Bailey still figured out that she could run right through with only a mild shock.

If the pain goes away by "keeping going", that's not surprising. It is not to say that they are effective in all situations, but the newer electric fences are a little subtler -- they use a 2-step approach. As the dog approaches the boundary, first a beeper on the collar goes off and, if the dog goes closer, *then* a shock is delivered. After a while, the idea is that the dog will form an association and will turn back when the beep sounds. More effective, supposedly (makes sense to me) and less nasty over the long haul.

A friend of mine is a long-time search dog and general purpose dog trainer. He gets good results, but is not doctrinaire. It's his sense that there is still a fair amount of controversy and misinformation out there. He's big on canine pack role behavior (owner must be top dog) positive reinforcement and follow-through -- don't tell a dog to do something that you aren't ready to back up. Beyond that, he'll pick and choose to find what works. He has a "runner" now who has earned some shock collar time. I gather with the shock fences, as with many things, one main contributor to failure is that owners don't devote enough up-front time with their dogs to help embed the dog's associations.

All that being said, the thought of a poor dog standing dumbstruck getting repeatedly shocked would be too much for me to bear.