GPS Pet (dog) containment systems

After a near miss this afternoon with our 2 hunyucks, we are going to bite the bullet on a gps pet containment system. We are rural so just trying to keep them within a reasonable distance of the house and not chasing tractors and the UPS truck. Wife just sent me a link to the Halo system. Curious if others have tried that one or others? Not cheap, but none of them seem to be. I just want one that works and is easy to use. Would be awfully nice at the cabin as well!

No experience with the GPS systems, but I’ve had the wireless Pet Safe system for well over 10 years.

It been a great unit and is very portable too. The battery on the collar last 6-8 weeks (temperature dependent)

Plug it in and go.

I have the SpotOn version and have been fairly happy with it. A little more up front cost than the Halo brand, but you don’t have to buy the monthly subscription with this one if you don’t want the tracking feature. My only complaint is the line can move 10-15 feet at times depending on the GPS signal, but that may not be an issue if you have a larger property.

Battery life is good enough for a full day and the app is pretty easy to use as far as training the dog and setting up different fences.

https://spotonfence.com/

I’ve got a couple Halo collars for my two dogs – they work very well. I’ve had them for a couple years. One is an older version and one newer. The battery life on the newer version is better.

My only complaint is that you cannot provide immediate correction via the app (it takes a couple seconds to make it to the collar – not to mention opening the app etc).

I’d buy them again.

Thanks for the feedback! Are any of these set up to use a handheld remote and not just the app. Pete’s comment brings up a good point. I have a garmin unit for one dog that I use while hunting, but it sure would nice to have something that was capable of both.

Not GPS but I have the dog watch system as do my two siblings and parents. They have worked great.

I know of a few people with gps systems that had issues and reviews weren’t great when I was looking last but that was 4 years ago now.

We’ve been using the Halo system for my German Shepherd over the last few months. Seems to work pretty well, he has definitely figured out that when it starts beeping he needs to make it back to me. Feedback from the phone seems to have decent response time, nice that you can turn the fences off when I take him to other parts of the yard. Have it set for just over 1/2 acre of space normally as I like him to stay closer to the house. Got a refurbished one for some decent savings as it was an experiment for us, will likely buy a new one for the Australian Shepherd puppy with holiday sales coming up

Pros: Easy to use, enough correction that my GSD notices it, GPS is pretty good, allows him to have the freedom of the yard without always using a tie out, portable (can set multiple “fences”), tracking feature is very nice

Cons: Hard to turn off the collar, battery life could be just a little bit longer (not as much of an issue at home, but all-day outside at the lake seems to run short), monthly subscription fee, wish it also functioned with a handheld remote when in places without cell service

Joe Jarl wrote:

I have a garmin unit for one dog that I use while hunting, but it sure would nice to have something that was capable of both.

The Alphas have a geofence option somewhere in the menus. You draw the area on the map and it alerts you if they get close to the edge.

Not useful for everyday general use but might be useful for cabin or traveling to help keep track of them.