Bo's Turf

Did you watch the presidential news conference on health care reform last night? I did, on ABC, and the best moment came when the camera panned back for a long view of the White House as they were signing off. What was clearly visible on the White House lawn? The white flags of the Invisible Fence System! Bo is going leash-less!

We are veterans of the system having inherited it when we bought our house and as I have written before, I do not think we could have kept our two earliest dogs, George and Lucy, without having that invisible boundary. George, in particular, could leap the eight foot wooden fence that surrounds our property from a complete standstill!

He also was known to challenge the electronic boundaries but at least we had a fighting chance of keeping him contained. Lucy, too, was known to "fly" over fences but she had less interest in wandering too far from the food source.

It seems as if Bo too will be contained by electronic boundaries, reinforced, for the moment, by the white flags that grace the White House lawn. During the training phase, the dog is walked on a leash up to the flags and when he gets a warning buzz (no shock), he is told, "No" and walked away. Gradually he learns not to go any further. Eventually the flags disappear and the dog is "magically" contained. Given the huge parameters of the White House lawns, my guess is that this system is also going to be a blessing for the Obamas and from the looks of those white flags, Bo is going to have quite a lot of room to run free.

Mark my words, we are going to hear about the Invisible Fence from PETA and all those who think the shocking system is harmful to pets. What they do not realize is that the idea is for the pets NOT to get shocked--hence, no harm. What, might one wonder, would they say about confining Bo to a physical "pen" marked by wooden fence sections that were covered in chicken wire? Can you just imagine the uproar a dog run would have caused on the middle of the south lawn?

My guess is that Bo is being gently guided away from the fountains and the gardens and that the cost of keeping him contained electronically is far less than any associated with repairing the damage he could create if left to his own devices. Not to mention, it is a good lesson for those girls to train their dog.

I think it is a perfect solution for a family that is trying very hard to integrate their pooch into some kind of normal family routine. Give them credit. They are making the same decisions that many of us face when a dog enters our homes for the first time: how to contain them and keep them safe without spending a fortune to build a fence.

Not a bad model of fiscal responsibility if you ask me.