Anyone using "Invisible Fence" brand electric fence?

[Piston]

I have an english mastiff and st. bernard who pretty much rule the neighborhood.  Lately my mastiff has been wandering a bit more down towards the main road (we live on a dead end with no traffic, mostly family in the neighborhood) plus one neighbor who is starting to complain we don't keep our dogs on leeshes (never have in 25 yrs) but we do have a leash law. 

I'm thinking of installing an electric fence by "invisible fence" a friend of mine has it and swears by it with his two blood hounds but i wanted to get some other opinions on it.  What do you guys think that have tried it?  Any other good brands to look into?  Unlike "woodsy" type things I don't enjoy researching the heck out of electric dog fences, so I'll probably go with "invisible fence" since my friend recommended it, but if anyone else has some good experience with others I'd love to hear! 

Also, I want to do a large area, probably will need around 2000-2500 feet of wire, I know that gets expensive, so I would like to just buy wire from an electrical supply store but don't know if it is "special" wire.  Does anyone know if its just standard 12guage wire or something like that?  They want a fortune for "they're" wire.

[CLL]

The biggest problem you will have if the dog runs through the invisible fence usually they won't come back in, as it works off of the shock collar system.

[Jeff]

You don't need fancy wire as the wire only caries the signal, not the current. You just need to make sure its insulated as it can ground out.  When we were using ours we had about 750 feet of wire.  2000 feet will do 5 acres assuming the area is square.

Every dog is different. Our Husky, would not work on her. She figured out that if she ran at it full tilt, it was worth it to her to get rolled head over tea kettle and get her brains rattled to get lose. Once out, they wont come back unless you catch them and bring them back.

Dogs with short hair will usually adapt quite quickly. Remember, there is a training procedure involved. You don't just install the fence, strap on the collar and call it good. Really smart dogs figure it out quick.  We dont use ours any longer

[Norm]

We used to have a male lab that refused to stay in. Finally I put up an electric fence that was good for 6 miles around his kennel area. He didn't care if he got zapped the reward was worth it. He was a real baby but very protective of us. One morning I walked out to let him out and he looked to be asleep under his favorite shade tree. When he didn't get up after the 3rd call I walked over and he was dead. We'd had a big thunderstorm the night before and it had hit the tree and  electrocuted him. I still miss him.

[beenthere]

Neighbor had one, tried to use it to keep a lab in AFTER it knew the fun of roaming without any leash or training. Finally got rid of the lab. (made me happy  )

I think the new dog was trained to it right away, as it seems to work for them now.

Another neighbor went straight to the shock collar and voice commands. Now, if his dog ventures out of the yard, he only has to put the collar back on and he gets immediate obedience.

My son had a neighbor with a roaming lab, and his ground fence didn't have much of an effect. But that dog didn't have any brains at all, or just wasn't fast at learning anything.

Another friend had two dogs. The little one would just run like heck and take the shock...then run around the outside of the fence as if to laugh at the owner.   
Was comical to watch while havin a few brewskie's, but frustrating to the owner.

[Jeff]

Whatever you do, if you plan on taking the dog with you, and you have an invisible fence, DISABLE IT FIRST! 

We, I should say Icey, found that out the hard way.  Shortly after we got her, and shortly after we put the fence it, Tammy decides to go to town and let ice go with her. She starts to back out of the driveway and suddenly Icey is crying and writhing in the back seat. Tammy hits the skids because she doesn't know whats wrong, stopping ON THE FENCE. Poor Icey. It takes Tammy way too many moments before she hears the collar beeping beneath the screams of the dog and pulls ahead out of the shock zone.  Even now, I can't find any humor in the story and it makes me cringe to think we did that to my dog. Even now, almost three years later, if you have a collar in your hands that looks like it may be a shock collar, she goes the other way.

[Corley5]

A five year old Cocker came to live with us last winter who had an invisible fence at his former home.  He won't leave this yard either.  We've tried to get him to and he'll go as far he thinks the boundary is and that's it.  Even the other dogs going out of the yard with us doesn't get him to come along.  He'll go back and sit on the steps to watch us go 

[Warbird]

Ouch, Jeff.  Does she still get in the car?  My dog is the biggest gun-shy, 'fraidy cat of a dog you'll ever see.  When he was a pup, I took him on his first car ride... in my plow truck.  The motion of plowing made him car sick really bad.  Now he gets extremely anxious anytime we put him in any vehicle.

About the shock fence, personally, I wouldn't use one with a dog that has already had a taste of freedom.  As others have stated, it is likely not going to work.

[Piston]

You don't need fancy wire as the wire only caries the signal, not the current. You just need to make sure its insulated as it can ground out.  When we were using ours we had about 750 feet of wire.  2000 feet will do 5 acres assuming the area is square.

Do you know if wire size is a function of distance vs. guage for the wire?  In other words if I want to put in 2000 or more feet should I step up a size? 

I have heard of dogs running through the fence cause they knew they could "get away" so im hoping my dogs won't be that ambitious.  I'm thinking maybe the st. bernard may because she is a little devil but the mastiff is pretty much care free and just mopes around. 

I won't really be taking away much of they're freedom because I'm only trying to contain them to where they already go, only a few times they have gone down towards the main road and i would hate it if one got hit and i never even tried to do something about it.  They will still have free range up the road, to my parents, around the neighbors yard (most are family and like the dogs) and back to my house.  I know it will be a rather large loop of wire but we tend to spoil our dogs and i don't want to contain them to only our yard, they already know the neighborhood is theirs so i don't want to take that away from them now.....
thanks for all the comments and suggestions, i do appreciate it all!

[moonhill]

We have two Great Pyrenees, they have heavy manes.  We looked into the shock collar and wire containment system and opted not to go there.  The biggest part would be proper training to the fence, it is my understanding the dogs that make it through the fence were not trained properly to the location of where the boundary was, and yes some could just be tougher, or have a larger need to wander.  We have to tie the male on a cable, at night in a pen, to prevent him from traveling miles from home just to find him sitting on someone else's porch like he owns it.  The female has her own boundary and will not go beyond these measures, unless she is following the loose male.  Again, proper training to the boundary is the most important aspect.

Tim

[Jeff]

Piston, i don't think the distance has anything to do with the wire gauge in this case because its basically just a radio signal.  Here is the reference I had in my favorites when we bought the extra wire. We didn't buy it from them, but bought it at home depot.
http://www.k9electricdogfence.com/dogfencewire

Warbird, Icey loves to ride.  She's a smart dog and blamed the collar, not the truck. 

[ErikC]

  Jeff, I have owned a bunch of Aussies and known many more, and they all love to ride.  Sometimes in the morning when you come out, they are in the bed of the pickup waiting.

[Piston]

I'll clean out my wife's SUV and leave the doors open while I'm vacuuming, every time I go inside and come back out the two dogs are in the back laying down, thinking we're going for a ride!  I don't know why I even vacuum!

[Raphael]

I had a customer with a pair of Great Pyrenees, only one of them ever crossed the invisible fence and then only when there was a deer to chase.  I'd show up to work and find him waiting by the side of the driveway for a lift across the fence line.  Apparently riding in the bed of my truck would shield him from the signal.

[crtreedude]

Back when we lived in the states, we had a red tick coon dog and an invisible fence. She would go through the invisible fence if provoked and visit the state police where she would get a dog biscuit, and I would get a fine. 

She was a great dog though and I still miss her. (She died many years ago)

Now I keep our dog tied up when I am not outside, he is good with that. When he is off leash with me, he stays with me all the time. It is mainly so that he doesn't muddy up the porch.