Animal Continually Runs Into Electric Fence

DIY Animal Electric Fence / Hot Wire-Video

DIY Animal Electric Fence / Hot Wire

Ok I promised some of you I would post a tutorial about this…

Although this method works for all destructive , escape-driven animals (dogs/horses/cows/etc), I get the most questions from frustrated dog owners on how to control their out-of-control pups….so lets talk about that for a bit.

I know how frustrating it is to have a dog that no matter how many holes you plug in the fence, they always seem to find another way out. When nothing else works and you are about to get rid of the dog, try this first! It's worked for me 100% on the hundreds of hard-to-contain foster dogs that I've cared for.

I was a foster parent for a no-kill shelter for 10 years and was THE ONE they called when they had a fence jumper, fence climber, or just plain ATE through the fence to escape. I had it figured out how to stop this behavior once and for all and these homeless dogs were able to be rehabilitated from escaping, and were eventually adopted out to wonderful, permanent homes.

It's called an electric fence, or 'hot wire'. Unfortunately where I live, if your dog escapes, it's legal for anyone to shoot him/her if the dog wanders onto their property…that is if the dog doesn't get eaten by coyotes or gets hit by a car first. Needless to say, I had to figure a way to contain my much loved, hard-to-contain dogs. This method saves dog's lives by keeping them in the yard, teaching them how to respect the fence that was put up to contain them in the first place.

Before I put up the hot wire, 'Chilidog' was escaping daily, causing mischief in the neighborhood. I was afraid that he would eventually be shot or get hit by a car. As you can see in the pic above, Chilidog shows no fear of the hot wire. He has learned to respect it and calmly walks along the fence leaving a respectful distance between him and the wire.

DIY Animal Electric Fence / Hot Wire – Tutorial

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Click here to download my DIY Animal Electric Fence / Hot Wire PDF Printable Tutorial for only $5!

Tools:

Gloves
Mallet
Screw Driver and Bits
Insulated Pliers

Supplies:

(1) Roll of Hot Wire – I get the poly string because it stretches tight, looks nicer, and seems to hold up better, but you can also purchase some simple aluminum hot wire and skip all the splicing. Simply twist the wires together when connecting and you're good. Get enough to stretch the perimeter of your fence.
(3) 4-5ft Metal Grounding Stakes (also called grounding rods) – These stakes will be pounded into the ground for your "ground" (To save money, I've been known to use rebar for grounding stakes).
(3) Hose Clamps – (1 for each metal grounding stake).
4 ft. of Electricity Conducting Wire. (The wire will connect from one grounding stake to the next)
Hot Wire Tester
Electric Fence Insulators – Insulators are what you use to string up your hot wire with. I talk about different types of insulators and the best ones to use below in my tutorial.
(1) Electric Fence Box-You can purchase one at any hardware store or you can get one HERE.

Instructions:

Setting Up the Electric Fence Box:

First, locate where you want to put your electric fence box. I bought an electric weather-proof box that can be left out in the elements (You can tell mine has been outside for quite awhile).

Next, to secure it to the fence, I just screwed it onto a piece of wood and wired the wood to my wire fencing (where there was already a sturdy metal post for support). Easy!

Note: If you have a wooden post, you can drill some screws into it and attach it that way.

Adding Grounding Stakes (Ground Rods):

You will need to "ground" your wire, for the Fence to work. If you don't have a good ground, your fence will not work, even if it is plugged in.

First, pound the 5ft grounding stakes into the ground next to the electric fence box. Each stake should be at least 1-1/2ft apart from each other and should stick out of the ground a few inches so you can attach the wire to each of them.

A closer view of the grounding stakes.

Attaching Electric Wire to the Grounding Stakes:

First, start with the farthest grounding stake (3rd stake from post) and wrap a good electricity-conducting wire around the top of the stake a couple of times, and secure it tightly with a hose clamp.

Continue stringing the wire from one stake to the next, wrapping it twice around each stake and securing it with each of the hose clamps.

Note: Make sure each wire is wrapped around and secured tightly to each stake using the hose clamps in order to get a good ground.

Here, you can see a closeup of the hose clamp holding the wire securely to the grounding post.

Connecting the Ground Wire to the Electric Fence Box:

Now it is time to connect the remaining wire, from the closest stake, to the electric fence box.

On the fence box, you'll find two knobs. The one on the left is usually the grounding knob and the one on the right is usually the hot wire fence knob. If you are not sure which is which on your electric box, check your manual.

Make sure to tighten the wire onto the grounding knob on the left by wrapping it around the knob a couple of times and tightening it down.

This is what it should all look like.

Adding Insulators:

There are a million different types of insulators. The first two listed below (Metal Round Nail Stakes (18 inch) and the Porcelain ones) are the ones you'll see that I used in my tutorial. The rest listed are a few other kinds of insulators that I didn't include in my tutorial, but I've successfully used in the past:

Metal Round Nail Stakes (18 inch) – (Found HERE )- This is what I used in the tutorial because they were just laying around, and so I wrapped a couple pieces of an old garden hose around the tops to insulate them.

Pros:

You can place the stake any distance you want from the fence. I prefer a 5-6 inch distance from fence.
Good for all fences except T-post fences
Great to use for dogs

Cons:

You have to insulate each one with a couple pieces of garden hose.
Can't be used up high on the fence, as you would want to do for horses and livestock

Porcelain – (Found HERE) – (I also used these in the tutorial)

Pros:

You don't have to wrap the wire around each insulator like you do a stake, you simply run the wire through the holes of each until you tie it off at the last insulator. Fast and easy to string the wire.
They easily screw into wood fencing.
They look clean and crisp and there are no posts in the ground holding wire.
Perfect for wooden fences and gates
You can use them up high or down low on your fence.

Cons:

I prefer my wire to be strung 5-6 inches from the fence, and porcelain holds the wire about 3 inches out from the fence. This makes it easier for an animal to bump the wire and short it out.

T-Post Fence (5 inch) Insulator – (Found HERE)

You can get them in my preferred 5-6 inch length
They look clean and crisp and there are no posts in the ground holding wire except the T-post
You can use them up high or down low on your fence.

Chain Link and No-climb Wire Insulators – (Found HERE and HERE)

Can purchase in a couple different sizes
They look clean and crisp and there are no posts in the ground holding wire.
You can use them up high or down low on your fence.

Wooden Post Nail-On Insulator – (Found HERE)

They easily nail into wood fencing and gates.
They look clean and crisp and there are no posts in the ground holding wire.
You can get them in my preferred 5-6 inch length
You can use them up high or down low on your fence.

DIY Homemade Insulators:

Here's a homemade insulator that I made out of a Metal Round Nail Stake (18 inch) and some old garden hose.

To make my own homemade insulators, I just cut off some lengths of old garden hose (split lengthwise) and wrapped the hose around the top of the stake. Make sure the hose completely covers all the way around the stake. Use two strips to overlap if needed. The hot wire will short out if it touches the stake and the hose prevents this by acting as an insulator when the hot wire is wrapped around the stake. Shown below:

Stringing the Hot wire:

When you string the hot wire for dogs, you will want the wire about 6-10in above the ground so set your insulators accordingly to height. For larger animals like horses, set the insulators higher up on fence.

Decide where your hot wire will run and place your insulators about 10-20ft apart from each other.

Now it's time to connect the main line hot wire to the hot wire box.

Splicing the Hot Wire to the Box:

You'll do this by splicing the wire.

If you bought aluminum hot wire all you need to do is twist wires together to splice (but don't twist too much as the wire will break. If you bought the poly string (which I prefer), find the the end and make sure it's a clean cut (you can trim it with scissors).

Start by unraveling the three main twisted nylon parts of the wire

You will notice tiny wires running through each of the three main nylon parts of the hot wire. Separate these tiny wires from each nylon part and twist them together to keep them tidy and out of the way

Clip the nylon part away with scissors

Now twist all three clumps of wires together

Remember, there are two knobs on the electric box. One is the ground wire and one is the hot wire knob. Wrap the wires around the hot wire knob.

Twist securely.

Now that your hot wire is attached to the box, it's time to string it all up! I started by putting an insulator right by the box.

I wrapped the hot wire around the top of the insulator a couple of times and then strung it along to the right (out of the pic) to the next insulator.

Continue stretching the wire from one insulator to the next

Wherever your hot wire ends, cut your wire an extra foot longer so you can wrap the end of the hot wire around the insulator a few times and just tie it off! It's ok to end it on the same insulator as the one you started with (as mine did). It's also ok if the beginning wire and ending wire touch each other.

Splicing Wires Together:

There will be times when you'll need to connect two pieces of hot wire together. Splicing two or more ends of hot wire together is VERY similar as to when we spliced the hot wire to the box. Separate the tiny wires and cut away the nylon just like before (the pics only show two hot wires being spliced together but this can be done the same way with three or more also)

Twist the two groups of wires together for a good connection

Tie itself into a knot

Wrap the metal wires around one end of the string to keep it tidy

Fill in any holes along the fence that your dog or other animal has been digging or pushing through to escape.

It's time to plug er' in and see how it works! Make sure to use the electric fence tester to make sure hot wire is working.

Note: Make sure to keep grass and weeds trimmed so they don't touch the wire and short it out

Horses usually learn quickly and only need to be reprimanded by the hot wire once or twice before learning to respect it. Dogs that are used to escaping may take 1-4 times of trying to go under or scrambling over the fence and letting the fence reprimand them before they finally get the idea to respect it.

Installation of Electric Fence on Gates:

If you've put up your hot wire around the main yard it won't take long for your 'determined to find a way out' pup to figure out that although the surrounding fence may be inescapable, but the gate is not! Since the gate has no hot wire on it, soon your dog will be climbing over, digging under, or chewing through the gate and getting out again, but we are one step ahead of them!

This also goes for horses, or any other animal that could destroy your gate. Remember to raise the height of the hot wire on fence and gate for taller animals!

This is how it works. The main hot wire runs underground while the gate hot wire stays with the gate.

Note : When planning on hot wiring your gate, make sure gate will swing open TOWARDS the same side as the hot wire, not away.

Here is what it looks like when the gate opens. The gate hot wire ends at the gate, but the main line hot wire continues underground to the other side of the gate.

Since I have a wood gate I used these porcelain insulators that screw nicely into wood.

Run your hot wire along the fence until you come to the gate. Attach an insulator on each lower corner of the gate, and also each outer post of the gate.

Dig a trench 6-12 inches deep) right underneath where the gate hangs. With an old garden hose , cut a piece the same width as the gate plus another 3 feet extra. Place the hose in the open trench that has been dug.

String the end of the hot wire through one end of the hose and out the other end.

Fill the trench in with dirt, covering the hose and leaving both ends of the hose sticking out of the ground.

To attach a gate hot wire, measure a new piece of hot wire the same length of distance from the insulator that is on the post that the gate is hung on, all the way to the insulator on the lower far corner of the gate. Now ad 4 inches to that measurement and cut.

Splice the gate hot wire to the main line hot wire that was threaded through the hose (You'll have to cut the main line hot wire where you'll be splicing it to the gate hot wire).

After splicing, string the gate hot wire through the insulator on the gate post that the gate is mounted on, and then through the next two insulators on the gate.

Note: Secure the gate wire to each insulator by tying a double knot

The gate wire ends and is tied off at the 'swinging side' of the gate. The main hot wire that was strung through the hose comes out on the other side of the gate. Make sure to also tie it off to the insulator (that's on the post on the other side of the gate), before continuing along the fence.

Note: To keep water out of the hose, you can add silicone calking to seal the opening of each hose end. OR just leave as is and after a good storm, just blow into one end and water shoots out the other!….but first turn OFF THE HOT WIRE!!!

Your gate should open nicely now with the hot wire attached!

Adding Hot Wire to Chicken Coop

Ok so how about Fido trying to get at your chickens?…or rabbits?…or anything else they shouldn't be sticking their nose into? No problem! Here is what I did for our chicken coop:

On the left side of the pic you can see a red electric fence handle that can easily be spliced to the hot wire so you can have access to the chicken coop

Here's a closer look of the red handle, the insulator, and the hot wire.

I twisted some electricity-conducting wire around the insulator and made two loops on both sides of the insulator. One loop is used to hook the red handle to, and the other loop is used to splice your continuing hot wire to.

You're handle should be easily unhooked to gain access to the chicken coop.

And that's it!

Animal Electric Fence / Hot Wire