My neighbor is psycho

[caly410]

We have two young boxers that are pretty hyper active. We live out in the country and we have a very big yard. Previously, we just let our dogs run loose in the yard and we never had any problems, so when we got our new puppies, we thought we could just do the same. For the most part, they like to stay around in our yard but every once in a while they like to explore. My neighbor up the street has younger kids and a dog, so of course my dogs frequently like to visit their house. My dogs are harmless, they love children and they never seem to try to fight with our neighbors dog but for some reason our psycho neighbor does not like them in her yard.
One night we let our dogs loose to run and we heard gun shots from up the road, and then our dogs came running back to our house. We've heard our dogs yelping from their yard once and then another time my mom let them out during the day and my neighbor literally screamed at her telling her that the next time our dogs came into our yard they were going to shoot them both.
We would really like to let our dogs run without worrying about them running into the neighbors yard and getting killed. Is there any way that we could train them not to leave our yard? We've looked into invisible fences but we've heard a lot of negative responses from our friends and family who say that bigger dogs don't seem to care about the shock when it comes to getting out of the yard. Any suggestions on methods to teach them that the neighbor's yard is a bad place for them to be?

[Margot49]

Whoops.  Sorry, that was for caly

[skepticalpeach]

I don't live in the country.

[Margot49]

I realize you live in the country and many like to let their dogs roam freely.  That is really not a safe thing to do for a number of reasons.  Sorry, except fir shooting the dogs, have to side with your neighbor on this one, ESP since they have kids.  Dogs, ESP a "pack" can do some serious damage if that mind set sets in.  Your neighbor has a right to be able to enjoy their property and decide whom or what they allow on it.  I am sure you don't want your animals lost or hurt and want to keep good relations with the neighbors.  You certainly don't want them to start filing complaints.  If you can't fence off the entire area, section off a good size area just for the dogs to be turned out in.
You can do this with wood, chain link or even the orange plastic fencing tied to poles temporarily.  If not, get some lunge lines and take them out on those.
An ounce of prevention may be worth a pound of cure.

[skepticalpeach]

The best thing I can think of is a fence. Unless you stay out there with them and train them to come back when you call (which is probably a good thing to do anyway), the fence may be your best bet. You could also hire a trainer to help you figure it out.