When's the best time to let your pup off the lead.  My pups 14 weeks and Ive had her for 4 weeks now.  We practice in the garden and she does come back, shes gets a treat for it.  Just wondered what other people have done.

Hi Lab Lover

I'd have done it by now :)  I find when they first get off lead (if done early enough - different with a rescue/rehome dog) that they don't tend to want to stray too far from me - for the more cocky ones I let them off and hide from them just to instil the idea that they'd do well to keep close and keep an eye on me :D

I personally think it helps them grow in confidence too and when meeting other dogs (that we know to be friendly of course) they learn better how to approach play or avoid interaction without giving off any strange signals.

HTH, good luck, Teri :)  

Many people (me included!) let them off the lead from the first walk - as long as we're in a safe place, of course! When they're not used to the big outside they'll be unsure and want to stick close to familiar things - ie, you! Which is exactly what you want them to do - to watch to see where you are and stay close. When they get older and bolder they'll be much keener to leave you and go exploring - then you've got much less chance of teaching them that you're where they want to be. :)

thanks for that - i suppose its just down to confidence!  Id be really upset if she ran off - which is a possibilty, will keep you posted
x

Practice calling her to you - perhaps use a favourite toy. Make sure that you don't put her lead on at every recall, otherwise she will start to not come back as she'll think that coming to you is always the end of the fun. Don't forget to make a big fuss every time she comes back, even if she hasn't come straight away :D

Daisy

Aw, she'll be fine - you'll probably be a bag of nerves though :D  Good thing is, being unattached by a lead she won't know that!

Teri :)

Take her somewhere she won't be too easily distracted by other people and dogs and is well away from traffic and then go for it. At 14 weeks she's more likely to be worried about where you are! It's always nerve wracking but it's so much more fun walking off lead.

Rather reminds me of my recall problems with my old dalmatian boy :D I used to walk him on the army camp when we lived in the quarters outside. His recall was less than perfect (ahem) but we never met other dogs and he couldn't get out the camp without me.

That didn't stop him "extending" our walk by a good 30 minutes or so when he felt like it.

On one particularly bad evening, he decided to be really norty and dance an arms length away from me for an hour or so. I ran off, hid, screamed, shouted, yelled, cried - all to no avail. He just skipped around me, panting and sniggering :rolleyes:

I was finally sitting on the ground, in the dark, quietly rocking with despair, sobbing and cursing the aforementioned dally to a life of constant pain and a prong collar when a drunken squaddie came lurching out the mess asking what was wrong "I can't get me dog back *sniff* he hates me, he's terrible at his recall" at which point the aforementioned very drunk, dribbling and falling over squaddie called the evil one (the dog) who trotted up and sat in front of him for his lead to go on.

B*@$%&*D

I wish I had found this site earlier in my dogs life. I didnt know any better and didnt let him off til he was 7 months old!!!! Not that hes any trouble anyway and his recall is great but I think it would have done more for his confidence if I had let him off while he was younger.

Opinions vary greatly on this subject I have found from this forum. At the time of getting my GSD pup all the advice was that untill you had 100% recall not to let puppy off lead. We attended puppy classes and trainers there said the same, so we had Gabi on a long line for ages. The trainer at class told us keep going with the long line untill 2 years old. The older Gabi got the more she approached other dogs agressively. We are now being told by behaviourists that she should have been let off lead when very young as the posters are now saying. Helps with learning doggie manners they say, dogs behaving differently towards each other when free. Can't go back in time unfortunateley so having to have desensitising sessions but fear that she will never change. 

Hi Gaby,

It's a shame things have turned into a trial for your (now older) puppy - as you say, opinions vary and all any of us can do (certainly with our first ever dog or move into a breed totally different to what we've had prior experience of) is weigh up the pros and cons and then go by wing, prayer and gut instinct :)

Some breeds this (letting them off lead almost immediately) may not be suitable for, others it's certainly an advantage in most circumstances but, and it's a big but, a lot depends on where posters querying what to do have by way of good dog walking facilities and a chance of getting some local knowledge of which dogs are OK and which ones are best avoided.

Many of us on here are lucky (or mad enough :rolleyes: ) to have introduced or bred and then gone onto train multiple dogs over a far shorter period than the average family would be getting a new puppy (probably only once every 12-15 years)   Even then , our experiences will not be identical but we have the added advantage of 20/20 hindsight :P and also are more likely to have a wider knowledge of the dog-friendly population (human and canine) in our locations.

I sincerely hope that you manage to overcome the problems you've been experiencing.

Regards Teri :)

Main problem we have had is that our nearest park only has mainly toy breeds or staffs. The toy owners where scared to death of our GSD pup and the staffs were at the other end of the scale. Many of them owned by teenagers who thought it great fun to let their dogs attack others. Our vet had warned us that they had had many dogs come in to them attacked by staffs at our park. There were only two owners of dogs that Gabi could socialise with. One a beautiful gentle giant, great dane and a lady who owned a lab, golden retriever, rough collie and a mongrel. These dogs she had great fun with, but recall was not easy it being so rare that she had the opportunity. All was not lost as her dogs although totally off lead stuck to their owner like glue and Gabi would just follow hers. At puppy training class all the dogs were smaller than Gabi and as she was so boisterious they asked that we keep her on lead so as not to frighten the other pups. We are no novices to owning GSD's and have had 5 over the last 40 years but the first one with her problems. Any new owners reading this I would like to impress on them that the window of oppertunity is so small for this socialisation especially if you own a large breed and obsession with this goal will reap its great rewards and less heartache.

just got back off walk - she was fine off her lead, 1 big dog scared her and she ran off - I could see her in the distance so when the dog had disappeared I called her and she came to me - was a bit scarey for a few seconds.  Will try again tomorrow and thanks again for your replies it gave me confidence

I am a great believer in letting youngsters off lead as soon as possible. I do understand those that insist on a perfect recall before allowing their dogs off but IMO this can lead to dog aggression if the pup has not ben allowed to learn how to socialise properly with other dogs. Inter dog behaviour is a subtle thing and youngsters that have never learned how to approach adult dogs off lead are often fearful/aggressive once older.

There seems to be a growing trend on viewing normal dog behaviour as 'problematic' - My friends dog was shouted at for sniffing another dogs bum at the local park - ( no it was not in season - it was another male !), far too many small dogs are picked up when their owners see larger dogs appproaching thus reinforcing in their dogs mind that other dogs are dangerous/scary.

There is no more joyous sight than a group of dogs all playing together - what a shame if we deny our dogs this pleasure through our lack of understanding of their natural behaviour.

Yvonne

I felt priviledged to watch 3 puppies playing together the other day - an EBT, a Lab and a Cocker Spaniel.  Nothing too unusual in that, except the EBT owner had prevented the dog even sniffing noses with the others to start with, as she 'didn't know what he was like with other dogs'.  She was surprised when I suggested letting them all off lead together, but delighted and amazed when her 3 month old pup was play bowing and chasing with the best of them!  Yes, he was very excited, but he was a perfect gentleman at all times........  I wonder if this pup would EVER have been allowed off lead otherwise and what his behaviour would have ended up like with other dogs through simple frustration :(

It's a similar situation where I live - small breed dogs are often picked up when larger ones are with distant sight and are kept permanently on a flex from puppyhood.  Often they end up being nervous and snappish even when being carried passed :(

Equally we have two very beautiful long haired GSDs which have never been allowed off lead and they are now prone to lunging at anything - including cyclists and joggers.  I'm sure with correct opportunity to socialise early on these situations could have been avoided.   :(

I agree with JG, my dogs are hardly on the lead at all (except for safety reasons on roads etc and for courtesy reasons) this starts at 7 weeks old.  However I NEVER put them in situations where they could be at risk from other dogs etc. 

I know that some  breeds apparently can never be let of the lead safely but most can IF the training has been consistent and relentless however it has to be said that many owners do not train this sufficiently.

Breeds have differing outlooks on life, my HPRs are wide ranging and hunt for a past time therefore they need two years of incessant training to have them at the standard I PERSONALLY require for my purposes.

My GSD on the other hand is difficult to get rid of! :D

I spend a huge amount of time ensuring that my dogs will recall from ALL situations, other dogs, people, animals, food etc etc etc

Just make sure that the environment you practice in is set up to give you the best chance to succeed.  Also remember that "Velcro" dog will turn into "Bogoff" dog anytime from 6 months onwards, this is nature's way to cut apron strings.  However as a lot of owners fail to prepare adequately for this inevitability and are lulled into a false sense of security whilst their pups are tiny this is where accidents happen........

Distance, distraction and difficulty need to be practised in isolation before expecting a dog to cope with situations which are far too stimulating for him.

My pup stayed on lead until he was nearly 4 months old because it was what was expected at my club I went to at the time. He was allowed free runs in the closed off areas which are meant for children, as long as they were empty, but other than that he stayed on a flexi. I have to say though, now with more experience, I would let my next pup off earlier but only away from other loose dogs and in completely safe areas. My latest dog was a rescue who supposedly had a fantastic recall but I didn't agree so he stayed on flexi for a couple of weeks until he got the message and now he's fine.

Tohme I love that! :-)  My velcro dog turned into BOGOF dog for the first time on Saturday!  He's 18 months.  Back to basics I guess!

I let mine of lead to meet other dogs(previously arranged) from 13 weeks on a regular basis, he loved it and got used to that freedom. As he was too young to have a good recall he also got used to ignoring me. I may have made a mistake, i dont know, then when he got bigger and more of a liability and less of a cute - forgive him anything- puppy, i had to long line him and teach him a good recall which took a good year. Not sure what i would do next time, depends on the dog I suppose and if you have helpful friends with dogs, empty fields etc. The most useful thing was a having a friend with a dog that mine adored so he would stay close to us because she did. Now he is older he wants to stick close(GSD) but he didnt start out that way.I love him to bits.

I had the same thing with my GSD.  He was fantastic at recall until about 7 months old, when he decided that after playing with a dalmation pup he wanted to go home with him instead of me!!  I knew the other owner was a nice bloke so I did what I'd been advised should he not come back and continued to walk in the oposite direction to him-the idea being he would think "oh-oh, she's not coming, I'd better follow her" But NO!! He disowned me and carried on with the dal pup so I had a very red faced and long walk to get him back from the other owner who was waiting at the far gate with both pups and from that day onnwards, he knew I'd go get him when I was desperate enough so never recalled and stayed on a long line.  Even one-to-one training with a police dog trainer didn't work and he never made an inpact either!  Sooo stubborn.

I think at the end of the day it depends on your dog. With mine I knew he would come back no matter what, although I still didn't let him off too young, I know I would have got away with it. You know your dog best, you just need to be aware that the moment they choose not to come back they are a liability and the number of dogs I see being chased around the park because their owners can't get them back. My youngster refused to come back once, he spent the next 2 weeks on lead. He's never done it since. I also only call once, then I go and get them and tell them off. If you stand there calling over and again they learn to switch off as it becomes meaningless noise. Also, if you get them you are within your rights to tell them off, if you call them for half an hour and they eventually come back, you are forced to praise them as they have by now done as they were told, albeit far too late.

hi colliesrus

you only shout once?!  I only have to shout once or twice and she comes back (at the moment)  I would be afraid if i went to get her after calling her once, she might run off.  We all have our own ways of doing things.  My pup met 5 dogs all at once today, she did really well.  I think its me that needs the confidence:-)  thanks for all your posts

Ah yes but here's where letting them off as pups comes in handy, if you have to run after her you can catch her! As you say, everyone does things different and it's whatever works for you but I bet you would find if you had to run after her she would lie down in submission rather than run away. None of my dogs have figured out they could out run me yet! But it sounds as though she is ok so I wouldn't worry. :)

You wouldn't catch my dog by running after her, not even as a puppy :D  The only way I could catch her was by running away from her and catching her as she caught up :D

i agree chez, to say shes only little, those 4 legs of hers move like you wouldnt believe, I would never catch her in a million years.  Im a good runner too:-)

there are so many times I have run off screaming with arms flailing away from my dog, THEN he comes!!!