How old were your dogs when you first let them off lead.Frankie will be allowed out shortly and am getting nervous about letting him off lead already!! He's such a confident little character...can't imagine him staying close!
Archer

I let mine off the lead (in a safe place of course!) on their first walk off our property ...
:)

I let mine off after a couple of days, just waited until she had got used to the routine - (she did have the older one to follow around, but I would have done the same even if she was an only child :) )

Daisy

Usually on the first walk. Certainly within the first two to three days. While they still do not know where they are. That way they are not too bold so stay close to me.

Best wishes, John

Leo went on his second walk today and we havent let him off yet because trying to call him back when hes on his extendable lead doesnt work too well. So will wait until his recall is better, mainly because where we walk him is a huge park and he can run so fast. There are 2 roads near one busy and one quiet so id never let him off until we were well into the park but hes still a bit scared at the moment anyway

Always wait till I have a reasonable recall, as you know with our breed you can never say it is perfect but I find the offering of a treat normally works once they know that responding to the word come may bring forth a treat. Mind you they will usually stay with you for the first few walks because it is so new and they are a bit worried, that is if their name is not The Sod, of course.

Let mine off on first walk outside the property, always figured that at that age they were not a quick so I could catch them if need be :)  Never had a problem :).

Same here, libbys first walk, was a quick trip round the block, so I kept her on the lead. Next walk was in more rural surroundings, and we let her off, she never likes to let us out of her sight even now.

liberty :)

At about 14 weeks Spice's first walk off-lead,was in 'safe' woodland area away from roads,but I did take OH with me as he can run much faster than me :D

First swimming session this Saturday just gone Spice is now almost 6months.Also took OH on that occasion too :D She did wonderfully fetching sticks back to us from our local canal and jumping in after the first couple of 'slides' off the bank.We did check it was safe and clear for her first though,no snagging branches,weed or wildlife anywhere before we let her into the water.Our previous dog was always a swimmer in fact we thought she was probably an otter reborn :D

We play a lot of hide and seek with her to encourage her to come and 'find us' which works well and we put her on and off her lead occasionally to let her know that being on her lead doesn't necessarily mean the walk is over! When on occasion we have had difficulty getting her back,although she's never far from us,we have run in the opposite direction calling her and it seems to work,especially when the rabbit holes are proving more interesting than us :)

Jacqueline

Hi

My girl was of lead on her very first walk. So she was 8½ weeks old. And still so little, that she couldn't run fast enough to get away from me :-)

Jeanette

For me, it was when she was about 5 months!  But I live in a town so it would not be possible on most walks, and the local park is a small park with a massive lake with vicious swans and is completely open at the bottom leading down to the Thames!  Therefore I waited until we took her on a wasteland walk with my sister's dog.  It probably would have been sooner if we lived near any enclosed areas but then I'm a big chicken so maybe not! :-D

As soon as they could go out - but they did have older dogs to follow.

One of the pups from my last litter wasn't let off at all until about a year old. He's a nightmare to catch. (I don't live with him - but they come and visit now and then ;) )

The sooner you let them off the lead the sooner they learn it's normal to come back when called and your trust in them is rewarded so much quicker :)

Just to say we let Leo off for a bit today in the park in a secure area - He's 14 weeks and it was his 3rd walk in the park so he was still 2 scared to run away and came back when we called him - The other two days OH had been running with him on the lead and then when I called they came running back, so dont know if thats helped with him coming back or not.