PetSafe Stay & Play Compact Wireless Fence - Covers Up to 3/4 Acre - for Dogs 5lb+ - Portable and No Digging Required

This is the first wireless fence we purchased and it will be the only kind we purchase if we have to replace it. I love the fact that this unit is wireless and there are no underground wires or anything like that. We have this unit setting out of sight at the back of our bookcase. We decided to turn the unit around so at night we wouldn't notice the bright blue light that admits from the front of the unit. We live in a small subdivision so traffic isn't usually too bad and for the most part people are very considerate since most of them have dogs and cats to begin with. We set the perimeter up on 45 ft which lets them go up to about 15 feet from the road at our house. Set up was simple and took about 45 minutes to an hour outlining the perimeter with the flags. make sure you are at the dogs neck level when you set up the flags so they will get the correct reading. After all was set up, i took both dogs, male (Stanley, 4 months old and 14 lbs) and female (Olivia, 9 months old and 15 lbs) Miniature Schnauzers, out to play and show them the fence. I set both collars to train mode and with some of their training treats I took them up to the flags and once their collars started beeping i walked them back to the safe zone and gave them the treat. We only went through about 5 flags set up through the yard, played a little bit and went back in. The next day we did the same thing and went through about 5 more flags. I noticed on the third day once they heard the beep the would almost always turn around and come back to me. Unlike the directions, on the fourth day, I placed the collars on setting one, the least harmful shock, and let the out in the yard.Both dogs did great the first few times by staying in the flag zone and coming back to the safe zone once they heard the warning beep. However, the 4th, maybe 5th time we went outside my male dog Stanley got shocked and came running back to me startled and a little confused. I played with him and let him know that he was ok and walked him back up to the fence and as soon as we heard the beeping sound again he turned around and went back to the safe zone. I again praised him for turning around and we went back inside About a week later he got shocked again and so far, that has been the last time. My female dog Olivia did a lot better. She has only been shocked once and it was about 2 weeks into training. A few days after the dogs were last shocked we removed all the perimeter flags.As of this review, we have been using this item for a little over 2 months with fantastic results. Sometimes when we get home and are in a hurry to get them out the door we forget to put their shock collars on but they seem to have memorized their boundaries because they have not yet went passed their perimeter with or without the collars on since the last shock incident. One thing that we did do different than the instruction book is we took both dog's collars off when we put their shock collars on and put their regular collars back on when the shock collars came off. I'm not sure if they know they don't have the shock collars on all the time or what but they both seem to know their limits and this is especially helpful on the times you forgot the collars or if they are both charging. I do like that the charging cord will charge both collars on the same cord, but I do wish their was an option to buy a one or two dog set up so I wouldn't have had to purchase a separate collar because they are not cheap My only complaint is that if you have to use the high setting there is a very obnoxious humming noise that comes from the machine.The reason I did not take a star away from this is because we use the max on the low setting since that covers what we need. If our yard was bigger, I probably would have rated this 4 stars instead of 5.

This is an excellent product, in my experience, and I’ve had it over five years. I use it with a rambunctious German shepherd and added a housemate’s stubborn little husky; I have two transmitters so they have a little over an acre where they can romp to their hearts’ content. My pup is out there a good four hours total on an average nice day. Setting up the second receiver was easy, and adding the second collar was just a matter of charging it and putting it on the dog. Make sure the receiver is placed in a fairly high location; I have one in my attic. I’ve taken this when traveling and staying in other houses. Bring some flags if you do this, but it was a great way to confine my dog w/o having to tie her. I keep the correction for my shepherd at the top level, and it’s remarkably effective. The deer in my fields know as well as she does where the perimeter is, and the rotten creatures will come within 15 ft of her (I swear they’re snickering at her). I get 2-3 weeks on a charge with the collar turned on all the time. Original collar... at least 5 years old. Be sure you remove it during power outages. Also, ALWAYS MAKE SURE IT’S OFF BEFORE LETTING THE DOG IN A CAR (the metal will block the transmitter signal). And especially resist the temptation to leave the collar on the dog all the time, esp. when left alone: power outages and other problems do come up. It was a pain to determine the perimeter on a rocky and steeply sloped part of my yard (the rest was easy). The base transmits in a sphere, so take that into account during setup, and don’t be surprised if the perimeter is quite irregular. I kept checking every 2-3 feet when placing flags (for large properties you might want to get extra flags). The perimeter sometimes varies as much as 3-4’. Trained my dog by walking inside the perimeter every day for about 3 days, and after that she had it down. Like a lot of dogs, she knows what it means when she’s wearing the collar and when she’s not, but she still stays in the perimeter from habit, and many other dogs will probably do the same. She looks forward to having the collar put on, since she knows it means she can go chase squirrels. Some dogs will take off as soon as you remove the collar, though, so be careful. Truly devious dogs will hang out in the audible correction range and let it wear down the battery so they can run the perimeter. I suggest replacing the dog in this case. (Okay, maybe not) Customer service is either Canada- or US-based, and they were very helpful whe I had questions about the correction levels. The rep mentioned that part of their training involved testing the correction levels on their own palms to get an idea exactly what they felt like. I tried it: ouch! But it’s not inhumane (for the dog). Once they know the perimeter, there’s generally no reason why they’ll need to feel the correction more than a couple of times. The audible signal starts well before the correction, so they have plenty of time to decide if they’re really going to be stupid. Problems: I’ve had to resynch the transmitters twice now after power outages. That’s all. This product is more expensive than many on the market, but in my experience the quality, design, and customer service make it well worth the cost. Can’t find a manufacturing location on the base, but the collar is (or at least was) made in Canada. I recommend this product for anyone with a reasonably sane dog and a property that’s at least moderately level, with no metal obstructions. Place transmitter at least 4’ away from large appliances, radiators, and other sources of interference. Once it’s set up, it’s great!

I have had this system for 5 months now and it has done a very good job at keeping my dog contained to the yard. With that said, I recently lost power when I was home and witnessed what has been happening to my dog every time I have lost power (when I am not home). When the power goes out, the system instantly starts "correcting" or zapping the dog. I lost power last night at my home for roughly 10 seconds. My dog jumped up and took off like a bat out of hell, in the pitch black, screeching and squealing like a stuck pig. At first I was surprised to see my dog was that scared of the dark. Then, I realize that my dog isn't scared of the dark after all! He was getting a constant shock from his collar! Now, picture yourself peacefully minding your own business laying on the cool concrete of a garage floor (perfectly inside the "containment area") then before you know what happens everything goes dark and you are getting a 20 second shock! Feel bad for the little fella? I agree, he went from being a "Good Boy" minding his own business to Ted Bundy in the electric chair in .2 seconds! Now I know you are thinking "something has to be wrong with my system"... Well I called PetSafe today thinking there is no way a company literally named "PetSafe" would intentionally sell something that tortures poor little Fido on purpose. According to the company rep the system as working as designed and that the shocking on power loss is just a downfall to the wireless system. Her recommendation was to install a wired fence system and "give Fido extra treats and love for his suffering". I think the PetSafe electrical engineers need to put the collar on their neck and unplug the transmitter to see if "the collar times out" is an acceptable answer.... But what do I know, I am in product support and not an "electrical engineer".

I bought the PIF-300 in March of 2010. Recently, 2 of the 4 collars on that unit just stopped working. After checking this newest version out, I decided to spend the money and get lighter weight, water resistant and rechargeable collars. Setup was a breeze - considering all 4 of my dogs already knew their boundaries on the old model and this model provides a little further coverage. I just plugged it in, set it in the same central location, charged the batteries, set the shock level, and away we went. Compared to the previous version, this is definitely an improvement as far as the collars go. The units sit INSIDE the collar, much neater and more secure fit. The older unit sat outside the collar and was bulky and fell off. The shock prongs are firmly fastened to the base unit on the collar. The older model prongs were constantly coming loose and washers falling out. The base unit is 1/4 the size of the older model so it takes up much less space. The black collars and units are more sleek looking than the older version with the red collars. First complaint...These collars have NO clip for your dog tag. It's pretty important to me that my dogs are wearing their tags at all times, in case they escape. They are all micro-chipped, but on a weekend or evening, that does no good. I want a clearly visible tag for anyone that might find them. I had to jam it into the plastic clip section for now. Second complaint....The base unit makes a fairly noisy winding sound and gets pretty hot to the touch. The older model was very quiet and didn't get hot at all. Because these new collars will work with the older unit, I'm holding onto the old base "just in case". Third complaint....Apparently this model has an alarm that will sound when the power goes off. It will continue sounding for 30 minutes. This feature should be an OPTION. If the power should go off while I'm at work, and my dogs are inside (as they always are), this alarm will sound and annoy them for that time period. I don't find this feature necessary since I'm pretty sure I'll know that the power is out without the alarm sounding. All in all, this model is an improvement over the previous version. I will say that I hope this unit and collars give me more than 2½ years life compared to the older model. 10.8.12 UPDATE. So, after one week of use, all 4 collar batteries died. Considering they were used perhaps 7 hours total, not impressive. I got more life out of the older model collar. Furthermore, all 4 batteries went from green (assume lowest % at 60%) to red (assume highest % at 20%) with NO yellow indication and within 10 minutes of seeing a flashing green light AND some while sitting overnight (when not in use at all). How batteries drained themselves that much, that fast or when not in use, is beyond me. Then they were put on the charger and fully charged within 20 minutes (when the manual states it takes 2-3 hours to achieve full charge)? Either the light indicators are malfunctioning (since no yellow light) or these collars themselves are not functioning properly. When you have 4 dogs that need this system to function to contain them, and the collars go from green to red in mere minutes, you are left with dogs that can escape because the collar isn't working and you received no notification of it. The warning system of yellow flashing lights isn't working on any of my collars.

I received the Play & Safe Compact Unit a couple of weeks ago for my one year old Boxer female. She is a wanderer and so I needed a system to keep her contained in our yard. We live in a rural area, large property. This system has worked! I set the boundary at 70 feet so she has plenty of room to run and play. I set the static shock on level 2 and it only took one time for her to respect the tone and shock so her training was incredibly short. She has not left the boundary area and immediately returns to her safe area when she hears the warning beep. The only thing I discovered, which was my fault for not reading the information completely when I ordered, is that the battery on the collar that comes with this unit is not replaceable. So if the collar stops working I will need to order another collar. I also have a three year old male German Shepherd.. He is normally good about staying home, but he occasionally travels up the gravel road and since we also live close to a main heavily traveled road I decided to purchase another collar for him. As I was researching the collar I called customer service. That is when I found out that the collar I have does not have replacement batteries. The rep told me that any of the Pet Safe wireless systems collars will work with my system so I ordered a collar that uses the RFA 67 D replacement batteries and I ordered extra batteries for this new collar. I will eventually need to order this same collar for my Boxer when the collar stops working, no idea how long it will last. They say several months but I will find out. The larger Pet Safe Play and safe unit costs more than the unit I purchased and comes with the replacement battery collar and this is the extra collar I ordered, based on the fact that the rep at customer service said that any of the collars are interchangeable between systems. So far I have no complaints about this system and I am very satisfied with it, it keeps my dog home and safe. It is so easy to set up. I have it sitting on the counter in the kitchen, plugged it in, charged the collar and that was it. So far so good, works great. I couldn't give a rating on the battery yet so left it unrated for now. I wanted to write this review as a heads up for anyone looking for a good containment system and so they would be aware of the collar battery issue. Overall I would recommend this system.

I copied my review from the one I wrote on the collar to here, so if you look at an additional collar for this system, you'll see the same review: We have 2 dogs on this system and one of them is a long, thick haired Husky mix who was EXTREMELY hard to keep in the yard. He likes to run, and I didn't think anything could hold him. This Stay & Play system has been awesome. The first few days they both tested it a few times, running after rabbits and trying to follow people out walking their dogs. The Husky tried to run through it (he's been on an underground fence before) and quickly learned that running through it was not a good idea. They have both stayed in the yard ever since. We live in the country on top of a hill, one side of which is steep and ends about 50 feet down from where we keep the transmitter. I was worried that it would be a problem, but it doesn't seem to affect the signal at all. In fact, the only thing that I've found does affect the signal are trees. We have a line of trees at the end of our yard and they bounce the signal in several feet. Doesn't bother us any though because we prefer that they don't go past them anyway. The battery life isn't bad. We had to recharge it after the first 2 weeks, but I think that was because they were testing it. It's been 3 weeks since then and we haven't had to charge it again. I'm guessing sometime within the next week, we'll need to recharge based on other reviews. Our dogs wear them 24/7 and we don't turn them off when they come in. It doesn't seem to bother them at all to wear them. I haven't seen any signs of irritation on their skin. We have a 2 story log house. The logs do not affect the signal at all (not sure why trees do). The dogs can go upstairs and there is no interruption of the signal. As I understand it, the system is based on a radio signal. As long as the collar receives the signal, the dog is not shocked. There are no blind spots where the dog can go through. If the dog goes out of range, it loses the radio signal, and it will give a warning and within a second start shocking, and the dog must either return to the yard or after several seconds the shock eventually stop. They are several LONG seconds for the dog, if they choose not to return to the yard. There is not much time between the warning and the shock, but as long as the dog learns the boundary it's not really an issue. We had to put both collars on level 4 for our dogs. We tried the lower levels but they are very stubborn and rabbits are really fun to chase.

I would have given 5 stars up to this point. I don’t normally write reviews. Set this up may 8 2024. Dog learned boundary after one day. I set the collar on two, then quickly moved to three and landed on 5. I have a shepherd mix. I also graduated to the longer contact points when my dog followed me past boundary and stayed there with short contact points on level four. Thankfully we moved quickly back to safe zone. He’s a very stubborn dog to say the least. So the system has been working like a charm. After one week most flags are removed and dog roams freely within the boundary. No incidents. I always turn off the transmitter when dog comes inside and turn it back on when dog exits the house. No problems. But today! Dog comes inside and lays down. He begins to fall asleep. I notice I failed to turn off transmitter. I always turn it off when dog comes inside because I’m paranoid the thing will go off, malfunction, and zap poor little dog. Can you imagine? So I go to turn off transmitter and dog jumps up! I hear this quick beeping noise and dog is shaking. I assume he was getting zapped or whatever that collar does. I quickly unplug transmitter. That disabled the collar. And I console my poor dog. It would be great if support could reach out and explain what happened. I may have to return this and find an alternative. 5/20/2024 5/22/2024- update: customer care replied after this posted. But first, I experienced another issue I have a concern with: when I powered the transmitter back on I noticed the boundary amount reset. Why??? I had it set for 80 feet and it changed to 22 feet! If I hadn’t noticed this dog would have received unwanted feedback while in his safety zone. My dog is now scared to re enter the house. Response from CC: With what occurred, it sounds like the collar activated because you turned off the wireless transmitter base. Our wireless collar activates when it loses the signal from the transmitter base. This typically occurs if your dog reaches or goes past the fence boundary. However, if the transmitter is turned off or unplugged, this can cause the collar to activate because it will lose the signal from the transmitter. If a correction like this does occur, the collar for this model has a 15 second safety timeout that prevents it from activating indefinitely. To prevent any accidental activations that may occur, we recommend not powering off or unplugging the transmitter base while your dog is wearing the collar. If you have concerns about the possibility of power outages for your home, we recommend using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) with the system so your dog is safely contained until you can bring him indoors. This will also prevent the possibility of accidental activations due to power loss.

Think it won't happen to you? Yeah, neither did I, but six months ago my 5 year old Border Collie/German Shepherd Dog chased a squirrel out into the road and got clipped by a car. She was lucky; only a broken front leg, but the leg was broken badly, had problems healing and six months, countless animal hospital visits, two surgeries and shock wave therapy later, she is finally able to roam free in the yard again. I have over two acres of land and two dogs. My other dog is a 7 year old German Shepherd mix as well and while she respects her boundaries, my five year old tends to get "in the zone" when she is chasing something and nothing else matters. Until now that is... I bought two of these units so that I can overlap the signal and got two collars that way. Set up was a breeze; the worst part is figuring out where you want your boundaries to be and then setting the flags. They are pretty much plug and play once the collars are charged. I have a garage on the back of my property so putting one there and one in the house garage ended up working near perfectly, with the exception that it creates a bit of a figure eight, so the boundary is pretty narrow in some spots. Obviously if I moved the units closer together this would not be an issue but I wanted to get the maximum acreage out of the units to allow my dogs as much freedom as possible while still keeping them safe. I won't lie to you...it hurts to train them, especially if they are older dogs and have had a lot more freedom in the past. It takes them a few days to understand why they can't go the same places that they used to and when they get the "correction" it momentarily hurts them and confuses them. Yes, it hurts. I tried it on myself. It hurts while it happens but leaves no lasting effect. When they yelp and jump it will break your heart, but it is absolutely needed. The level of correction depends on the dog. My older dog was on a 3 and was traumatized for two days afterward but has since gotten over it. My younger dog, the one that got hit by a car, was not phased by 3 at all and I ended up giving her the highest setting. It only took two corrections for her to understand that when she hears the beep she'd better turn back and get back onto the property. Tonight she was chasing a bird at full speed and stopped short before the boundary. I was amazed. Is the system expensive? You betcha. But it's worth every penny. After spending upwards of $6k to fix my girl after getting hit by a car, trust me, it's a pretty small price to pay. Not to mention not having to walk her in the yard on the cold New England winter nights anymore which is priceless. I love that they can once again use the doggie door to the house and come and go as they please without me ever worrying that they will leave their yard. It only takes 10 seconds for them to make a bad decision and get hurt. A couple of notes: I had some issues with wishy-washy boundaries and lack of beeping/correction when I first set it up and read that you should not place near metal objects. Since both of my units were in garages and near cars/metal door frames, etc. mounting the units up high on the walls as far away as possible from metal corrected that issue. MAKE SURE YOUR COLLARS ARE CHARGED! They will emit a beep when they need to be charged and it confuses your poor dog if they are in the yard when it beeps or if they hear the beep while they are in the house. I turn the collars off now when not in use (whenever they are in the house) and make sure they are charged as often as possible. My next door neighbor has the other unit with the battery operated collars and constantly complains that the batteries do not last long at all, so the fact that these collars are rechargeable was another plus for me. We shall see how long they last. This product gets a five star rating from me. It has only been a few weeks since I received it but I am already very pleased with the peace of mind it has given me, ease of use and how quickly my dogs adapted to it.