Why Does My Dog’s Invisible Dog Fence Collar Activate in the House?

I have found there are many reasons a invisible underground dog fence collar will activate in an area that it should not. The most common is a stray signal off of a cable TV line. This happens when the underground fence boundary wire piggy backs or runs on top of the cable TV line for a long distance.

There are different ways to fix this. The first thing I would look at is how large the fence signal field is, if it is larger than six feet (in other words the dog fence receiver activates six feet from the underground wire)and your pet does not test the fence there is probably room to turn the signal field down a little and that will fix the stray signal in most cases.

In a more severe case adjusting the field wont work. I would try removing the ground from the dog fence. If this solves the problem then the problem is in the common ground between the dog fence and the cable TV. To resolve this you simply need a new ground location for the dog fence. The easy thing to do is install a small ground rod outside the garage and attach the dog fence ground to the rod. You need to have a ground for the underground invisible dog fence if not your warranty will be void.

If removing the ground from the dog fence transmitter did not solve the problem try and remove the cable TV ground normally located outside near the electric meter. If this solves the problem what needs to be done is the cable TV needs to be re grounded where it comes into the house at the ground block. The ground block is attached to the house where the outdoor underground cable TV line meets the inside feed to the house and attached is a ground wire that runs to the electric meter or shares the same ground rod as the the electric meter. You must have a cable TV ground it is what protects your home from lightning damage or fire. I recommend to have the cable company do this or a licenced electrician.

If this does not solve your stray signal problem it is possible that it could be something setting off a signal similar to your underground invisible dog fence. It could be a cordless phone or another type of wireless device, take a walk around the house with the dog fence collar and hold it up to anything you may think could cause the problem and move it to another location. The invisible brand fence company has a wireless transmitter called the invisible mask. This will solve your dog fence stray signal problem as well. Most underground pet fencing has a 7K signal or a 10K signal the mask has a switch setting for both. If you have Pet Safe, Innotek, or Radio Fence it is most likely to be 10K any other brand probably 7K. The mask is designed to work with the invisible brand but I have seen it work with most other brands. The only one I have found it not to work with is Dog Watch brand dog fencing. Visit my blog for new posts on invisible underground fence installation and repair troubleshooting tips.