I ran across an advertisement for a new invisible fence system that could be a game-changer, if the company had built it right. I have a black Lab who constantly wanders off if I turn my back on her for more than about 10 seconds. Despite the fact that she only has three useful legs, she moves amazingly quickly. And it only takes a few seconds for her to completely disappear.
Luckily, I usually know where she goes when she wanders off. She goes over the hill to the neighbor’s house, and she goes right in through Doug’s doggy door and makes herself at home in his house. She eats all his dogs’ food, then counter surfs to see if there’s anything else she might like, and she’s even eaten ice cream right out of the bowl Doug has been holding.
Then I saw this ad for the Halo collar. It’s like an invisible fence system, but you don’t have to dig a trench for a wire. It uses GPS technology to allow you to make your fence wherever you want it. And it can store up to 20 fences, each with 20 virtual fence posts. It would be perfect for my 70 acres, and I could even take it with us if we go hunt a field or a habitat area. I could just set the fence where the boundaries of the hunt area are, and turn her loose.
It also can give you a GPS location of your dog, if the dog isn’t visible. Sounds perfect.
But the reviews are terrible. The Halo collar is $800, and despite that price tag, users have noted the cheap construction. Riley’s a big Lab, and she’d likely destroy the plastic connectors on that collar in short order. And there have been comments about the GPS function being inaccurate, too. So I think I’ll wait for an upgrade, rather than spend $800 on a collar that won’t last a month. I’ll spend my money buying Doug the dog food and ice cream Riley eats, instead.
