Review on PetSafe Basic Ground Dog Fence by Ben Demers

I live on about 3 acres in the Sierra foothills with 2 huskies and a golden chow mix and have been installing a fence for about 5 years. Recently (again) I got heartburn from it, which was fixed with a new transmitter. (With the investment of 3 collars, changing the system didn't really make financial sense.) Here is my take on the system and some pointers. 1) Dogs are different. Huskies are smart and persistent, responding to prey with their hips. Collars work about 80% of the time. Backup GPS collars have proven useful, albeit costly. Golden/Chow is 100% fence compatible. 2) The connections in the wire loop are a vulnerable point for breakage and water ingress. Tightly attaching wire to other fences can create stresses due to metal expansion and contraction or wind movement when less rigid structures are used. Use the thickest wire you can afford. Solder connections in heat shrink tubing would be great, but in most cases this is not possible. Wire nuts with impregnation (liquid tape) and additional winding with insulating tape mount. The "caps" supplied by Petsafe expire after 5 years. I also tried crimp connectors but they proved unreliable. Animals and livestock will eventually tear wire, whether buried or tied to fence wire. Ground settling also puts stress on buried cables, particularly under siding. Bury a PVC pipe and let the wire slack a bit. The 1/2 inch drip irrigation pipe is used to protect garden areas where you may easily dig up plants. 3) The collar knot is fairly strong and waterproof, but you can buy a heavier collar (1" width available). The plastic clasp is broken by active dogs. It's hard to find a collar in 3 acres of vegetation when it comes loose .4) This will be my third replacement model 300-1310 transmitter.The original was blown up in a lightning strike.Seriously given the cost of this unit they didn't provide surge protectors and fuses!?!The cost of Petsafe for a surge protector are ridiculous. The aftermarket worked fine. The second unit appears to have an electronic fault with false random open loop alarms. A real pain to troubleshoot (even with electronic testers and physically inspecting thousands of feet of wire and connections with escaped dogs that need to be relocated.Product reliability and dependability are not al read what it can be). on your dogs. Commissioning is expensive, and time spent on maintenance and troubleshooting can be tedious. The maintenance costs of changing batteries, lost collars and faulty transmitters are a cost factor in the long run. Aftermarket providers can help here. could really offer more help in this regard. When I contacted Petsafe customer service, they were always quick to respond and offered helpful suggestions when problems arose. Offering spare parts at a reasonable price is not much. So in my case it's functional and Better I haven't found an alternative that offers some level of insurance rather than chasing after runaway dogs or worse still having to think about replacing lost, hundred Lena or mortally wounded pets .