I live in a rural area of Virginia, basically in the Shenandoah National Park. My home is on 40 acers, mostly a mountain with a river in the front; so that means every type of wildlife native to central Virginia is in the yard. Useable acreage is about 5. I had two beagles, both since aged out to dog heaven. Brothers of the same liter. Had them since pups. As all beagles will do, about 10 months old, they went on a walkabout for a few days. When we got them back, we decided to fence them in using the Invisible Fence.
We had the Invisible Fence people come out and install the fence (got pretty much all 5 acres) and most importantly
had the Invisible Fence people train the dogs (this is key to successful fencing of the dog(s)). Training is optional, but my strong recommendation is to not skip it and have the dogs trained by the IF people.
One beagle lived to just over 14. He was the Alpha. He NEVER in 14 years broke the fence. His brother lived to 16 years 8 months (just passed in June
). He also never broke the fence. These are
beagles mind you,
in the woods, chasing ANYTHING that came inside the perimeter; deer, rabbits, bears, squirrels, fox, beavers, you name it. The training was so good, even when the fence was inoperable (cuts by me and my backhoe...), both dogs would get to the fence perimeter and just stop.
I swear by the Invisible Fence; it works and is worth every penny. My 5-acre perimeter cost me about $2,500 back in 2004.