subject: The Fence And The Dog And Cat [print this page] Farmers use fences made of wire or wood to keep livestock in and usually to keep humans out.
In the nineteenth Century with the discovery of how to make electricity another type of fence began to appear on the market and this was the electric fence.
During the years of development there were a number of fatalities as the wrong current was used. Later on in the First World War this type of fence was used to deter people escaping to neutral countries like Holland.
Normally a farm animal will only have to brush against an electric fence once to learn never to do it again and there is another similar device used by people with large estates to stop their pet dogs from roaming off.
An electric charged wire is put around the whole estate in one complete loop back to a battery which in turn is kept charged by mains and adaptor.
The wire can be hidden an inch beneath the earth or placed alongside an existing fence or wall.
Around the dog's neck is fitted a special collar which picks up the charge if the dog wanders closer than about six feet to the wire. If it does get nearer it will get a shock which increases in pain the closer the dog gets to the wall.
Our neighbour had one of these contraptions to keep his whippet in. Our cat discovered the fun of slowly walking along the wall and watching the dog getting electrocuted as it tried to get to it. Eventually the cat learnt to sit on the wall whenever the dog was nearby and do what all cats do and lick its arse with a disdainful look at the dog.
The electric wire followed a route that took it under the entrance gate which was usually left open to allow vehicle access to the estate. Sometimes the cat would walk back and forth just outside the gate with the dog salivating and getting close enough to get some electric shocks.
One day the dog, called Chester, decided it had had enough of being taunted and sprinted as fast as whippets can go towards the gap between the fence posts where he could see the cat.
The cat, called Roger, looked on in amazement as the dog flew through the gap and took so many volts it landed on its head before rolling over in a ball with a long painful howl.
Gathering itself together it looked around for Roger only to see that he had strolled through the gates in the opposite direction and was sitting where Chester had been just a few seconds before.
To get at the cat a second time would have meant another violent shock and poor old Chester could not face it.
Whatever fencing supplies are required be it for livestock control or preventing thoughtless townies walking all over the crops then you need a supplier who understands farming.
