# Off the leash...



## PoohFan (Jul 15, 2012)

Okay, I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of letting a dog off the leash. I guess I'm worried that the dog will bolt and run. Yet, I see so many people with dogs at the dog park who just seem to be having so much fun running around free with the other dogs or people who hike with their dog by their side. So, can anyone impart some wisdom regarding allowing poochie off the leash?


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## dogs123 (Jun 14, 2012)

I also am not a fan of off leash.....

I would never let my dog off leash unless she had great recall....instant recall actually.

I am lucky that my poodle has instant recall, and comes running to me no matter what catches her attention.... We have 1/2 acre back yard, and 20 acres of horse pasture, so even if she spots a rabbit, if I command her to come, she does. But then, she is in a safe enviroment, no cars, so even if she didn't come, she wouldn't get hurt, but I still worked on recall with her, in case she was after something that could hurt her....like a skunk:afraid:


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I think it depends on where you are. At home, Carley is never on leash and is free to roam cow pastures, woods ect. But if I take her somewhere I am more careful. No, I don't think she would run off, but she could chase something, or someone else could have a dog off leash and that could be a problem. A great recall is a must.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I am a great believer in off leash - where it is safe to do so. One of the joys of living in the British countryside is that there are plenty of footpaths, which are usually safe, if rather muddy. I started mine off leash on our very first walks, when they were such babies that they wanted to stay close, and did lots and lots of recalls and releases. They quickly learned that the safest place was between my feet, so if scared they will run to me rather than away. 

I choose places where they will be safe even if they take off after a hare (it happened once - the hare lifted right under my feet, and I was too startled to call them before they were in full flight), and as long as they show themselves when I ask most of the walk is off leash. My neighbour's terrier, however, is now only allowed off lead in places where I know there are no rabbits - she turns her ears off when in rabbit mode, and has been known to wander half a mile onto the road, so it is too risky to let her off.

My two have a pretty good recall, and an excellent Wait - Poppy even came back from chasing the hare, although it proved too much for Sophy - she had to check the whole of the field to make sure there weren't any more hiding there before she could tear herself away!


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## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

I'm a big believer in letting dogs be off-leash whenever possible. However, I don't tend to frequent dog parks simply because the ones around here are full of ignorant dog owners and dogs that shouldn't be there. 

We hike a lot, and my dogs are always off-leash on hikes. They are also off leash if we go to the river and go boating or kayaking. They key is in the recall, which takes a lot of diligence to maintain. You have to make sure you never stop reinforcing the recall and never assume that your dog knows it enough to stop practicing.


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## PoohFan (Jul 15, 2012)

*Tips for recall*

Thanks everyone. I think most of you hit on my biggest fear which is that my pooch will go into full hunt mode and ignore my commands. I have a wonderful fenced yard and nice quiet neighborhood, but there's still a road nearby. Plus, we have coyotes. :-( 

That said, do you have any tips for developing great recall? My husky mix gave me a fit when she was a puppy. Anytime the front door opened, she bolted.


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## kukukachoo (Jul 26, 2012)

I'm interested in what folks recommend to you for recall training. We just adopted an adult who is pretty good about it, but not quite where I would like him to be.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

In a word, chicken! And lots of practice when out calling, rewarding, and releasing again. But it is very easy to let it slip - you have reminded me that we need to do some brushing up.


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

No husky should be off leash. Their prey drive is too high and they love to run. Similar to sighthounds - that's why I didn't get a basenji as my first dog. I wanted a dog who wouldn't run away from me.

Both my dogs (standard poodle and havanese) have great recall. I had them off leash last night in a large parking lot and park. I really should reinforce their recall, but they just stay close and follow me everywhere. If they get distracted, I just walk away and they immediately follow.

My dog trainer talked about a technique to teach recall. You will need several bean bags (you can make these out of small children's socks and rice), and at least a 6 foot leash. You wait till the dog is distracted, and you say "come" (or whatever cue word to mean come to you). You don't have to say "come" that loudly, just in a normal voice. If the dog does not turn around immediately and walk towards you, you throw a bean bag at their butt to startle them. Once startled, the dog's instinct is to run the other opposite way from the bean bag direction, but you counter this by tugging the leash towards you and running away from your dog as you say "come," so that they follow you. When they come to you on their own without you correcting them, then they get affection. The point is that when they do not listen the first time to the come command, there will be a correction. Even if the correction is just a bean bag to their butt, if you keep doing this exercise, they will automatically turn around and turn towards you after getting hit with the bean bag, instead of trying to take off the other way. When I say to "hit" your dog with the bean bag, it's not to hit them really hard to cause a bruise, it's to throw it gently to snap them out of their distraction. When using the bean bags, make sure they do NOT see you throw anything at them, set yourself up by holding the bean bag next to your face, and make sure the dog does not see you pick them up afterwards.

There is another technique to each a dog to heel by you even off leash. You tie a light string (around 15 ft, better if it is string for construction use because it is light but strong), to their collar. Make a loop in the string about 3 feet from the collar. First teach heel using your dog's regular leash. Then switch the collar to the loop in the string. Keep going back and forth for about 20 repetitions. Then you throw in another step - no leash. Practice heeling with the regular leash on the collar, heeling with the leash attached to the loop in the string, then no leash. You keep going back and forth to get the dog used to the feel of no weight on their collar, but they still must heel next to you. If the dog does take off with no leash, you can at least step on the long string to stop them.


I hope some of these techniques help!


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Throw chains are back? A behavior must be taught before correction is used! Here is how to teach recall in the first video and the second is adding distractions.











Note in the second video, the person doing the distracting should NEVER use the dong's name or the come command. I'm not so good at people training.


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## only me (May 24, 2012)

I've always found a whistle very useful for an instant recall. I start off with the dog sitting next to me at home and blow the whistle (I do three short blasts) and give a treat. The dogs seem to pick up very quickly that the whistle always means a treat - and when we are out and I blow the whistle they always return much much faster than when I just call them.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Good idea, only me - I may try this with Jilly-dog, whose recall is lousy because her owner calls her then scolds her!


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## only me (May 24, 2012)

Good luck! (I use an acme whistle - they come in different pitches, so if you get more than one, for another member of the family for example, it's best to get both the same.)

I suppose the reason the whistle tends to get a more instant response than the voice is that they are hearing our voices all the time, whether we are talking to them or someone else, whereas the whistle is a very distinctive sound which will immediately get their attention.


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## PoohFan (Jul 15, 2012)

This is so awesome! Thank you!!!



tokipoke said:


> My dog trainer talked about a technique to teach recall. You will need several bean bags...


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## PoohFan (Jul 15, 2012)

Thank you! Another great idea..!!!

I plan on taking Aspen to obedience classes, but want him to have his rabies vaccination first (9/1). 

My husky mix made me ultra paranoid of Aspen running off. I can't tell you how many times she whisked her way past our feet when we walked in the door.I know I'm going to have to control my fear of this around him. 



only me said:


> I've always found a whistle very useful for an instant recall. I start off with the dog sitting next to me at home and blow the whistle (I do three short blasts) and give a treat. The dogs seem to pick up very quickly that the whistle always means a treat - and when we are out and I blow the whistle they always return much much faster than when I just call them.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I would avoid throwing anything at a puppy - one of two things is likely to happen. Either he will be frightened, and associate the fear either with you or with something else in the environment at the time, or he will treat it all as a wonderful game, grab whatever hit him, and set off for a joyous game of keep away! A nudge to break an adult dog's concentration on something (I'm thinking Jilly dog and her rabbit obsession...), when you know the dog and it's fears and limits well, is another matter, but I'd still be wary.

Much safer to take advantage of your puppy's wish to be near you - lots of praise and rewards, then send him off to play again. Be the best, happiest, nicest thing in the whole world, so that running to you beats every other game in town. It's not that difficult when they are babies - the challenge comes with adolescence. The more paractice he gets now, the easier it will be to ride out the "I'm a big dog now, I can go off on my own" moments when they come.

I taught mine to Wait at doors, and when getting out of the car, or when approaching the end of an off-leash walk. Very easy to teach with rewards, starting with just a second and building up gradually. Once he's grasped the principle that good stuff comes to puppies who wait, introduce the cue word. After a while, the reward becomes getting to go out of the door, or out of the car. It is one thing I insist upon - it gives me time to get their leads on, or to check that there are no cars or other dangers around, and to stop them if they are running towards something that might be dangerous.


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## PoohFan (Jul 15, 2012)

Thank you. I appreciate the additional thought toward the bean bag thing. While I doubt much would perturb that little guy, I do see him associating it with receiving yet another toy. LOL



fjm said:


> I would avoid throwing anything at a puppy - one of two things is likely to happen. Either he will be frightened, and associate the fear either with you or with something else in the environment at the time, or he will treat it all as a wonderful game, grab whatever hit him, and set off for a joyous game of keep away! A nudge to break an adult dog's concentration on something (I'm thinking Jilly dog and her rabbit obsession...), when you know the dog and it's fears and limits well, is another matter, but I'd still be wary.
> 
> Much safer to take advantage of your puppy's wish to be near you - lots of praise and rewards, then send him off to play again. Be the best, happiest, nicest thing in the whole world, so that running to you beats every other game in town. It's not that difficult when they are babies - the challenge comes with adolescence. The more paractice he gets now, the easier it will be to ride out the "I'm a big dog now, I can go off on my own" moments when they come.
> 
> I taught mine to Wait at doors, and when getting out of the car, or when approaching the end of an off-leash walk. Very easy to teach with rewards, starting with just a second and building up gradually. Once he's grasped the principle that good stuff comes to puppies who wait, introduce the cue word. After a while, the reward becomes getting to go out of the door, or out of the car. It is one thing I insist upon - it gives me time to get their leads on, or to check that there are no cars or other dangers around, and to stop them if they are running towards something that might be dangerous.


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

I'm a big fan of off leash with dogs who make good candidates for it. You need a rocket solid recall. My favorite way to teach recall is naked. So I do it in a large open, fenced in area with no leash. That way you know the dog is coming to you all of their own free will because they're properly motivated and view it as reinforcing enough to return.

I have a bunch of recall games if you're interested.


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