Dogs are adventurous animals that can follow their noses anywhere, realizing too late they’ve wandered away from the safety of home and familiar streets. However, the confusion your pup feels when lost is nothing compared to the terror and guilt you’ll feel once you realize they’re missing.
Installing a secure fence boundary ensures you and your pup never experience this kind of fear. However, picking the type of fence may be more difficult than anticipated. While traditional fences are often the easiest choice, wireless GPS dog fences give you direct control over where your dog goes.
If you’re torn about the best way to protect your precious pup, follow along to see whether a GPS wireless dog fence or a traditional fence will best meet your needs.
Wireless GPS Dog Fences
Wireless GPS dog fences have modernized pet protection by packaging the latest GPS technology into user-friendly devices your pet wears.
What Are Wireless GPS Dog Fences?
Wireless GPS dog fences use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to keep track of your pup. Unlike traditional fences that physically restrict your dog within a particular location, wireless GPS dog fences are set into light, stylish and ergonomic dog collars, protecting your pup wherever it goes.
A GPS dog fence is more than a dog tracker because it communicates boundaries to your dog. Your pet can wander freely around a designated area, receiving corrections if it goes past virtual boundaries.
A GPS dog fence isn’t a shock collar. The static prompts your dog gets are gentle and stop the minute your pup turns away from the invisible dog fence.
How Do Wireless GPS Dog Fences Work?
Wireless GPS dog fences, such as the Halo System, employ cutting-edge Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tracking technology. This state-of-the-art system receives signals from various global satellite systems, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, NavIC, and QZSS. As a result, the location accuracy is on par with the latest generation of autonomous vehicles and drones. This is even more precise than a smartphone, functioning autonomously and providing accuracy within just a few feet.
GPS dog fences keep your pet secure outdoors, but some also offers advantages for indoor use. Devices like Halo Collar can seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, as well as the transition between multiple Wi-Fi routers or your phone’s hotspot. This ensures a fast and reliable connection, even in areas with limited cellular service.
Wireless dog fences don’t need to be plugged into a power source to work. You can charge your pup’s collar for up to 20 hours of playtime. Moreover, a GPS fence keeps working even when the collar runs out of power, making it easier to find your pup after its collar’s battery runs down.
Pros and Cons of Using Wireless GPS Dog Fences
Wireless dog fences offer dog owners more control over where their pups go. Some pros of such fences include:
- Easy setup: You can set up most wireless dog fences using a smartphone. The Halo Collar provides Android and iOS apps where you can program and activate virtual fences within minutes. As a result, a wireless dog fence is a very affordable and accessible way of protecting your pup.
- Flexible: Not everyone can erect a physical fence to protect their pet. Statistics from the National Apartment Association show that more than 12.5% of Americans live in apartments. Even people who live in traditional homes may be unable to build traditional fences due to the rules of their homeowners association. A wireless fence keeps your pup safe regardless of your living arrangements. It’s also portable, allowing you to travel safely with your pet.
- Provides dog training: A wireless dog fence lets you train your pup to identify and respond to cues. You can spend wonderful hours bonding with your furry friend as you teach it to remain safe even when you’re not around.
While wireless dog fences are a good solution for protecting your beloved pup, they have these drawbacks:
- Room for errors: Wireless dog fences work better if they cover a large area, so it may be difficult to restrict your pup to small spaces such as porches and small yards.
- Don’t block intruders: A wireless dog fence can prevent your pet from going out, but it doesn’t stop anyone from coming in. A virtual fence can’t protect your pet from confronting other dogs or getting picked up by a stranger.
- No visual indications: People walking by may not realize your dog is in an invisible dog fence and be worried about their safety.
Traditional Fences
Most dog owners use traditional fences to keep their dogs safe. Let’s see how they work and whether they’re the best option for your pup’s protection.
What Are Traditional Fences?
Traditional fences are used in most homes to prevent unauthorized access by people. They also double up as a pet containment system that keeps pets within specific areas of the yard.
How Do Traditional Fences Work?
A fence’s design and construction determine how well it keeps your pet safe. Materials such as concrete, wood, metal and chain link are commonly used in fence construction, since most dogs can’t chew through them.
You can build a tall fence to lower the chances of your dog jumping over and getting lost. Angling the top and bottom of your fence can also stop your dog from jumping over or digging its way out.
Some homeowners use spikes, coyote rollers or electric shocks to deter pets from jumping over the fence. You can further dog-proof your fence by planting a live fence with shrubs and thorns that discourage your pup from trying to escape.
Placing cameras and alarms around a traditional fence can tell you when your dog tries to run so you can quickly bring it back to safety.
Pros and Cons of Using Traditional Fences
Traditional fences have certain advantages as pet containment systems, including:
- Low-tech: Traditional fences don’t require you to program your yard into a device or monitor your pet’s collar to keep it safe.
- Restricting yard access: A traditional fence keeps your dog in and other pets and people out. This keeps your pup out of fights with the neighbor’s dog and reduces its chances of being stolen.
- No training required: Traditional fences pose a physical barrier to exit, which means your dog will learn on its own where not to go after running into the fence a few times.
Despite their popularity, traditional fences have these disadvantages compared to wireless dog fences:
- Expensive: Installing a low-tech fence is surprisingly costly. Depending on the size of your yard and the materials used, you should expect to spend at least $1,000 on fence installation costs.
- Easily penetrable: A determined dog can jump over or dig under a fence, especially if left alone for hours without any cues to stop the behavior.
- No tracking abilities: The biggest con of traditional fences is that they can’t keep track of your pup once it makes its way through. If you install a camera system, you may be able to see the direction your pet went but still have no idea of its current location.
Which Is Better for Your Pet and Your Property?
Now that you know the differences between these two types of fences, let’s see which best safeguards your pet and your property.
Factors to Consider
Consider these things when deciding between a traditional and a wireless dog fence.
- Control: You can only keep your pup safe if you completely control your fence. A wireless dog fence lets you set boundaries and makes it easy to locate your pup if it somehow gets past an invisible fence.
- Number of boundaries: Traditional fences are ideal for keeping your pup safe within your home. However, they can’t keep your pet safe at the park or a relative’s house. Wireless fences allow you to create numerous invisible fences that keep your dog safe wherever you go.
- Expenses: Traditional fences are expensive to install and maintain, especially if your dog constantly tries to go through them. Wireless fences are affordable and low-maintenance, with most companies offering free security upgrades.
Comparison Between Wireless GPS Dog Fences and Traditional Fences
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of what you get from these two fences:
- Actual vs. virtual boundary: Traditional fences create a visible barrier between your pup and the outside world, whereas wireless GPS fences provide your dog with an invisible fence.
- Single vs. multiple fences: A traditional fence can only safeguard your dog in one location, whereas you can create wireless GPS fences for anywhere your pup usually goes.
- No cues vs. cues: Traditional fences can’t stop your pup from running away if it finds a way through, whereas a wireless dog fence prompts your pup to turn around even after it goes beyond the invisible fence.
- No tracking vs. tracking: A traditional fence can’t show your dog’s location once it passes through, whereas wireless GPS dog fences can track to within a few feet or inches of your dog’s location.
Keeping Your Pup Safe With Halo GPS Wireless Dog Fence
Wireless GPS fences offer the best chances of keeping your pup safe. They’re highly versatile, capable of accommodating house, apartment and even nomadic living. An invisible fence trains your dog to obey prompts but also makes it easy for you to find it when it ignores these prompts.
The features of the Halo Collar make it the go-to wireless GPS dog fence for many dog owners. You can set up to 20 invisible fences on the Halo Collar, so you can keep your dog safe anywhere. The collar gently prompts your pup even before it crosses an invisible fence, reducing the chances of your dog wandering off and getting lost.
The Halo Collar app has a tracking mode that shows your dog’s activity status, letting you know if it’s resting, running or in a car. Best of all, the Halo Collar is more affordable than other GPS dog fences, including the Spoton GPS fence.
Get your Halo Collar and improve your dog’s safety today!
