Hey guys

This has been covered before but wanted to be 100% as we are taking our new boy on his first field walk tomorrow with our other bitch and I have some final points I want to make sure I have right!!

He is 13 weeks old - Is this too old to use the off lead straight away so he will follow you everywhere?
Should I let him run round with our other girl or should we keep him occupied on us only for the first time?
When other dogs approach, should we let him say hello or ignore them?

Just checking as we have never let a dog off lead straight away before but some people swear by it and have fantastic results, just want some final pointers before we decide if its for us or if we will keep him on lead like we did Mitz :)

Thanks!!

Hi Rach,

He is fine to let off, it is generally at 12-13 weeks after inoculations so about right, I would think if you take Mitz that he will follow her around rather than you, though keep calling him for a fuss to remind him you are there.

I only allow a pup to go and say hi to dogs that I know are sound with other dogs, I am particularly careful of adolescents as they can be quite bouncy and land awakwardly on a little pup who may be running around with excitement too.

Just be vigilant at what is going on around you, and enjoy your first off lead walk, it will be fine and he will stay with Mitz or yourself. :-)

I was too nervous to let our eldest dog off the lead as a puppy and as a result his recall off lead now is terrible despite putting in hours of training, some days he is excellent some days he isn't so I tend to keep him on lead now......but our youngest we had off lead from the minute we got him (after jabs in public of course) and he is fantastic, it was so easy barely any training at all as he always wanted to stay close to us and as he has grown up that has never changed!

I would always train this way now as it makes life alot easier ;-)

I let both of our off at 12/13 weeks, we picked a place where we were alone, he kept OH in front and followed so close he occassionally got clipped with OH heels. I was just behind and he continually kept turning around to see me, (thats when he would walk into OH heels!) Now as a young adult 15 months he trots off, but if I stop he always comes back to find me!!
I don't trust Whistler off the lead all of te time as a spaniel gets carried away with smells. OH's BC Jake is off lead 85% of walks as he comes every time, perfect. Spanials don't do that, at least mine doesn't.

yep...get him off the lead asap! My youngest has been off lead on walks since day one, he is fantastic at recall, infact I noticed recently that he actually listens to our footsteps and if you stop walking he whips round to see what is going on! On the other hand my older girl is a law unto herself...we have tried everything to get a solid recall but at the end of the day she is an independent little madam that decides for herself if she wants to come back....how do you train a dog that stops, thinks about it and then decides she would rather sniff grass instead!

I went though this a few months ago with my boy who is now 9 months old. I was a little worried like you, so i went for the long line first to get some idea of his reaction to having more freedom to roam outside. I also inlisted the help of my sister so he had someone either side to go to. There was no there dogs around to get tangled in the line. I would say this worked for me more than him as he was great. It gave me confidence   
that he was not going to run off he was only 13 wks. The next time we were out he was allowed off lead and never went far from me until he reached about 6 months. He has a good recall now which i also agree was due to his early off lead training.

Ad and Dexter

http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/behaviour--training/why-wont-my-dog-come-back.html

Taken from another thread but very good reading just the same, hope this helps in the psychology and covers far more than I could here :-) I've done it with all of my pups - it works.

Hi, we let Milo off from day one and he is great off the lead,  he hates not to be able to see us and will stop and wait at every gate / bridge etc. Again we only let him off where it is safe to do so and where we know the other dogs he is likely to come in to contact with. He will wait and check with us to see if he can go say hello (90% of the time anyway!!).

I was petrified of letting him off but our vet nurse said it was the best thing and she was right!! Having said all of that, he is only 18 weeks old and my OH keeps telling me to prepare for the day when he gets distracted and forgets himself with the recall - I am keeping everything crossed that will never happen and if it does I am not with them that day and only hear about it later :-). We do work on recall constantly whilst out, and at home and I always vary where I put his lead back on him. Thats what works for us anyway.
Rx

Just thought I would let you guys know as we let him off yesterday on the big field where we walk our girl Mitz :)
Let him off straight away when we were deep into the fields and no one was around or not near any roads and he stuck to us like glue :-D We were amazed as he didnt try to scarper off like we thought he would and like you guys said mostly stayed with Mitz having a good play in the long grass lol

We oractised his recall and he always came back to us straight away, then he founs one of his seventh wonders ogf the world Rabbit Poo!!! He started eating every bit he came across so we popped him on his lead to teach him not too, cheeky little boy aint he lol

All went well tho and couldnt be happier :)

Thnk the walking together has bonded Mitz and Turbo even closer as well, cant wait for our next walk!

glad its gone well - has to be one of the most scariest things ever though.  I do use a long line as unfortunately we dont have any completely enclosed places but so far so good and like you say they stick close like glue, I love playing hide and seek behind trees with my girl.