Dog Fence

I had been tethering the poor dog to the patio. I know. You aren't supposed to tether dogs any more. Well, that's true. But in my opinion, that was the least bad alternative for me and the dog. It was either that, or leave her at home in a box for hours on end. I didn't like that idea either. And it was temporary, and now it's over.

So, this fence works like this: You string a wire along the perimeter you want to keep the mutt contained in. Most people then bury the wire, although in my case, since there's already an actual fence there, I just threaded it through the bottom of the chain-link fence and stapled it to the picket fence. Which, by the way, was harder than it sounds.

For the dog, there's collar you put around her neck. If the puppy gets too close to the signal, it emits a blast of electricity. Not enough to injure the dog, but plenty enough for it to know that it's done something wrong. And now it's done.

So, there's a new sheriff in town and Charlie can't be squeezing under the fence and frolicking in/digging up the next door neighbor's yard any more.

And best of all, it's all passive. Which means that A) I don't end up the bad guy, with the yelling and the electrocution and 2) it'll work when I'm not there. I mentioned once how Charlie isn't very virtuous. Well, she isn't. She's saintly when I'm there and satanic when I'm not. So, right now, as we speak, I'm at work (And working very hard, I can see. Yeah, stuff it.) and she's at home, and assumably she's still in my yard.

Everyone's a winner in this deal. The dog is a winner because she gets the whole Delaware-sized back yard to sniff around in. I'm a winner because, since she can run around the yard all day, she won't have all this pent-up energy when I get home. And she'll have something to amuse herself with other than digging holes in her general vicinity. Why, she'll have the whole back yard to dig holes in.

And on Saturday morning, if I want to get that extra hour or five of sleep, I can just toss her outside and let her go crazy. With the tether, she'd get bored and start barking at things. And I being the conscientious neighbor that I am, didn't want the dog barking at 7 in the morning on a Saturday.

So, this should work out well.