Dog Community

Dog walking off leash

Posted : 6/21/2007 1:48:32 PM

Do you walk your dog off leash? Personally, I think anyone who even THINKS about letting their dog walk without a leash should have an extremely well trained and obedient dog. I would NEVER let Sammy or Alaska go offleash ANYWHERE, but Georgia is different. Everywhere I got she comes along, 99.9% of the time without a leash. My friends and I will go biking and I will pay no attention to Georgia, after a matter of time she learned to stay out of people's yards and rather close to me, but I will check on her to make sure she is kept in line [

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A dog who runs off leash should know commands a normal dog wouldn't. I taught Georgia the following before letting her off leash:
Out of the yard- When I say this, she leaves anybody's yard she might have stepped into. I taught her this because I know some house owners get extremely mad when a dog enters their yard.
Stop- if there is a car coming or we need to look both ways at the end of a sidewalk, the word 'stop' comes in handy.
Close- if there is a human walking by with a dog I will say 'close' and she will come closer to me.
Hiya- often used to get a horse moving, I say this and Georgia speeds up.
A few basic commands like stay, come, and sit might come in handy, but they seldom are needed with Georgia.

I don't worry about Georgia wandering off to a pedestrian or another dog, she is a great little lady who follows me everywhere and goes crazy if I don't bring her. She is an excellent dog and I have never had problems with her off leash! Of course, I would have if none of those commands were taught, so it's always important to have a very obedient, well trained dog before going anywhere with it off leash.

Liesje

Posted : 6/21/2007 1:52:47 PM

I don't have my dog quite yet, but I don't plan on walking her off-leash unless we are at the cottage playing in the water on our own property. It's not that I don't trust her, but I don't trust other dogs, so at the very least I can ensure control over MY dog. Also, she's a German Shepherd and people have some stereotypes against this breed, so best to keep her on a lead, lest observers be thinking that my dog is vicious and going to attack them because she is off-lead. I do however expect to teach her to walk loose leash, just not off-leash.

ETA: I should also say that my county has leash laws, so dogs have to be on 6 foot or shorter leads at all times unless confined to their own property. I guess it's not even an issue for me. [

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Jennifer Goble

Posted : 6/21/2007 1:54:23 PM

Thats great advice on those commands. I walk Daisy off leash but only in places we are 99% not likely to see other people/cars/dogs. She is getting better with dogs day by day and is great with people but I just never know when she will jump out in front of a car or just go off for reason. When we are hiking, I whistle at her when I want her to slow down and wait for me. Or when I need to her catch up I say Come On. She knows Leash, which means its time to leash back up and comes and sits by me.

houndlove

Posted : 6/21/2007 1:55:32 PM

No no no no no no no no never. My dogs are not cut out for it at all.

Here in the city there are actually people who walk their dogs, with no leash, like down populated city sidewalks. It blows my mind. Even if you have the best behaved most obedient dog in the world, how could you possibly relax and not being having a heart attack every 5 seconds? In my old neighborhood there was a woman who used to "walk" her black lab around the hood without a leash and he was not heeling at any time. She just let him run through people's yards, chase birds, etc...! He stayed out of the street, but my lord!

Unless your dog has an absolutely rock-solid in the face of ANY distraction "heel" I think it's generally inadvisable. Depending on where you live it maybe always inadvisable in my opinion.

mrs1885

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:02:07 PM

All of ours are off-leash trained and in our yard, which is not yet fenced, they are allowed off leash. But if I take them somewhere they are always leashed. Just keep thinking that you can't control circumstances around you nearly as well when you are out and about as you can in your own yard.

For example; our neighbors dogs (2) are outside dogs and left to roam alone 24/7. They are friendly, but one can be snippy at times. My dogs know that in their yard if the other dogs approach and the one's attitude seems snippy, if I tell them house, they are to immediately go to the french doors to the master bedroom / sitting room to be let in. That way, I know where my dogs are and I can turn all of my attention to getting his PITA dogs out of my yard.

However, in public, I'd have no place to send my dogs. So in that case, I'm happier with them on-leash. I don't have to worry that one may go in one direction and another somewhere else or trying to wrestle 7 dogs into one area behind me. They are on leash right by me and I usually have no more than 2 at a time with me anyway. Even vetting appointments I break up into groups. I'm just not comfortable with what could happen trying to keep all 7 of mine in a calm state when someone else's dog is going bananas or something happens that spooks one or more of mine. I'm not that confident in them................

IrishSetterGrl

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:02:45 PM

Nope. I'd never walk Cadie or Riley (even when he is an adult) off leash. Cadie, being a sporting breed, is crazy about rabbits - freaks out when she sees one outside and chases them in the yard. Also, I often come across other dogs (with their owners) on walks and I cannot trust those other dogs. It's basically the same story with Riley. Even when he is a year old and has settled down some, I would never walk him off leash because of the sporting instinct (he's already way into birds) and the other dog thing.

I do have a fenced in yard, so they get plenty of off leash outdoors time here.

DogPark

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:03:52 PM

Especially in the city, dogs really should be kept on leashes. I'm a big advocate of dog parks where owners can let their dogs run leash free in a fenced-in area. DC doesn't have any at this time but we are trying hard to change that (inspiration for my screen name)

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:10:12 PM

The little mutt I had before Max used to walk off leash a lot on the greenbelts, but he stayed right beside me. People would comment on how well trained he was, but he never actually went to obedience school or had any training at all. He was just too chicken to get more than a couple of feet away. He didn't know any of the conventional commands but he knew "Wait for me", "Move over. There's a bike coming" and "I don't have any more meat. Go ask someone else." [] Max is a different story. I'd never take him off leash anyplace that wasn't totally fenced it.

Joyce

Ruth

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:15:45 PM

We have a leash law here and I am a strong believer in it. I don't care how well behaved your dog is or how many commands he knows. If you are in town you need to keep that dog on a leash. The leash law is for the protection and comfort of other people and other dogs as well as for your own dog, and I don't believe there is any excuse for violating it. In my view, people who think their own dog is so well behaved that the law does not apply to them give all dog owners a bad name.

I do walk my dog off-leash at the dog park (it is a big park with trials, not a dog run type of place) and when we go hiking/camping in a wilderness setting.

rexandbaby

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:20:02 PM

Mine are always on-leash away from home, leash law in our town is enforced, so even on walks on our rural road we need the leash. But Baby is allowed to run loose at home, we do not have a fence, and Rex probably could be loose at home, but I just don't trust him yet.

Jewlieee

Posted : 6/21/2007 2:59:07 PM

Those are good commands to know. Thanks for sharing. I use "wait" instead of "stop". Wait to me means, don't move forward until I give the ok. I also use this command for getting out of the car, etc. I might think about using a stop command though for a freeze type thing. As in stop now and don't move at all.

My husky is never off leash (no reliability at all). I do let my aussie off leash though but only at certain parks that aren't very populated with runners/hikers/walkers. My aussie is 99.9999% reliable off leash. I'm still working on that 0.00001% but it's hard to find distractions good enough to train against. He's very "train" smart. As in he knows when we are training and when we aren't.

I was very proud of him though the other day, and ashamed of myself at the same time. We were hiking in the woods at a place where we usually never come across anyone. So, I wasn't paying too much attention to him except that I knew he was running down the trail ahead of me. Just as I glanced up, a couple came to the T in the trail. Well, Neiko saw them and kicked his speed up a notch because he wanted to go say hi. The people were clearly startled and afraid, because to them, here was this medium sized dog running top speed towards them with no human in site. I felt so so so bad. However, I did call his name and told him to come and he turned mid-stride and ran back to me just as fast (he never made it to the couple). So, I was really proud of him, as he was far away, running full speed and obviously distracted but ashamed that I hadn't been paying close enough attention to prevent the couple from being startled.

TinaK

Posted : 6/21/2007 3:03:41 PM

Ours is off leash every day where we are 100% sure there are no cars... We walk him by the river, that's why it's possible. I would never let him off leash in the city.

Bobsk8

Posted : 6/21/2007 3:07:06 PM

We have leash laws where I live. I view any dog approaching off leash as a potential threat. I think people expecting others to put up with them letting their dog run off leash, when everyone elses dog is leashed, is rude and inconsiderate. Good way to get a dog fight going is to have one dog on a leash, and have an off leash dog run up to it. Then there is always the other danger of the dog charging suddenly after something and getting hit by a car.

Indy05

Posted : 6/21/2007 3:23:58 PM

Never for me. The leash law here states dogs AND cats (I have not seen the cat

art enforced in my neighborhood) must be on a leash. Even more so is that my dog is a cairn terrier. He is well trained, but if there is a rabbit, squirrel, possum, racoon, rat, etc., I know I'd lose him if he was off leash.

Pwca

Posted : 6/21/2007 3:34:26 PM

Mal and Indy are both reasonably reliable off leash, but in town, I generally do NOt walk them off leash. I *do* let Mal off leash late at night when we're walking within the apartment complex greenspace, and there's one (remote) city park I let both the boys off leash at, but in general? No, it's just not a good idea. It really frustrates me with Indy, because I worked VERY hard on getting him over his reactivity with other dogs, and a lot of off-leash dog walkers think it's okay to let their dog run up on any leashed dog that isn't flipping out and barking or growling.