dogs that don't require a leash

Ah, no, all JRT most certainly are not! I know one that escapes at any opportunity and there have been times he's come bounding up to me, then heard his owner calling and gone "Gotta go!" and scooted off in the opposite direction at top speed. He was obedience trained and got daily walks. Go figure. 

What about us?.....LOL...

(Ignore the fall trim......I used that last fall......lol)

My mom's JRTs usually require a leash. If they go out to the mailbox or something really short like that, they don't need one. Kaiser and my old RR were the only dogs i could fully trust off lead. I actually called Kaiser off a sprinting rabbit a few weeks ago. I was so proud!

My Maxine walks PERFECTLY with out a leash. However she LOVES her leash and will carry it for you. She wants you to put it on her. Personally I think she doesn't think "we" are capable of being off leash.

When we walk Max, she does not look at a thing. She is completely and totally obedient even if she is not on a command. However her one weakness is cats. If she sees one, she becomes a statue. She is mesmerized by cats. I really would like her to meet a dog friendly one some day.

My girlfriends JRT need leashes but I don't think they have ever been on one.  

you can train practically all dogs to not require a leash. Some dogs are harder than others, of course.

Sure it can be done.  In some places it is even safe to do.  But why take the chance.....I sure dont want a dead dog because they were "completely" trained for off lead.  I know of high trained dog that met their demise due to cars.

My Maxine walks PERFECTLY with out a leash. However she LOVES her leash and will carry it for you. She wants you to put it on her. Personally I think she doesn't think "we" are capable of being off leash.

My current dog River is 100% reliable recall.  It took a very, very long time to feel that way.  I would trust him to walk off leash anywere, all though I don't do it - but I could.

mrv

Sure it can be done.  In some places it is even safe to do.  But why take the chance.....I sure dont want a dead dog because they were "completely" trained for off lead. 

I agree! One thing I know for sure with animals - expect the unexpected. Who knows if a car backfires and the terrified dog leaps into the air and off a bridge, or a steak truck overturns and the dog rushes into the street, or some psycho tries to grab the dog away from you. Who knows - anything could happen. In anywhere even remotely populated, I view a leash as an "insurance policy." Just like 99.9% of the time I don't actually need my seatbelt, but I wear it anyway. Or I don't need my health insurance, but I have it anyway. So even if I don't need my leash, I use it anyway. It never hurts!

nataliem

So far I have only met 3 including our neighbor's jack russell.  This dog makes you feel like the walk is all about you.  He could care less about other people, dogs or chasing or sniffing things when he is on a walk.  We don't have leash laws here as long as the dogs stay close to the house or you.  The neighbors always let their dogs out to run in the morning or late at night, which is ok with me because these are well behaved dogs that don't bother anybody.  Well this dog doesn't get walked at all unless I offer to walk him with my dog.  But wow I wish my dog behaved like that on a walk.  This dog doesn't leave your side for nothing during a walk, I don't even need to leash him.  He never even had a training day in his life.  It makes me wonder if all JRTs are like that...probably not.

Just shows you there are no absolutes in life lol even with pure breds! 

Amber, my JRT, does fine off lead and always has but i dont dare take the chance since my bullies are contained by an i-fence and Amber has a bit of an inferiority complex........ i'm not at all worried about the bulldogs causing problems but Amber already has a reputation for attacking a bigger dog at her previous owners. 

i've owned dogs all my life and the only ones i wouldnt walk without a leash were a coon hound(she would be gone in a split second and not come back home till it suited her.. usually when she was hungry!) and my bulldogs.. but only when i lived in the city and because its just being responsible. 

out in here in the woods my dogs dont really NEED a leash.. Kaydee certainly never has needed one. she's my Velcro dog lol

i think it depends on you and your dog AND your location.... its not a risk you want to take if you arent sure of yourself and your dogs actions, and quite frankly a LOT of people arent sure of anything.. especially their own dogs..

when i worked on the horse ranch we had a pack of Dobermans that would follow us on trail rides.. the worst thing they would do would be to run a little ways ahead and scare off any deer or rabbits which was great because that meant the horses wouldnt get spooked by wild animals. not a single one of those dogs had ever been properly trained. still... we were riding on 200 acres of wilderness.

its GREAT if you have a dog that will walk with off the leash. it is very relaxing and i love it personally.. but it still depends on the location and the dog's attitude. 

The only time that Luke ever wears a leash is when law or rules require it.  He has to wear a leash at agility trials any time he's not running in the ring.  He had to wear one last night when we went into PetSmart.  ;)

Actually, he gets really excited when he sees the leash because it's something that doesn't come out very often.

KarissaKS

Actually, he gets really excited when he sees the leash because it's something that doesn't come out very often.

So do my dogs! You would think they NEVER go for walks or anywhere for that matter.

The other thing I put on my dogs is a "wait" command. If I say wait they stop and sit regardless of what they are doing. We practice at the park even throwing the ball. If they are chasing and I say wait they stop. That is my 'keep them out of the road' command. I also NEVER let my dogs in the street without stopping first. Once we were playing frisbee in our yard with my old lab and the frisbee went into the street. She ran after it and before I could say "wait" she stopped on her own at the curb. I went and got her frisbee and GUSHED praise over her. 

Emma does not require a leash, but we have a leash law, so I use one. She is NOT the typical JRT and has hours and hours of training. She  has 100% reliable recall (off of livestock, wildlife, children, cookies, whatever), and an emergency STOP command. Those are safeties that I trained BEFORE we got into competing.  

If anyone has had an Irish Setter that didn't need a leash on a walk in a public area, please tell me how you did it, lol. Cadie doesn't care about other people much on our walks and couldn't care less about other dogs, and I think she'd be okay without a leash if there weren't any rabbits or squirrels around. I know as soon as she'd see one she would take off though.

Riley...well, that boy will probably need a leash forever. He whines if he sees a person, another dog, a leaf moving, etc.

Once at the park, there was this sweet, gentle dog who didn't need a leash. He was like 14 years old though. It was so cute, he stayed perfectly alongside his people.

I admire any of you who have (safe) leashless dogs! : )

Edit: Reading some more of the replies made me think of Ozzie, my beloved 12 year old Irish Setter who passed away in 2000. He was the most amazing dog and friend. So gentle. Seriously, he refused to wrestle with anyone for fear of hurting them. You could let him loose in our fenceless backyard and go inside, and two seconds later he'd be standing at the door waiting for you to let him in. Or sometimes he'd go around front and sit on the porch and wait there. But that was also when he was older...even when he was younger though, there was something extremely special about him.

Riley, although he is only 1 year old so it's not really fair to compare, is the complete opposite. Don't get me wrong - he LOVES people and follows me around the house, but this dog wants to be in everyone's face and doesn't understand personal space. If he sees someone, especially a kid, on our walks, he'll whine and try to go to them. Can't help but love him though. : D

 The ONLY time Crusher is good off leash is first thing in the morning on the way to the kennel for breakfast.  HE AIN'T GOIN NOWHERE! 

I really shouldn't say that because he is pretty good about sticking around if we walk in the bush.  Or out on the ice.  He loves to run, but he also has a fear of me abandoning him.  I have no idea where that came from.  Heehee, ok I do.  Whenever he gets out of site when we take nature walks I hide on him.  And if we are in the middle of a field somewhere and he gets too far away, I turn around and walk the other way.  He's like,"OMG!  She's leeeeeeeeeeeeaving meeeeeeeeee!"  I can't do this around town though, he wouldn't care enough.  "No Biggie!  Someone else will feeeeeeed meee!"

With Onyx I have like an 80 foot buffer around me that she won't pass.  Her recall is pretty good, though not immediate unless she's hungry.  So she gets leashed in town too.