Braxton would bathe Chandler regularly, he slept with him, and by far this was the most devastating thing he had experienced to date. So we sat by Chandlers side and had a good cry together. Once we were able focus a little, we decided that we would have Chandler cremated at a pet crematory that we had previously taken Princess to years before. It was a slow and somber drive to the crematorium. Chandler now rests in our curio cabinet beside Princess. The cabinet is an heirloom from my great grandmother, so we keep all of our important memory keepsakes in there. So now we are a three dog family. Some would say that is still a lot of dogs, but it will always feel a little less with our little buddy gone. Harvey III www.Harvster.com Give it a Social Share! 
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The BradensHaving so many animals it is clear that we love pets! We want to share some of our journey with our furry family members... ArchivesCategories |
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