Thursday, July 15, 2010

Ace and the electric fence

This spring the Hubby and I installed an underground electric fence around our yard.

As I've said before, our yard is the size of a postage stamp but I wanted to be able to let Ace out and not have to stand outside with him while he does his "business".
It was a long, cold, brutal winter. Well, not really but when you're potty training a puppy it's miserable standing out in the snow.

We asked one of those name brand underground electric fence companies to come out and give us an estimate to put one around our yard.

It was thousands! We said no thanks. A friend told me how they installed their own so we decided to do it ourselves.


The Hubby did lots of research on line and picked one that suited our needs.
Installing it wasn't fun but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.


I carefully followed the directions to train Ace to the fence.
It only took once.
He got his first "correction" (the word electric fence manuals use that's supposed to sound more humane than the word "shock") and he never went anywhere near the fence (or anywhere near the treats I used to lure him to the fence) again.

Actually, that's not completely true.
He will go near the fence, for a good reason.

And there are two good reasons that live next door. Bob and Sue.

Ace loves Bob and Sue.
They give him wonderful treats.
They always stop to rub his belly.
They have a dog named Tucker that Ace loves too.

When either Bob or Sue comes by Ace chooses to get near the line of the fence.
But he does it in a curious way.
I always laugh when he does this and today I had my camera to catch Bob coming home from work.


first the tail starts going back and forth...

then he gets flat on his belly....


all four legs out to make himself as low as possible....




and he "army crawls"....




very slowly....






Bob thinks that Ace is trying to crawl under the fence.




almost there....




saying hello...



getting ready....




for the belly scratch!!
I love you Bob!

9 comments:

Kathy@ Gone North said...

Too Funny...:)
Looks like you have a great neighbor

Deborah said...

Hi! That is so funny, my Husky runs right thru our electric fence but the other dogs won't! So he is still not allowed outside while not on a leash..we had ours put in too! My husband would never do that stuff!
Have a great day! Hope all is well!
xxoo
Deborah

Michelle @Flying Giggles said...

That is too cute! What a greeting!

My parents's neighbor's dog loves when we go over because Aiyana is always giving him treats through the fence. If she doesn't that dog always manages to get out and come to my parent's front door. It is the cutest thing.

Carrie said...

Ha - our border collie does this through the living room when we come home from work. Does Ace smile when he sees people? Our Katie smiles and has sneezing fits, was wondering if it was just a breed thing.

Liz Mays said...

Poor guy bracing himself for the correction the whole way there!

Brian Miller said...

ha. too cute...yeah i might test the shock fo a belly rub somedays too...smiles.

Tracie Nall said...

Awww that is so cute...and hilarious!

I bet he really is trying to crawl under the fence. Makes him a pretty smart dog probably.

Kelly Polizzi said...

Your dog is so adorable! I love how intelligent they are. Especially this breed.

Baino said...

He is such a smart dog. I have one of those fences as well. Unfortunately, the wire's broken in a couple of places so we need to repair it but they definitely do work. Unless a fox runs across your back paddock in which case it's worth a shock to go and chase him off. You have to video this, its hilarious.