If it ain't one thing, it's another…the sequel
A couple of weeks ago, our dog’s invisible fence mysteriously stopped working. The control unit in the basement was sounding an alarm that indicated that there was a 
break somewhere in the buried wire that defines the fenced area. What was strange about this is that the break materialized while we were at church.
Now, I’ve cut the wire before…more than once, I’m embarrassed to admit. Every time, it was clear that I had cut the wire while doing yardwork, so I knew exactly where to look to find and fix the break. This time, I had no idea where to look.
Before I had even solved that particular problem, the washing machine began to act up. 
It decided to quit agitating the clothes during the wash cycle, instead determining that perhaps it would be OK to simply SOAK the dirty clothes for 15 or 20 minutes and that ought to get them clean enough…right?
Yesterday, Emily and I solved the fence problem. With the help of an RF-choke from Radio Shack (a whopping $1.49 part) and Emily’s AM/FM/CD walkman, we were able to walk the fence line and locate the break. Turns out that the wire ran right in front of a chipmunk hole, and they had decided to chew through it. A new bit of wire and two weatherproof caps, and we were back in business.
As for the washer…with the help of my good friends over at www.fixitnow.com, I was able to determine that the timer
is fried. New one is on its way, and I should be able to repair this sucker for about $100 (versus the $200+ that a repairman would have charged to do the deed).
Now, just keep your fingers crossed that nothing else breaks. I’m still recovering from another failed hard drive on my laptop! (At least I had online backups)
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OK Mr. McGyver, your RF choke AM / FM / CD Emily solution requires a bit more explaining. However it works, it beats the way I've had to solve this… use a long wire to attach to past breaks to isolate where the new break is.
The solution is detailed on this site, but basically the idea is that the control unit WON'T send a signal out on the line unless the circuit is completed. By connecting the leads at the control unit to either side of the RF Choke, and then connecting the choke leads to the control unit, you make the unit believe that the circuit has been completed AND you ensure that there's no problem with the signal crossing between the leads.
Once you've done that, tune an AM radio (like the one on Emily's CD player) to 540AM and hold the radio close to the ground where the wires are…you'll hear a tone when you're close to the wire. At some point, the tone will disappear and then reappear after 5-10 feet. That's the area where your break is.
The long wire solution seemed impossible to me, since even if I found a point where one half of the circuit worked and the other didn't (theoretically isolating the break), I couldn't be sure of what I had found, since there's no way for me to know which wire goes which way around the yard; the wires are twisted coming out of the house to cancel the signal there, so God only knows which one ultimately turns toward the front yard and which turns toward the back.