Clunk.
The rejoicing was, it turns out, premature. The present owner called Sunday afternoon to back out. Essentially, the dog trainer and boarder whom she uses is very anti-"electric fence" as she terms them, and talked her out of it yet again (remember there was another point where it seemed the adoption was in jeopardy). Here's the thing: the trainer states that she "tested" Shayne with an electric fence and that Shayne "ran through" the field to the other side. BUT I know, from having trained my own two dogs, that you DON'T expect a dog to know how to react instinctively. You have them on a long lead and call them to come away from the field towards the center of your yard, when the signal is activated (audible only for first three weeks), and you have 5-10 minute training sessions three times a day for three weeks before you even begin to train with the signal plus the zap. There is just no way she could have done that amount of training before "testing!" in which case, what kind of testing is that? That's like saying because an unhousebroken dog squats in the corner to eliminate, she can't be taught to eliminate only outdoors!
Part of me wants to say, oh the hell with it--the other wants to make the case, logically, and just ask for the chance to do the training, with the proviso that if I can't demonstrate results in a set period of time, I will give Shayne back (which they wanted, anyway, if the adoption didn't "work out.") From what Barbara describes, it would take a fence of Alcatraz caliber, above and below ground, foolproof self-locking, to safely contain Shayne. She learned to wade around the lake end of their fence and wiggle underneath it in other places, until they had it set in cemented fieldstone to which wrought iron was welded on top! It's my opinion that the Invisible Fence would actually be SAFER than most conventional fences...
So, QUICK, my friends--WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I'm in a quandry.
Part of me wants to say, oh the hell with it--the other wants to make the case, logically, and just ask for the chance to do the training, with the proviso that if I can't demonstrate results in a set period of time, I will give Shayne back (which they wanted, anyway, if the adoption didn't "work out.") From what Barbara describes, it would take a fence of Alcatraz caliber, above and below ground, foolproof self-locking, to safely contain Shayne. She learned to wade around the lake end of their fence and wiggle underneath it in other places, until they had it set in cemented fieldstone to which wrought iron was welded on top! It's my opinion that the Invisible Fence would actually be SAFER than most conventional fences...
So, QUICK, my friends--WHAT DO YOU THINK?! I'm in a quandry.