Invisible Fence= Happy Puppy

There are a lot of things we've learned about buying and selling homes over the past dozen or more years. For example, you can change the interior and exterior of a house pretty quickly and easily. And then there are things that cannot be changed all that easily. If you buy a house with no trees,  you will be blasted by the sun for many years to come. Sure, you can plant trees. But they probably won't even begin to cast some decent shade for the first ten years.

We liked this house and knew we could make some changes. And we really loved the lot, with the woods and creek and marsh. But we also knew when we bought this house that we would not be allowed to fence in the yard for Jemma. It was a tough call to make, and one of the biggest reasons we hesitated on making an offer on the house when we first saw it. She had been so accustomed to her fenced in back yard. How would we manage without a fence?

We did a lot of walking for the first month that we lived here. And at first she enjoyed it. But as weeks went on, she began to tire of walks pretty quickly. She would plop in a neighbors' yard and refuse to move...all 75 pounds of stubborn furriness.

That's when I decided enough was enough. Time to call Invisible Fence. Every week, a trainer would come over to the house to introduce the system to us slowly.

For the first week, we began with training inside the house. Jemma wore her monitor collar inside, and she would walk past these flags in the foyer every day. A signal would let her know when she got too close to the unit. She caught on to this pretty quickly.

The invisible fence was installed around the yard, giving Jemma a nice circle around the house to safely explore.

The next week, we began training outside. Jemma knew right away that the outside flags were just like the inside flags, and she would steer clear of them. She wore the monitor on her collar, and we kept her harness and leash on her at all times. She would drag the leash through the yard as she played. It was a nice safety measure in case we needed to grab her easily.

By week three, Jemma was a pro. We still have the flags in the yard, and we will need to start removing them slowly. But for now, I think the flags help my neighbors to understand that the big bounding dog who wants to greet them at the mailbox is not going to jump on them with fierce and slobbery kisses.

Actually, all the neighbors have been very impressed with how well she stays within her boundaries. And just like us, they have seen what a difference it has seemed to make in Jemma's overall happiness and contentment.

Finally, she is free to safely roam in her yard! She can chase squirrels and watch the deer cross into the woods. Big excitement for this girl! Frisbee tossing, stick chewing...the world is Jemma's oyster.

Happiness!