Training Your Hunting Dog to an In-Ground Fence

In-Ground Fence™ containment systems have become heaps popular over the years, and there’s good reason. In-Ground Fence systems are safe and effective for keeping your dog in a safe area. Most dogs get the hang of this real quick, especially hunting dogs that are used to e-collar training. In fact, if you’ve been using an electronic collar for hunting the right way, you’re already halfway there. Your dog probably reckons the collar means he's off to do something fun. But even if your dog has never worn an e-collar, no worries. Here are a few easy steps to train a dog with no e-collar experience to a fence:

“Come” and “Here” Commands

You and your doggo will wanna work on these commands during 10-15 minute training sessions in the backyard. Your dog should always have the Collar Receiver on in the backyard to reinforce that “this device means I can't leave my boundary”. To work on training, reinforce “Come” and “Here” commands using your check cord (if you're keen to start an e-collar training program, this is a ripper time to start associating the tone sound on your system with “come” or "here”). With your dog stationary at the end of the check cord, say “Come”/”Here” and give the check cord a gentle tug until your dog comes to ya. Repetition is key here. You want your dog to respond correctly 100% of the time a command is given. For more help on the “Come”/”Here” commands you can have a squiz at our video on YouTube.

Introduce Your Dog to the Fence

Your system will come with flags to mark the boundary. These are critical to the training process, so make sure you get these up before you let your dog in the yard with a collar on. After the flags are up, put the Collar Receiver on your dog with the power turned OFF. Walk your dog around the yard so that he/she is familiar with the new boundary area. Whenever your dog tries to wander past the boundary, give a tug on the check cord, thus teaching the dog that the proper response to the flags is to stay within the boundaries.

Go Live

When you reckon your dog's got the hang of linking the flags with copping a correction (leash tug), it's time to flick the Collar Receiver on. You'll hang about in the safe zone while walking your dog around the yard. When your dog gets a stimulation from the collar, he'll come back to you. When this happens, be heaps generous with praise 'cause he's followed a non-verbal cue. Your dog will suss out pretty quick that the yard is a better spot than anything over the boundary. This process might take a bit, from a couple of hours to a few days, so remember to be patient. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Side note: If you want to use the 'tone' function on your e-collar as a 'Come'/'Here' command, this process is ace for reinforcing you as the safe zone. When your dog learns to associate the tone with you, that training will carry over across platforms.