breeds that will naturally stay with you
- Thread starter firestarter4
- Start date
Any dog can learn to stay with it's owner. All dogs enjoy sniffing around but, if trained properly will always keep the owner in site.
I've owned a variety of breeds and teaching them to stay with me off lead was very easy...especially from a puppy. There are some breeds that are referred to as "Horizon" dogs that are harder to train to stay with the owner as they have the drive to run, sight hounds, Northern Breeds and Pyr's can have this tendancy to run. Herding dogs can be hard to teach as they are bred to have intense eye stalk chase motor patterns and chasing objects is a hard wired behavior.
Breeds like Newfoundland dogs have a natural tendancy to stay close to the owner. I havent met one yet that wandered too far, my 2 females are glued to my legs on walks...I never have to use a leash on them.
It's all in the training. I have successfully trained many breeds in my past to stay with me off lead on hikes. I've owned a Border Collie, a few Shepherds, Husky, Husky/Shepherd type, Pyr, 7-Newfoundland dogs probably the most natural at staying with owner, Rottweiler, 2-Dobes; Dobes in the house are almost physically attached to the owner...outdoors they do like to let off steam and have a good run...my current DobeX will sprint away then back several times to let off steam, Standard Poodle - she was a perfect dog, stayed with me at all times etc...of course when the breeder gave her to me she had already earned her CD and CDX obedience titles.
I've owned a variety of breeds and teaching them to stay with me off lead was very easy...especially from a puppy. There are some breeds that are referred to as "Horizon" dogs that are harder to train to stay with the owner as they have the drive to run, sight hounds, Northern Breeds and Pyr's can have this tendancy to run. Herding dogs can be hard to teach as they are bred to have intense eye stalk chase motor patterns and chasing objects is a hard wired behavior.
Breeds like Newfoundland dogs have a natural tendancy to stay close to the owner. I havent met one yet that wandered too far, my 2 females are glued to my legs on walks...I never have to use a leash on them.
It's all in the training. I have successfully trained many breeds in my past to stay with me off lead on hikes. I've owned a Border Collie, a few Shepherds, Husky, Husky/Shepherd type, Pyr, 7-Newfoundland dogs probably the most natural at staying with owner, Rottweiler, 2-Dobes; Dobes in the house are almost physically attached to the owner...outdoors they do like to let off steam and have a good run...my current DobeX will sprint away then back several times to let off steam, Standard Poodle - she was a perfect dog, stayed with me at all times etc...of course when the breeder gave her to me she had already earned her CD and CDX obedience titles.
our pug will stay right with you if you take him for a walk. Inside our fence he goes all over but inside he will follow you from room to room and lay at your feet. On walks he stays right at your side, never pulling or trying to get away, and we never trained him for loose leash walking. He just does it and I'm sure he'd be the same way off leash.
I think my GSD will be like that as he matures. He already is reliable off leash but isn't right at your side the whole time, but I don't ask him to be right there either. I let him have a degree of leeway, maybe 20' as long as he's in front of me where I can see him. Last week when we were in SC, I took him from my sis in laws house to our truck off leash when we were leaving late at night. There was a cat under the truck, and it took off with Gunnar in hot pursuit. I called him and he stopped in his tracks and came right back, even while in full prey mode. He was maybe 50-60' away when I called him so he easily could have kept going and I would have had no way to catch him.
I think my GSD will be like that as he matures. He already is reliable off leash but isn't right at your side the whole time, but I don't ask him to be right there either. I let him have a degree of leeway, maybe 20' as long as he's in front of me where I can see him. Last week when we were in SC, I took him from my sis in laws house to our truck off leash when we were leaving late at night. There was a cat under the truck, and it took off with Gunnar in hot pursuit. I called him and he stopped in his tracks and came right back, even while in full prey mode. He was maybe 50-60' away when I called him so he easily could have kept going and I would have had no way to catch him.
A great game to play with pup or adult to teach to stay with you is hide and seek. In a safe area when your pup focus's on something else hide where you can still watch the pup. When the pup finds you, praise like it's the best thing the pup could ever do. After doing this a few times most pups (depending on breed) will keep you in sight.
They don't call them "Velcro Dogs" for nothing!