Does anyone have any experience of invisible dog fencing to keep my dog from ruining my lawn.?

Last April I rehomed a gorgeous 5 year old Brown Female Lab but the problem is after she has relieved herself she then scratches and she is destroying my lawn. I would like to make a separate part at the top and keep her off the rest. The options are a low level fence all around the area I wish to keep her off, which won’t look very nice or a radio controlled invisible fence which I have seen on the internet. It looks good, if the dog gets near the wire, which is buried in the ground it gets a warning beep (it wears a special collar) and if it ignores it it gets a gentle shock. Anyone used one these and do they work. Sensible answers only please.

1. I’m not a big fan of electric collars/fences. A big, energetic dog can run right through them–the shock isn’t enough to deter a dog with drive or one with some energy. Imagine THIS scenario: your lab sees a squirrel, gets up a head of steam and runs INTO the area you want to keep her out of. At that point, the electric fence would confine her to the area you want to keep her out of. Yes, I’ve seen instances where it worked (mostly small dogs). But my dog and I have been attacked twice (one by an Irish Setter, another by a Lab) that ran through an invisible fence. Saw another instance where a smaller dog (a mixed cocker-lab) continually ran through her invisible fence. So it’s not fool proof.

Here’s another suggestion: it sounds like the problem is that your lab scratches (ie: cleans her feet) after defacating/peeing and is wiping out your lawn–train her to not scratch the feet. It’s always hard to train a dog to NOT do something so what you’re really trying to get her to do is to do a substitute behavior. Maybe she pees and then runs in a quick circle. Or she pees and then shakes her head and walks away. I suspect once you interrupt the habit (pee and scratch ground) you’ll be fine.

The other option could be scenting a particular area so that it just cries out for your dog to relieve herself there.

Dog Training, Feeding & Care : How Do Radio Fences for Dogs Work?

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