Off leash

[Danefied]

Sawyer's off-leash more than he's on, really.

That would be my crew.
They see leashes and run me down begging me to put them on - while they're loose in the unfenced front yard. LOL.

For those of you who are worried about the dog chasing something, have you tried to teach a recall? (Not judging here - some dogs have more prey drive and less velcro tendencies than others.)

 

[Shai]

Haven't had a fenced yard since last December -- dogs are off lead pretty much daily. The who, when, where may vary but each of them gets at least some daily off lead time, which is by nature unfenced....

 

[Taqroy]

For those of you who are worried about the dog chasing something, have you tried to teach a recall? (Not judging here - some dogs have more prey drive and less velcro tendencies than others.)

I've worked on Murphy's recall but I prefer to just keep him leashed. He chooses when he comes and goes and I would just rather not chance it. His hound nose would eventually get him into trouble.

I think I'm more paranoid than most people because my parent's/my dog got hit by a car last year - and she was in a reasonably safe place. I don't even let my dogs go from the car to the house without a leash anymore (and we live on a cul de sac - odds are incredibly slim a car would hit them). I think it's one of those things that once the horrible thing happens to you it's always in the back of your mind. I know there are some people that don't leave their dogs outside alone because of past experiences and the off leash thing is my version of that.

 

[Linds]

Well, my dog park isn't fenced at all and both Kaylee and Trav are off leash there all the time. I go hiking in unpopulated area's with both of them off leash. Traveler is trusted off leash by any body of water because he will be focused on it, the toy and me completely.

Pretty much they are never off leash in a fenced in area. But, they are never offleash in the yard. Traveler is a butt and while he has a great recall typically he has the "YAY I GOT LOOSE" mentality in the yard.

Most training outside is done off leash though.

My trust recently in Traveler has taken a nose dive and he's back to being on a long line in fields and things while I take recall work back to the baby stages.

 

[Toller_08]

Dogs aren't allowed off-leash anywhere in the city but at dog parks unfortunately without risking getting a big ticket, but I have no problem letting Dance off leash in an unfenced area if I happen to come across one where I won't be fined. She doesn't like people, doesn't really care about other dogs, isn't overly prey driven and is generally on my heels like velcro or too focused on her ball to go anywhere. Ripley I would trust off leash in an unfenced area as well, except for the fact that if he happens to see another dog, he'll likely run off to try and play with it. And Keira, no way. She runs too fast and erratically, and likes to chase bunnies and squirrels and turn her ears off.

 

[Red.Apricot]

That would be my crew.
They see leashes and run me down begging me to put them on - while they're loose in the unfenced front yard. LOL.

For those of you who are worried about the dog chasing something, have you tried to teach a recall? (Not judging here - some dogs have more prey drive and less velcro tendencies than others.)

I have, and still am. :] If I didn't trust her at least a little, I wouldn't let her go from our front door to the car unleashed.

We do work on our recall, but the places available to practice around us are pretty limited. The parks in our city are all less than an acre, and the non-park areas are all privately owned and patrolled. She's getting better and better, though.

Our favorite hiking trail, is always within a quarter mile of road or train tracks, even though you can hike back several miles. I just don't live somewhere that's possible to get away from people/cars, and since Elsie still blows me off sometimes (although that's happening less and less frequently) and it only takes one mistake to lose her, it's not worth it at this point for me. It's also really impossible to find places to hike nearby where you're not going to run into another person, and Elsie sometimes likes to bark at strangers.

Elsie's 11 months old, and still has moments of teenager I-can't-hear-you-because-this-smell-is-so-great. We're working on it, though.

 

[Maxy24]

For those of you who are worried about the dog chasing something, have you tried to teach a recall? (Not judging here - some dogs have more prey drive and less velcro tendencies than others.)

Tucker's recall is good, or at least it was before every other word coming out of my parents mouth was "come". Even when it was at it's best I had no clue whether or not it would work on rabbits, it's not a situation that you can do a ton of practice with unless you have a lot of rabbits running around (which we kin of do). He knows just as well as I do that chasing rabbits is better than treats or playing with me or anything I've ever offered...except maybe the flirt pole. It could be premacked but then I'd have to let him chase the bunnies, and I already tiptoe around the one that lives in our yard because I'm afraid it'll run in the street and get killed (and yes I would sob uncontrollably). He also likes their poop, last time I let him stalk one he stalked until he was about 2 feet away from it (which was impressive to watch), then it took off, he darted to where it had been laying and just chomped down it's poop. He kind of looked around to see where it went off to when he was done, but he was mostly interested in its poop. So rabbits are like the highest value thing in the whole world to Tucker.


Tucker's actually surprisingly attentive when we walk in the woods too. From the first time I brought he has kept looking back at me to make sure I'm still there. He'll get like 40 ft ahead of me and then look back, especially if I've slowed down or stopped and he can't hear my feet very well. And if I'm not moving or I'm being slow for some reason he'll wait until I've resumed my normal pace or if I stay still he'll run over. It's kind of cool to see, no prompting or training and he still wants to make sure I'm with him. Despite that I still could never be calm with him off leash. He got tangled in a bunch int he woods once and I let him off for a few minutes and I felt like I was living in a horror movie, at any moment he could be killed. So even if he was perfect in his recall I don't think I could handle it. I used to let Phoebe off leash in the woods, she had a rock solid recall, but more than anything I knew I was faster than her so if she did take off I could catch her. And I was still nervous most of the time.

In my head it's as simple as, I have a 50ft leash so he can run and move somewhat freely and off leash there is a higher chance of him getting hit by a car, running off and getting eaten by something, or biting someone, so why risk it? The only reason I ever desire to let a dog off it because the long leash gets tangled, so when he's playing with other dogs or is in the woods and goes off the track it can be a little annoying. But still not worth the risk to take it off for me.

 

[Beanie]

Pretty much never. There's no where for him to be off lead that isn't fenced, right by the road, or where it's illegal to have him off lead - the places I would go to hike all require dogs to stay on lead (or flat out don't allow dogs, but I don't go to those places because I pretty much go hiking so I can go hiking with my dogs...) He is of course off lead whenever we are in the agility ring, but there's always ring gates up (though often he could jump them), though there's not always a ring gate around the practice jump. That's honestly about the only time I can think of that he's been off leash with no borders, when he's outside at a trial and we're using the practice jump.

But I'm not the kind of person who thinks if a dog is never allowed off lead and to frolic through the wilds that they are deprived, so it doesn't really matter to me. Auggie really doesn't dig hiking all that much anyway (haven't taken Payton yet, and something tells me Pepper would think we were re-enacting The Blair Witch Project if we went into the woods...) He would much rather be doing some agility or maybe moving some sheep around than just poking around in the woods, and that's perfectly fine with me because I would rather do that too!

 

[StillandSilent]

Argon never. We still work on a recall, and I have hopes that one day he'll either get it or get slow enough that I can overtake him, but that hasn't happened yet.

Gambit is off leash on my parents property only. His recall is near perfect, but he's terrifed of people and I don't ever want there to be an accident of any kind.

 

[Katem]

The baseball field I use to run Pig every morning is fenced, so that doesn't really count. If it wasn't, Pig wouldn't be off leash. She's been very good, successfully completing recalls from across the field numerous times. Still, I wouldn't trust her without the safety of the fence.

Bear is usually off leash going from the house to the car, or if we're out doing something in the front yard. Other than that, he's on leash. When we visit my parent's house in SC he's off leash much more often, their yard is unfenced.

The neighborhood just isn't very conducive to having dogs off leash, fenced or not. There are three parks/playgrounds nearby. One has a no dogs allowed sign, another is just a jungle gym and swing set on rubber substrate and the third is the baseball field I use. There's no sign about dogs, but every time I bring Bear (85# rottie mix) I get told that I can't have dogs in the park. I bring Pig (30# mutt) there every morning and never hear a word about it.

If/when I can no longer bring Pig to the field, our only other option would be an abandoned old road. It no longer goes to anywhere, it's just a strip of pavement bordered by two thin strips of grass. The grass is maybe 8ft wide and it's overgrown with thick shrubs and trees. The most grassy area was recently paved over so there would be more parking spots available for the pool (something that's only open 3 months out of the year and already has a parking lot). This is where most people seem to take their dogs (judging by all of the dog poop left there). It's also usually covered in garbage, beer cans, broken glass etc. Not a good place for dogs.

Can you tell I'm not happy with my town's off leash options? :thumbdown:

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Very rarely. My yard is completely fenced, and we usually go walking around the neighborhood or the park - both are extremely populated with people, dogs, and cars, so I keep them leashed.

We go over to my grandma's quite often, and she has a HUGE yard that's 3/4 of the way fenced in, and they're off leash there if we're outside with them. If not, they're on a tie-out.

 

[Pops2]

what a coincidence? we just got back from a 4 mile run (i wasn't feeling well). the dogs are only leashed for the first & last 1/4 mile because people let their cats roam. & then of course when we go hunting, cause it would be tough for them to run down game while dragging me on the leash.

 

[BostonBanker]

Mine are definitely off more than they are on. Walking on leash has zero appeal to me. My mother likes to walk them in the neighborhood, and they are on leash then, but when I take them walking, we go to a wooded trail or huge fields so they can run off leash. Meg has a super recall - I've called her off deer, squirrels, and even her Most Wanted Rabbits. At this point, Gusto is big on following her and checking in with me, so I just reward the heck out of everything. We will see if that changes as he hits his teen years.

 

[nikkiluvsu15]

Harleigh is off leash every day in our unfenced backyard. I'm a little bit more "wary" of letting her off leash in other unfenced areas.

 

[Toller_08]

For those of you who are worried about the dog chasing something, have you tried to teach a recall? (Not judging here - some dogs have more prey drive and less velcro tendencies than others.)

Absolutely. A solid recall has been a #1 priority with all of my dogs since day 1. Some dogs are just a lot more difficult to teach a reliable recall to than others, though. I work on it constantly and consistently with all of them. Keira and Ripley by far have been the toughest to teach a recall to out of any of my dogs.

 

[Teal]

I only take mine off lead at a local wooded park we frequent, if no one else is there. It's about 100 acres of land, and entirely fenced around the outside.. so they can run through and hunt without me worrying. My dogs do not stay with me - they are all hunters. I CAN call them back to me, unless they are on game, if something comes up... but unless it's a real emergency, I don't see them for 5-7 minutes between when they check in with me!

I take the saluki out running off lead farther out my road... he mostly runs on the road with me, but he'll hunt a little when the brush isn't too thick.

 

[SaraB]

Both Classic and Zuma are allowed off leash on hikes where I know there is a very slim chance of running into other people. We have access to about 80 acres by my dad's house that is closed off to the public right now that we take advantage off.

Classic has a fantastic recall and I would trust him off leash in a lot more situations if it wasn't for his issues with strangers. I have been able to recall him off of a deer chase.

Zuma's recall is getting there but she still has some prey drive issues where she will take off after a rabbit or something and be gone for a while. Luckily, Classic will go get her and they will come back together.

 

[Dekka]

All mine get to be off leash. The only dog who didn't was/is Snip. He was all about the hunting all the time, and short of carrying a rat in my pocket there was no reward on earth more exciting than critters. He would be fine most of the time, but after chasing him all over the countryside we put a stop to offleash ness.

He now lives down town Toronto so he gets all sorts of interesting walks and such. (he has even managed to catch pidgeons on walks, and sees many an urban raccoon! verrrry exciting)

 

[Dogs6]

My dogs are never ON leash. I'm down to three collars and leashes for 4 dogs and honestly haven't needed any more. My dogs first leashed walk for at least a month was on Sunday and we went out for three hours and half an hour of offleash playtime on the beach works far better at tiring them out.

My dogs recall isn't perfect but I know their triggers and am able to distract them/leash them during those rare times when I think they won't come back

 

[smeagle]

LOADS of people told me never to let my beagle off leash because she'd never come back but we do a lot of training and her recall is excellent, even with her super high scent drive, so I have no issues with letting her off leash in an unfenced area.

I have strict recall criteria too - I want my dogs coming within two seconds of me calling their recall command the FIRST time I call it - but I believe strongly that recall is (for me) the most important command to teach.