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Electric Fence & no reaction ??? Unaffected by the pain or being stoic?

Catia

Well-Known Member
Is it really possible that Tessa is unaffected by a live electric fence?

Other pooches on this farm yelped & ran or spun around immediately if they even bumped it for a second.
-Tessa just walked thru-parting the wires with her head & stepped through. She didn't run, wasn't fast.
1st couple of times she did it, the guy there said she must've gotten lucky & didn't get jolted--but she didn't get lucky the other 10+ times while we were there & she just walked thru. Sometimes 2 wires were full on her for a few seconds.

She did give it an odd look once. A slight WTF look moment & went on about her mission as if nothing happened.

Once she slightly bowed her head, but we think that was because a zebra & a horse were coming at her face 1st & she was slightly uncomfortable/unsure. Only slightly unsure, because she wasn't too uncomfortable to walk right through the fence again as soon as th zebra turned sideways--LOL she was after a prized zebra berry...a delicacy..better than deer or horse poo.

Another pooch wanted to follow, & tried, & was not successful. Tessa came back through just the same way, & didn't rush. Another pooch was completely shattered by the jolt & was freaked out for the rest of the day.

All day, she was the only dog who crossed that fence. She didn't seem to understand why other dogs weren't joining her.

Today I explored Tessa's other side--
There were 20-30 golden retrievers at times. For the one's who have been there before, it was clear they understood the fence. Most of them were born there.
The newbies tried & failed & stayed away from that moment forward.

My only explanation is that Tessa felt it but it wasn't severe enough-though it was more than adequate for the other animals there, all of the golden's, a zebra, the horses, a camel...but not Tessa.
Is it possible she just faked it & hid the pain? & if that was the case-she wouldn't keep going back right???

What is the deal with the differences in pain perception? I've heard some breeds have higher pain tolerances or mask it well. TM's being one of them.
I just find her lack of reaction hard to believe & I saw it with my own eyes.
There's no way she didn't get jolted.
I've seen her mask pain before, she shows it to no one except me-no one.---but this is an electric jolt-& it really just seemed like it didn't bother her.

On my other babbling end-since I've been gone for a while:

Today Tessa was a wonderful girl--all of the x x x-tra socialization for her 1st year is truly showing & while it exhausted me at the time, I'm so very thankful I put that time in.

Yes, she's a 1/2 breed, (mom was a golden)& Tessa is on the softer/submissive side, but she has a LOT of TM characteristics in her & will correct or react...
Today I learned Tessa herself doesn't have ANY issues with other females, meaning: no same sex aggression--which is what I suspected all along-but had no proof-just the experiences with female dogs in my (bad) neighborhood.
Now I know-the issue is the other female dogs in my 'hood are aggressive towards her, & she WILL react or correct. And she doesn't want them near me.

Today, in a group of 30 goldens, all well behaved & properly socialized, more than 1/2 of them female, there was not 1 issue...even when she entered the area & all of them came rushing her--face 1st like golden's do...no issues.

Also, since no one overtly challenged her, or jumped on her , or tried to hump-she was able to enjoy herself--& she actually didn't constantly feel the need to get between me & another dog. I, for once, was allowed to pet & play with the other dogs & enjoy myself too.

Now, a group of 20 TM's, not sure how that would be...But I imagine, if well socialized, & trained, it'd be similar, though I'd not bet any $$ on it LOL & certainly there'd not be as much toy sharing.

OH, & now I also know for sure-Although I've said it before:
Tessa greets just like a golden retriever.
Her mom being a golden, that's what she learned, & it stayed with her--every one of those retievers greets just like her--all face 1st.
They ALL spoke with the same body language-It was quite neat to watch.
Tessa stuck out like "One of these things is NOT like the other" physically-but she "got them" immediately.

I've also said Tessa was about the same size of a large male golden, but slightly thicker- maybe this was the case months ago-it is not the case now. She was the largest pooch there-though a few of the stud males were quite thick boned-she was still taller & thicker than most of the males, & significantly larger than all of the females.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Well, that coat is good insulation. But yah, probly a mixture of "its not that bad" and natural stoic.

Glad she had fun!
 

Catia

Well-Known Member
Hah! I know I saw it with my own eyes- just dunno if I can believe it's just a pesky little jolt--Unless she has some different type of pain receptors or something-If some dogs do, then maybe for her it IS just a pesky jolt-maybe she's truly mutant!

These fences keep in livestock & keep out predators like coyotes/foxes etc.
Some people use them specifically to keep aggressive dogs from fence climbing etc, & it is effective.

While I'd love to believe I have a super-dog, there MUST be a logical explanation.


Me thinks Ruth may be onto something--that TM fur IS thicker & sturdier than the golden retreiver fur-even the summer coat-& Tessa has TM fur- it stands up off her body, plus she has some curls/cowlicks that stands up a couple of inches-water can sit on her back in these curls/waves for long lengths & never penetrate to the skin...she just shakes & is mostly dry.

Too add to the mystery-it was raining for quite a bit, so the ground was wet & so was Tessa, but rain never makes it to her skin-but that doesn't accout for how she spread the wires with her head & stepped in.

I myself wanted to touch her while she was doing it, to see if it was zapping her- but thought better of that!
Those suckers HURT-I remember quite well from when I was a child.

Seriously-I'm really wondering about this.
Maybe she DID get jolted a few times & figured out which wire was/was not hot? She has odd problem solving skills. She did a thing with her head & lifted one up & stepped through, but the lower one did touch her.

It's Scooby Doo time--lets solve a mystery!

Next time I go there, I'm gonna hafta find out if all or just some of the wires are hot, & which ones.
 

jpw0025

Well-Known Member
Could really be the coat in my opinion. My shepherd mix can make it through hot wires...unless her big ears or toes touch.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Apollo doesn't notice ALOT of things, because of his coat, that affect Arty and most other dogs. So yah, I'd say that her coat was likely enough insulation to keep her from getting as much of a jolt. And its entirely possible she figured that out.....
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Huskies are notorious for treating pain as just "something to work through", and don't give it much thought beyond that... I would imagine a TM could take on that same attitude, as well.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
A TM will totally push through a zap to get at something they consider a threat, but where she was basically doing it for the fun of it, I don't KNOW that she'd look at it the same way. Which doesn't mean she wouldn't, especially if her coat was insulating her from it enough to make it less of a zap.
 

Catia

Well-Known Member
Ok, here's an update-was there last night & Tessa finally got ZAPPED.

I'm not happy about it, but am a bit relieved on the same token. She went back/forth 5-6 times to check out the zebra & camel & to score some 'zebra berries' (yuck). Yes, Tessa ain't scared of those huge creatures!
I was hoping she's get the zap on our side of the fence, not when she was trying to get back to our side--for obvious reasons.

Luckily she did get the zap on our side of the fence. I know for sure she got a full zap because she let out a big (heart breaking) yelp & was utterly freaked out--that zap shattered her world for about 30-45 seconds, & then she recovered.
I knew not to get too "aw poor baby" with her, which is hard to do when you see that look of utter confusion. It was the 1st time I ever saw any fear/confusion from her, & it only lasted a short time. So I gave her a good quick rub & said "you'll be ok baby"--Ugh!
She went back over to that spot of fence fence & checked out exactly where it occurred, but stayed about a foot out from it. So, I believe she made the connection.
However, while she did not venture back over to the other side of the fence again, in the course of about an hour & 1/2, she may try another side...that remains to be seen.