PetSafe Ultralight Pet Fence Receiver Collar

Update: After 7 years owning this system our giant schnauzer passed away and we got a new puppy (welsh terrier). So we now have a 9 year old mini schnauzer and a 1 year old welsh terrier and the fencing system still works great!! I had a collar finally quit working this year and had to purchase a new one but that’s to be expected after all these years and doggy wear and tear. I love having this fencing system as a dog owner. We never have to worry. We have a doggie door on our sunroom and even when we go away the dogs go in and out as they please and stay contained in the yard and do wonderfully. Living in a rural neighborhood we have a lot of wildlife and occasional dog walkers go by and my dogs never get out of their boundary. The welsh does have curly/thicker fur and we do keep his neck fur shaved shorter so that he can feel the shock. He’s very smart and somewhat stubborn so he will occasionally test it by getting as close to the boundary as he can. My older mini schnauzer who is more mild mannered steers VERY clear of the boundary so that he doesn’t risk getting a shock. It’s incredibly easy to teach the dogs the boundaries- every dog I’ve had has mastered it in a couple days of training. Update: it’s been 4 years and it still works amazingly!! I have added other sections of wire over the years to block off new landscaping to keep the dogs from marking it or digging etc. It is still going great no problems at all. We love it! (In the second picture our black giant schnauzer wants to get our cat that’s lounging in the rose bushes but he knows he will get shocked so he doesn’t go any further. Original Review: Here is my situation ... I was using the petsafe WIRELESS fence system for almost 2 years with my two dogs (mini schnauzer and giant schnauzer) and it was working for them wonderfully. However, I began to realize it would be better if I could control more specific areas they were allowed to go in (that system just does a circle). For example, they were messing up my mulch in my flower bed and pooping right in my driveway where we park our cars (always nice when people would come over and have to dodge giant piles of doo) So I called petsafe and they assured me the shock levels would be the same as the wireless so I should not need a "stubborn dog" system. I was able to run approximately 850' of wire (I bought another 500' spool additional to the one that comes with this set) in a matter of a few hours really. I'm a 33 year old woman and I had my 12 year old son help. After laying it all out in our desired pattern, he used the shovel to just lift up small sections of the sod and I was on my hands and knees tucking it under. We did 200' one evening and the knocked the rest out in a couple hours the next afternoon. It was pretty easy depending on the type of soil. I would recommend mowing before installing (I did not and wished I would have). My dogs have picked up on their new boundaries very quickly and I'm very pleased so far. My friend warned me to make sure I get it all buried right away because breaks in the rope can happen very easily if just left out (kids trip over it, car, tractor, mower runs it over etc). With this system I was actually able to give my dogs more area to roam and section off areas I didn't want them in so it's a win-win situation. Plus this system (even with my extra spool and extra collar) was cheaper than the wireless one. Wish I would have done this in the first place.

Works super well and haven't had a issue with it connecting. Very durable, waterproof for when it rains, adjustable length, the beeps deter my dogs from leaving the yard and it's easy to use and the battery lasts a couple months.

Would have given a full five stars but we have experienced problems with the closure on the collar. It apparently wore out, as it worked find for a couple months but within two days we found the collar in the yard twice. Unfortunately it came off three times and we were unable to locate the collar will be forced to purchase a new collar for $70. PetSafe should upgrade the size and quality of the closure on their collar as it is certainly not fit for an active one year old Labrador. With respect to how it installed and functioned; installation took time simply because we have a big yard (0.5 acre). We used a lawn edger to trench and with the aid of my wife, finished the job in about 5 hours. Installation was simple and we had no hitches, (did buy an extra roll of wire and did use about 100' more than is supplied). We opted not to cut a slot in the driveway and just cleaned out one the original expansion cuts and back filled with GE Silicone caulk. The wire is surprisingly sturdy for the gauge (still be careful handling), and we fabricated our own twisted wire using a hand drill. The system works reliably, and we have been socked with loads of rain and standing water, in the yard, (the system never complained). Our Lab trained in about three days, (got zapped twice and now when she hears the tone, freezes in her tracks). I'd buy it again for another installation. For $129 it is a fabulous system

First off, this was easy to install and my dogs learned it quickly. But please, learn from my mistakes and read this carefully. I bought this in March and have been using this for a while. I personally have it installed through my window. It has been installed since March or April. It clearly says in the instructions to use the surge protector provided. However, I could not get to to “complete the loop” with the surge protector so I just plugged it into the wall. The ground around the window where this comes out of is a little bit softer than the rest of the ground where the fence is dug. So slowly, the wire made its way out of the dirt and was exposed. So of course…my landscaper hits it with the weed eater. I let the dogs out and they quickly realize the fence isn’t working so they run amok. I see them going crazy and go to investigate and see the broken wire. I’m late for work so I just braid them together and say I will deal with it when I get home. Then of course there was a storm that night. I come home and realize that half of my house isn’t getting power. The electrical box shows a couple of tripped circuits so I flip them back and everything seems to work. I was wrong. My tv, playstation, router and modem are all fried. They were plugged into a surge protector but I’m not going to lie, they were cheap and probably more than 10 years old. I investigated and it appears as though during the storm, the wire was struck by lightening, it traveled through the wire and into the transmitter which exploded, and then through the power cord which also exploded. I am very lucky that all I lost was a few electronics and a fish tank (broke from exploding power cord coming out of the outlet). I am 100% to blame for this. I read the instructions but didn’t follow them and my laziness cost me. I literally repurchased the same transmitter, plugged it into a heavy duty surge protector and dug the wires down deeper. I also properly fixed the broken wire with the provided connectors and covered the exposed wire with pipe insulation. The fence works well if you follow the directions.

UPDATED REVIEW: It worked...okay...for about 5 months. There were a couple incidents where a dog mysteriously was able to get through once but never again. I don't know if the signal is uneven or what, but it worked 99% of the time. One of the collars apparently came with a loose battery terminal. A little "engineering" with a small zip tie worked well enough, because customer service wanted me to jump through fifteen thousand hoops to get it replaced and in the meantime I needed to be able to let my dog outside. The other collar's clasp broke. Once again, I just fixed it myself and moved on. BUT We made no changes. NOTHING. And suddenly, this morning, I look outside and both the dogs are gone. Under the neighbor's house, eating something rotten. I checked their collar batteries, they're fine. The terminal shows the loop is broken. I performed the short loop test and the terminal is fine. We've done no yard work. I have 2 acres of buried wire. And it's mysteriously broken somewhere with no fix but to DIG IT UP and REPLACE THE WHOLE THING. I won't. This is ridiculous and I'm tired of spending money on it to "update" the system. Use at your dog's risk and do not depend on it. They should have sent with better wire. This system is subpar and dangerous and I regret cheaping out because it's not actually any cheaper after your replace EVERYTHING one piece at a time. Original 4/5 star review: It took a little work to get it set up. For now we've just got it running along the existing fence (our new shelter pup is a digger), until I knew it was going to work. Read the manual, it has everything you need to know to set it up. I tested out each setting on my arm before putting the collar on my dogs. The static "correction" is seriously unpleasant but not painful. At the highest level I couldn't hold onto the collar, my arm jerked too much lol. If you've ever used a TENS unit turned up, you know what it feels like. For one of my dogs, she trained very quickly. Turns out she's both very pain averse and very smart. My other dog, a beagle, not so much. He's kinda dumb. Every time he runs into the zone it's like brand new information every time. But it did work like a charm. Unfortunately, the batteries that came with it crapped out within 3 weeks. I wasn't expecting that, so when my beagle turned up missing I was convinced the wire had gotten broken somewhere. Nope, it still had continuity. Neither collar was shocking anymore though. My smart dog was still stopping before the flags, but my dumb beagle was plowing. I ordered more batteries, but if I'm going to have to pay for their outrageously expensive and proprietary batteries every two weeks instead of every couple of months, I'm just going to give up on the whole system and update this review accordingly. There was no warning before the battery failure either, so if you're depending exclusively on this, check it every day.

We bought the kit and put it into use Sept 2024 on a 3 acre area for the dog to run. Everything worked great till early April 2025. I contacted Pet Safe and was throughly impressed with the online chat reps. They were knowledgable of the product, put up with my son having to keep checking/verifing things for them, etc. The problem was identified and new equipment arrived 3 days later. Awesome people to work with!

Update: So we put this in in the fall, and it's now the start of May and honestly, i'm really pleased still. We had set up a small area at first, but come spring we realized that the whole yard - we have a side lot as well - needed to be expanded. It was ridiculously easy to expand it. Honestly. And the same to teach her the new boundaries. I still give this a five star, no regrets. We didn't sink the line I opted to instead by a bunch of sod staples and just force it down. Spring, grass grew up and over it. I have no problem mowing over it so long as I was generous with the staples. The flags didn't last the winter but honestly, we didn't need them to, she knows what the yellow line means. The beep is still more the deterrent and the shock the re-enforcement. She does occasionally barrel right through if there's a squirrel that's just REALLY REALLY too tempting, and then she sits on the other side of the fence, begging to be let back in since that squirrel was worth getting shocked to get to, but not so much to come back in. I still have a lot of line leftover, it's a significant chunk they include and it literally was plug in and fiddle with the strength of the line versus the strength of the zap from the collar. So, 8 months later, still a very satisfied customer. If you don't mind the DIY and need something more flexible, far less expensive than a fence fence and doesn't require a permit or thousands of of dollars, this is a great way to go Old: Before this, our solution to letting the dog outdoors - never off a leash because she's a runner - was an aerial line that ran between a post and a tree. She was forever getting it tangled up and in the winter, we'd have to hold the clip for a minute or two to warm it up enough to be able to attach it to her collar and let her out. We have a corner lot property, a fence is just not financially feasible and honestly, we like the look of our unfenced yard. So after looking up the various fences - and what was in our budget - I settled on this fence. At worst, I was out a hundred bucks and learned my lesson, at best, I had just spent 100 bucks and made my life easier and the dog had more freedom or at least the illusion of. No. Regrets. It came fast, and set up was surprisingly easy. The instruction manual was clear enough to me, and armed with only my pocket knife and 100 sod staples - I opted to not bury it underground for now - I set out to install it. Half hour later I was done. I still have half a roll of wire left and I think we'll probably cut the line and expand it - comes with a set of stuff needed to splice the wire. It took a few days of both the dog learning the boundaries - I do wish there were more flags - and us learning the appropriate level with which to set the fence at. But within the two days, Tali had pretty much nailed down where the boundaries were. Two escapes but that was at the start. The collar is a cheap collar, and we took off the shock unit, put two holes in her current collar and attached it. Make sure it's not too tight, or it can rub against the skin and irritate it. We made that mistake and have to go get her a new collar but that's part and parcel of learning. As of writing this though, it's fun to leave the door open and let her go out at will. There's a red giant squirrel who baits her and she hasn't crossed the line to get to it - and boy does she love to chase that squirrel - but she has come right UP to the boundary. Strangers stood in my driveway, and she did the same, where normally she would have come right over and licked/barked them to death. I'm glad I took the chance, we'll see how it goes after a few months and through winter. If I have to replace the wire further down the road, that's fine. The unit itself though, is just great. No regrets, I'd buy again in a heartbeat and wonder why I didn't do it sooner.

I bought this in April 2012 to replace original collar/receiver that we've had for seven years (the connective part of the receiver to the collar cracked), I had it duct taped for the last 10-months. The receiver part is still working great. So far this new collar seems to be doing the job. It is lighter than the original. The collar isn't as thick a nylon as I'd hope and the buckle is definitely smaller and thinner plastic. I feel this will probably crack soon with as much use as it gets. The radio receiver seems to work well, although today makes exactly one month since we received and starting using it and the light started flashing to show a low battery (Heads-up PetSafe, too many complaining about battery usage). The other receiver we had could go at least 6-months before replacing the battery. I know my dog doesn't keep testing it. She's known her boundary for seven years and I've watched her stay several feet away from the activation area. So this leads me to believe this unit has poor battery usage and will know in the next month or so if I need to replace the battery again. If so, this is unacceptable and PetSafe needs to correct this in this receiver. I don't know what the difference is between this one and our original receiver, but it needs to make pet parents feel their dog is safe when wearing this collar and that it will not fail them when they let their dog out. I also feel if you paid full price or close to it, you paid too much! The batteries can be bought on Amazon (best price, but can be bought at well known pet stores too), which are the same ones as the original receiver I had. I will update on battery usage later on. This does NOT come with both long and short contacts. You have to purchase the long ones separately. The little tool they included for testing is great, now I don't have to shock myself to test it. The receiver's beep is fairly faint unless you have your ear almost next to it, but since dogs have more acute hearing than we do I guess that's fine. UPDATE ON BATTERY: When I replaced the battery in May after having the unit one month, the new battery started flashing almost immediately. I called PetSafe and the customer service person suggested that the units memory (more or less) was thinking the old battery was still in it. You have to drain the memory or reset the unit before putting in a new battery. This is done by holding down the static correction button for 20-30 seconds to drain it without a battery installed. Then install the fresh battery. This did work, but that battery only lasted one month too. I replaced the battery again in June. Before actually replacing it, I tried removing it, depressing the static control again for 20-secs and reinstalled it in the collar. This gave me almost another two weeks on this battery when it started blinking again and I replaced it.(didn't want to take a chance on it going dead while my dog was out). This leads me to believe there is something wrong with the receiver's usage of the battery and it drains them faster than my original collar's receiver did or it needs to be reset periodically because the memory part itself is defective. PetSafe did state to call them if I keep having problems. I think I will and express my disappointment in this collar and the fear that it won't keep my dog (Pet)safe! Maybe if all of us who feel this way called them, they might correct this receiver. UPDATE: I have since contacted Petsafe and complained about the battery usage of this collar and that I believe it to be defective. It's battery usage never got better and I got tired of spending money on batteries and of having to replace them every 3-weeks or so. I had contacted them through their website and explained what was going on. Since my collar had still been within the year warranty and I emailed them copies of my receipts, they sent me a free brand new collar along with a 2-pack of batteries. They also sent a postage paid mail label to return the old collar. I have to say this new collar is working great and so far (hope I don't jinx it) batteries are lasting longer. If it's happening to you, I would suggest calling or contacting them through their website and ask for a new collar if your warranty is still good. You will have to have receipt proof of purchase. If you don't, they offer a new collar for a discounted price. Good Luck!

I must say that I came into this purchase fairly unhappy and skeptical with the idea of needing an invisible fence. My dog is a real escape artist, and very athletic with a strong drive towards whatever has his interest. He was climbing over my 4’ tall horse fence. I added three strands of barbed wire at the top to extend it to 6’ and he climbed right over/through that too. Building a taller fence he couldn’t get over around my 2 acres was more than I was willing to do, and further our open view through the wire vs being blocked by a neighborhood style fence is a big deal to us. I don’t like the idea of shocking my dog, and I didn’t want to pick a “budget” option and risk mistreating my dog. Still, I read numerous positive reviews and decided to give the Petsafe system a shot. I picked it vs. more expensive options largely because I wanted to put it in myself, and I don’t like paying subscriptions for services after a purchase. Installation was a pain, but no more than it should have been. I have almost two acres, so I needed more wire. I bought a 1000 foot roll from amazon made by Extreme Dog Fence. The listing said it was thick and sturdy in the description and reviews, but I found it to be flimsier than the 500’ provided by Petsafe with the kit. I bought a used old style edger to “dig” the 3” deep trench that I put the wire in, and used a masonry blade on my angle grinder to score deeper into joint lines I had in my sidewalk to cross over two spots. I then filled the joints with self leveling concrete caulk. Turned out great. Dragging an edger backwards over 1000+ feet of thick grass and then jamming the wire into the cut left behind really sucked. It took much longer than I thought it would, and was much harder work than I thought it would be. Once everything was installed it worked great. I started training the dog per the instructions in the manual. I started for the first day with just tones, and then moved it up to level 2 which had tones and a mild shock (they call it static, but let’s be real….it’s shock). My dog didn’t show any signs of noticing level two. The instructions tell you to move up a level until you can tell the dog notices. Well, he noticed the next level and let out a yelp and freaked out…..which was way more of a response than I anticipated. The instructions indicate he might looked around or scratch at his neck. So, I thought I’d check it out for myself and I let myself get shocked first at the level 2 which is just for training (the one he didn’t seem to notice). I couldn’t feel it at all on my fingers, and when I put it up to my neck I could only faintly feel anything. I bumped it up a level to level 3 and tried it on my fingers and holy crap it shocked the heck outta me! I couldn’t even hold onto the collar. I thought I had cheaped out and wasted time and money on an inferior system that didn’t have accurate enough settings for training and correction. I thought I needed a system with dozens of levels of correction so I could take a more custom approach. The Petsafe only has 5. One for tone only, one designed for training and then only really three for correction. So, I called customer service to look into a return. What I got was the most sympathetic and helpful customer service agent I have spoken to in a long time. I told him I wanted to return the item and he went as far as sending me replacement wire so that I could have all the items that came in the kit for a smooth return. Then I started doing research on what my next system would be, and talked to a dog trainer from one of the in ground fence dealerships. Turns our all the in ground fences I could find had similar setups, and the trainer told me that I had my dog out of the gate too quickly. He told me to spend a lot more time on Level 2….10 days or more to make sure the dog really got the concept and only then to move on to higher levels. I called Petsafe again and described my concerns about how hard the collar hit at the lowest correction level (level 3) and got the same incredibly responsive level of service. They sent me a new collar to ensure I wasn’t working with a faulty one. Meanwhile I continued my training at level 2 and got my dog thoroughly accustomed to the concept that when the tone goes off and he approaches the flags…..it’s time to retreat back into the safe zone. I got the replacement collar, and found that the training level “2” was a little easier for me to recognize, but not very much so, and the level three still hit very hard, but maybe not as hard as the previous collar. Whatever the case, it was very close to my previous experience. I decided to try the new collar with my now almost completely trained dog. He did very well! I found that at level “3” which freaked him out the first time he experienced it and which had a really profound effect on me, didn’t seem to bother him too much. He knew something was coming if he went too far past the flags, and if he was stubborn enough he would stand there through the shock. I turned it up to level 4, and now even with the biggest temptation I saw him go into the “no go” zone a few feet, stop and then turn around and come back to where he should have been. No outsized response, he just came back to the safe zone with no drama. I’ve been letting him free range for a few days now and the system seems to be working perfectly. I’ll check back in if my experience changes, but for now I’m very pleased with the system, and even more pleased with the customer service. My only caution is that I think the training recommended in the directions is too fast for many dogs. I spent 10 days doing what the manual said to spend two days on. When I rushed it initially I got a confused/upset dog. Update after 2.5 months Well, my dog is real stubborn and I had to upgrade to the stubborn dog collar for another $100. Still not quite completely effective until I built a physical barrier over his favorite escaping spot which kept him in the correction zone. Big pain, but it seemed as though we had things solved. After 2.5 months, the system started intermittently failing. The loop just acted as though there was a break in it. I had a couple splices in the line and I went and triple checked to be sure they were installed properly. We have lots of gophers on our property, so maybe a line got nicked by one…..who knows. End of the story is with all the time effort and money spent I can’t rely on the system. To make matters worse, I’m one two days outside of amazon’s return window for the stubborn dog collar and well outside their window for the system itself. Petsafe will not honor returns because I bought it through Amazon. Their advice was to try to sell it and get some of my money back. NOT HAPPY ANYMORE

I got a puppy to replace a dog who died of old age and for company for our other dog. This created a fence problem. The new dog we got is a rescue doxie, and a digger. We have coyotes, so we had to do something other than tie him up each day. Our 2nd dog was forever going down into the hill and canyon area we live on. She was always covered in stickers and would go out and bark incessantly where we could not reach her whenever it was dark, night and day. But she never tried to dig out from the parameter fence. I was a nervous wreck trying this method. I installed it myself and it was not easy. The twisted wire thing is totally confusing. I could find zero good videos or direction on how to make that work. My handyman neighbor even came over to help me and he could not figure out. And he is fixing genius. So I ended up just running the wire under the eves on the side of the house I needed this fence to not shock. I am just running a basic square around my backyard property. Once I had it set up. I spent a week following the training and the dogs did not get it at all. They thought it was playtime, they grabbed and ran with the flags and it was stupid and frustrating. I finally decided to just turn the fence on. I had bought an extra collar, and one dog got shocked and the other one was not getting anything. I thought the numbers on the main controller were the shock settings , but I finally read the shock collar directions and found out that is the distance it will activate. Each collar has a button the goes from 1 blink to 5 blinks and that is the shock settings. Don't be lame like me. Read the directions first. Once I got that right it all started working. When I bought this system, I was scared. I did not want to hurt the dogs and I was upset while deciding to use this system but there is no way to build a fence like this one on the kind of property we have. Once I got it all figured out correctly it has been working exactly like I hoped. My older dog, a cocker, who runs away when she smells something, and is very bad with that, got shocked about 4 times in two days and is not doing it now. She is running right up to the shock line and stopping. Much to my utter amazement and the cats! Who are learning to sit right outside the line, which has been quite amusing. The new dog only needed two shocks. The first day he ran back in the house and did not want to go outside but the next morning he was back to himself and he has run through the parameter once and cried to get back in. It has only been 8 days since I turned on the fence, but I am truly amazed and happy with it. My animals have a large safe play space, and my older barking dog is not covered with stickers from running down the hill into the canyon area, and learning to control herself with the barking and craziness we have had for years with her. (Yes we took her to classes and training. When she smells all the wildlife in our backyard she goes nuts). That was a side benefit I did not even think of when I bought this. I am hoping after a few months I can turn the collars way down. I have them both set on 4. We tried the lowest setting and worked our way up and they both ran through the boundaries at 3 or lower. I also shocked myself on the 4 setting on accident, and I can tell you, it is the same strength as when you plug in a bad plug or outlet and get shocked. The thing to keep in mind, is the dogs do not get shocked all the time once they figure it out. Which only takes a few shocks. So it sounds worse than it really is to use a "shock or electric wired system". One final thing, this one I bought is half the price you will find of other petsafe systems, which do the same thing. This is a basic version I guess but I could not see the difference between the 180-299 one, (pet store price is 299) one and the 130 dollar one. I bought extra wire, which I did not need, but I am still glad to have it in case I have to replace wire at some point. Update: It has been over 6 months now and we love love love this system. I wish I bought this years ago. The dogs NEVER cross the shock lines, even when we have the collars off now after a bath. I am truly impressed and amazed at well this worked out. It solved all kind of problems I have been having for years.