It seems a little strange to have to irrigate an electric fence but it works much better that way. The fence works by electricity passing through anyone or thing that touches. It passes through the body to the earth below and pow you get a shock. Now if the soil is dry then the electricity cannot pass back through the earth to the electric fence unit and you do not get a shock or only a mild one. So for the past week we have been leaving a drip line on all the time around the fence to make sure it is wet where any chicken, our guard dog Daisy, coyote, or an undesirable being would stand.