What is the Best Wireless Dog Fence System?

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dogs running in a meadow wearing SpotOn collars

When shopping for wireless dog fences or other containment solutions for your pup, you want to choose the best wireless fence system on the market. However, the SpotOn Virtual Fence is the only truly wireless fence.
Traditional wireless fence solutions use a base station that you place in your house, garage, or other sheltered area. They emit a radio frequency in a circle around the base station. Your dog wears a collar that communicates with the base station and keeps your dog inside the boundaries using audible warning tones and optional static corrections. These are easy to set up and inexpensive. However, you cannot change the size or shape of the containment area—it’s always a perfect circle around the base station, which may or may not be the area where you want to contain your dog. You need to ensure the circle does not extend out to a dangerous area. These systems are also portable, provided that wherever you take them has somewhere you can plug in the base station. So moving to a new home works, but taking it to a campground or park does not.

These systems usually have a maximum area of .75 acres. Also be sure to read the product reviews for the system you choose as many customers report that the systems top working after a few months. There are some brands that seem to have better durability than others.


Invisible Fence®  or other buried wire fence systems are often considered when shopping wireless dog fences. These systems, though, require you to bury a wire on the perimeter of the containment area. You can either pay to have it professionally installed or dedicate a weekend to digging a trench and burying a wire. It can be difficult to install if your yard has a lot of solid rock or swampy areas. These systems can be configured in any size or shape. However, once the wire is laid, making a change would require a costly re-installation from a professional…or for you to spend another weekend digging it up and relaying it. These systems are not portable and are usually left behind when you move. Be sure to budget for yearly maintenance fees, as customers report these fences often break and need to be repaired. Wires can get too close to the surface and be damaged by lawn mowers, animals, or weather. Manufacturers say that these systems can create containment areas up to 25 acres. However, when pricing them out be sure to check the box of the system to see how much wire is included. Most only include enough wire for 1/3 of an acre.

One additional consideration is that the containment signal is emitted as a circle around the buried wire, so if your dog can jump high they might be able to jump over it. Just be sure to proof the system before leaving your dog alone in it.

Setting up the SpotOn collarFor a truly wireless dog fence option, SpotOn Virtual Fence is the only product on the market. It is a GPS Fence where all you need to do is walk the perimeter of the containment area and set it on the GPS collar. This device communicates with satellites to contain your dog. Because all the technology is on the collar, it’s totally portable. You can take it when you move, use it at a second home, use it at Mom’s house, and set it up for your campground or park – you can even save up to 10 containment areas at one time. SpotOn containment areas can be adjusted or changed at any time, and it only takes a few minutes to do so. You can map any area from .5 acre to infinite acres. No matter the number of maps or size of them, you pay the same price.


Tricky terrain? It’s no problem for the SpotOn Virtual Fence. The built-in pause feature allows you to make your map through any area you may not be able to physically walk to, whether it’s water, hills, or even just around the border of a huge property. Use the pause feature and get in your car! The map will “snap” a straight line between two points. Make use of the pause feature in order to make a map through water without getting wet. With the ability to set up to 1,000 different waypoints, you are able to create a wireless dog fence of nearly any size and shape!


SpotOn is the only system that provides escape notifications on your phone if your dog breaches the containment area. You can also track your dog with point-by-point directions that will help you bring him safely home as quickly as possible!

Plus SpotOn is portable! It's easy to take with you and use when camping, visiting friends & family, beach bound, or if you move.

Learn more about the benefits of a GPS Fence compared to traditional wireless and invisible dog fences.