DIY

Installing a PetSafe In-Ground Dog Fence (With a Broken Trencher)

By Ryan Hurd · Published Sep 27, 2026

This wasn't our first time putting in a PetSafe in-ground fence -- we ran the same kit at our previous house, so this time around we just needed to buy more wire rather than a whole new setup. First step, a few weeks out, was calling 811 to get the all-clear on utilities before digging. Being a new build, we didn't expect to find anything running through the backyard, and that turned out to be the case. For the actual trenching, we rented an EZ Cable Flyer Trencher from Lake City Rental here in Warsaw. When we got it home, it was missing the cable guide -- the part that's supposed to feed the wire into the trench as it cuts. Lake City knocked a discount off the rental once we let them know, which was appreciated, but it meant improvising through the whole job instead of the machine doing the work it's actually built for. The trencher still cut the trench itself fine. From there, I went through by hand with a digger/cultivator tool to pull the excess loose dirt back out, we laid the fence wire in by hand, filled the dirt back in over it, and placed flags along the way to mark the fence line. Partway through running the trencher, I lost the wing-nut that holds the blade engaged, which stopped the machine cold. Managed to find it in the grass, got it back on, and finished off the last stretch -- something like 20 feet -- to close out the loop. Milo was "helping" the whole time -- my mother was watching him while Alycia and I worked, and he made himself useful in his own way: filling buckets with dirt, kicking his way through the open trenches, getting thoroughly distracted by rocks, and eventually putting flags down himself, wherever he decided they should go rather than where we'd actually marked the line. Not exactly to spec, but he was having a great time, and that counts for something. One thing worth mentioning if you're doing this yourself: we ran the wiring up and over our window and door frames on the house rather than trenching it all the way around underneath them. Saves you from having to double up the fence line running through the yard just to get around the house. Once the trench work was done, it was just a matter of getting the wire into the house -- drilled a hole into the garage, fed the wire through, plugged in the module, and connected everything up, then caulked up the hole in the garage wall once the wire was through so it's actually sealed up rather than just left open. Still have a few wires to trim and clean up inside the garage, but functionally it's done. Honestly, this would've been a quarter of the job it ended up being if the trencher had shown up with the right parts. But hand-digging the gaps wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, and having done this kit once before definitely helped. Next up: grass seed, since the yard along the trench line needs some help looking presentable again.