PetSafe Stay + Play Wireless Fence, Covers up to 3/4 Acre, for Dogs and Cats over 5 lb., Waterproof and Rechargeable, with Tone and Static Correction

I have a 16 lb King Charles spaniel. He was fully trained on this in a week. I was afraid to use this kind of a system because I was afraid it would hurt him but really wanted him to be able to run free in the yard. Started at level 1 setting on the collar, but he didn’t notice or respond until level 5. He ended up testing the boundaries a few times but quickly learned them and so far hasn’t tried to cross them again - even for a ball, butterfly or lightning bug. Love to see him running free and to be able to play fetch in the yard. Extremely happy with this system.

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.

This works so good. We moved to an acreage and I have a very large dog who isn't that friendly. He only had to wear it for a week and he roams now without leaving the perimeter. Absolutely worth the cost

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 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.