Question
I have a friend that would like to allow their dog to roam a large, unfenced, yard during the day but an "invisible" electric fence would be too prohibitive for the terrain.
Are there any alternatives, like GPS trackers for dogs that have an "electric fence" feature, that will train the dog to not stray from a defined area? And how safe would they be?
Answer
A basic search online against "GPS electric fence" using any given search engine reveals several brands of electric fences using GPS technology vs. using wireless technology. Here is a video explaining the technology.
In my experience with GPS, there is too much delay, variance, false positives, inaccuracy, and unreliability. That being said, I have NO experience with GPS-based electric fences and therefore can only speak from the following GPS-related experience:
I am friends with several parole officer-types who monitor GPS-based ankle-bracelet-wearing convicts. The convicts check in from certain places at certain hours, to confirm they are at home or at a job, but not anywhere they shouldn't be. I have witnessed several times when my parole officer friends are alerted (by text/phone) that a convict is not where he is supposed to be at a given time, and they have to contact/locate the convict. Many of these times, it is the GPS mis-alerting where the bracelet is located, or the bracelet isn't sending a signal, and my friends have to call and/or drive to confirm the convict location.
Perhaps it is the quality of the GPS device being used, but witnessing how potentially inaccurate they can be, I would not rely on GPS for ensuring containment of my dog. I wouldn't want to allow an accuracy error of 30 feet for my dog near a street, let alone the 10 foot error radius mentioned in keshlam's answer.
Answered By - JoshDM