I can run through what we did, whether that's by the book or not I'm not sure, and it may depend how much kick your widget has
The key thing is you need to make a circuit. So we usually used a two strand fence - so the wire ran from the box/battery end to the opposite end, looped down to the next level on the fencepost, then ran back to the beginning. All your wires need to connect at some point, and it's usually easiest to wrap tail ends around each other at the each end of the fence. So anything touching your fence creates a smaller, "easier" circuit loop - so the current takes a short cut and your fence loses it's zap.
Our box had two clips for the two battery poles, one clip to attach to the fence wire, and one to clip to the earth. We only had one earth pole, and this was the support we attached the box itself to (like a chunky metal stake).
The box lit up and "clicked" with every pulse of charge. If you feel the need to touch the fence to check it (I'm sure you can get a widget to do this
), flick the BACK of your finger onto it. Your reflex is usually to pull hand into a fist, so this way you pull your finger away from the fence. As opposed to touching it with your palm and then grabbing it
I gather horses "prefer" a wide electric tape that's easily visible, and that pigs need at least one wire very low as they snuffle around underneath.
Be aware that horned beasties will only get a minor zap if they touch the fence with their horns.
Hope this helps, if it's confusing I can do some lurvely diagrams on Paint