We live on over 100 hundred acres of land in a very rural area in Maine. The Penobscot River is in our front yard. In my opinion, it's the most beautiful place on Earth, but it can be dangerous for our pets. I've spent years looking for a product like the SpotOn GPS Dog Fence to keep our dogs safe.
The fast moving river can be dangerous in the summer, and it's even more dangerous when it freezes over in the winter. How do you keep your dog contained on a piece of property as large as ours? On top of all of that, we also live off-grid, which means we have solar power and have to watch our energy usage.
I didn't think I would ever find a way to contain my dogs in our unique situation. I don't want to put up a visible fence that blocks our view of the river. I don't want to tie my dogs out on a run.
We've used underground fence systems in the past, but it takes a lot of work to burry the wire and install the fence. Wireless systems don't cover enough area for us, and they aren't 100% consistent.
When I heard about the SpotOn GPS Dog Fence system, I had my doubts. It seems like one of those products that is just too good to be true. It has a hefty price tag, and I wasn't sure it would be worth the money.
In my situation, this is the perfect dog containment system! It's incredibly versatile, consistent, easy to setup and use, and this product has the ability to provide you with real time GPS tracking of your pet.
SpotOn GPS Dog Fence Review
The SpotOn dog collar allows you to create a completely wireless boundary for your pet with no digging at all. If you've ever had to dig a trench around your yard to bury the wire of a fence, you know what a pain that can be.
In my opinion, the best benefit to this dog fence option is that you can make the boundary as big as you want it to be. Your fence must be AT LEAST ½ acre in size, but you can fence over 1,000 acres!
You can make your boundary go across water or over difficult terrain. You can even add “keep out” zones where you don’t want your dog to have access. This means you can keep your pet out of ponds, flower gardens and other unwanted areas.
The SpotOn GPS Dog Fence taps into a network of 128 GPS satellites. It's very easy to set up, even if you're not very tech savvy (like me). The smartphone app walks you through every step of the process.
In my video guide above, I demonstrate how easy the app is to use. When you first set up your fence, you can use the GPS on your phone to draw out a fence area or you can actually walk the boundary that you want and the app will record the location.
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Once your fence is set up, you'll have to work on some boundary training with your pup until he gets used to the containment area. The collar uses two alert tones that start 10 feet from the boundary. There is also an optional static correction feature that offers 30 levels of static correction.
The smart technology used by SpotOn eliminates false warnings or corrections. This is very important to me. I don't want my dogs being corrected when they haven't done anything wrong. That is not fair to them, and it makes it incredibly difficult to train your pet effectively when the training tool you're using isn't accurate.
I also like the fact that the SpotOn GPS dog collar doesn’t correct your dog for returning back to the fenced in area if he happens to escape. I do not want my dogs to ever be punished for trying to return home.
The collar is 100% waterproof, so you don't need to worry if your fence includes water or your dog spends time outside in the weather. The battery lasts 22 hours, so you’ll need to charge it daily. It takes about an hour and a half to fully charge.
Another thing that I love about this product is that it is completely setup and maintained through the smartphone app. There is no hardware to install, so you can bring it anywhere.
You can fence your dog in at home, at camp or while visiting relatives. You can setup multiple fences that are all stored and maintained in the app. As you can see in my video guide above, you can switch from one fence to another with the simple click of a button.
It even works in areas where there is no cell service. The company states that GPS technology can be used anywhere you can see the sky.
If you're wondering if this fence will be a good option for your pup, you can take the quiz on the company’s website to see if the SpotOn collar is right for your pooch.
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So, now for the question I couldn't wait to find an answer to – how accurate is it?
SpotOn is accurate up to three feet under open sky and up to ten feet under heavy tree cover or near buildings. What does that mean? Well, let's compare it to something we can all understand.
A GPS-enabled smartphone is accurate up to 16 feet under open skies and more than 16 feet near buildings, bridges or and under heavy tree cover. That means the SpotOn GPS Dog Fence is more accurate than the average smartphone.
The SpotOn collar was developed, designed and is manufactured in New Hampshire. It will works in the United States and Canada. If you have AT&T or Verizon as your cell phone carrier, you can add a cell plan to track your dog at all times and receive notifications if he leaves the boundary.
The boundary system works WITHOUT a cel plan. You can set up your fence and contain your pet anywhere without having the system hooked to a cell plan. The cell plan just allows you to receive tracking information on your phone and notifications if your pet leaves the boundary.
The cell plan is $9.95 per month and gets cheaper if you sign up for a 1- or 2-year contract. Now, the only drawback that I can find to this collar – the price. You can purchase the SpotOn Dog GPS Fence for $1,295 on Amazon or through the company's website.
At that price, this product obviously won't fit into everyone's budget. However, when compared to the price of traditional physical fences or high quality underground fences the SpotOn fence is actually cheaper than most options. You can certainly find fencing options cheaper than this, but you'll get what you pay for.
When you consider the versatility of this fence, the quality of the product, how easy the app is to manage, and the accuracy of the warnings and corrections, this product is a great value for the money spent.
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