When IS it safe to let a dog off leash? I’ve been in several conversations lately with people who live in rural areas, and those who live in urban or suburban environments. What became clear was that, in their case at least, the dog owners in the country couldn’t imagine having their dogs restricted on leashes or fences, and folks in the city can’t imagine letting their dogs off leash outside of a fenced area. Our discussion reminded me that I’d written a post several years ago about letting dogs off leash, and because it’s such an important topic–balancing a dog’s safety with his or her enjoyment–I thought it was worth reprinting. I’d be interested to hear what you think: What is your criteria for letting a dog off leash??
From January 2013, (written after letting Tootsie off leash off the farm for the first time in her life; I’ve made a few minor modifications).
What do you need to know to evaluate the risk and decide whether to take it? I thought it might be an interesting exercise to list some of my criteria and decision points in regards to Tootsie, and to hear about your thoughts and experiences.
I should probably mention here that it is my belief that one of the things dogs want more than anything in the world is a certain amount of autonomy. Some dogs have a ton of it, others almost none, but surely every dog wants to be able to do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it, at least some of the time. Being off leash fulfills that to a great extent, but it also puts dogs at the potential of risk. So how does one decide when to unsnap the lead? Here are at least some of the things that need to be considered:
CONTROL: It is something of an irony that the more control we have over our dogs, the more freedom we can give them. Never is that more true when asking if a dog can be safe off leash, and it was the question I asked myself late Friday night when I decided it was 99.999% a sure thing that, once off leash and out of the car, Tootsie would sniff around, relieve herself and then immediately come when I called. But how does one know if a dog will come when called in any context? Ah, you don’t, not 100%, but here’s what I think you need to get to 99.9999%:
STOP ON A DIME: People often assume that all one needs to manage an off leash dog is a good recall, but I’m a big proponent of first teaching a dog to stop on cue. Asking a dog to stop on a dime might be critical for the dog’s safety, and if you think about it, that’s a very different exercise than asking a dog to come back to you. I can’t count the number of times I asked Willie to stop and stand still (I use “Stand,” a cue common in sheep herding that asks a dog to do exactly that: don’t lie down, but stop moving). Perhaps he was starting to sniff beside a partially frozen stream, or I wanted him to wait for me to catch up before he went around a corner on a trail.
Besides being a handy cue, I’ve learned it is much more effective to ask a dog to stop first before calling him to come back to you, especially if he is moving fast in another direction. Think about it: If a dog is running away from you, in order to come back to you she has to 1) stop, 2) turn around and 3) move toward you. That’s three things, right? I’ve found it far more effective, especially with dogs who love to run, to teach them first to stop on cue before asking them to do a recall. It’s not all that hard to do: Just let your dog get a step or two ahead of you and say “Whoa!” or “Stand” and then reinforce with something ridiculously wonderful. Gradually use the cue when the dog is either 1) farther away from you and 2) moving faster. Try to keep those 2 components separate as much as you can, and gradually build up to asking the dog to stop while tearing off in another direction. Manage this carefully by setting your dog up to win: Don’t yell “Whoa” when your beagle is disappearing into the woods after a rabbit if you haven’t gotten full compliance at a much easier level. However, a good stop is not enough…. you also need:
A RIDICULOUSLY GOOD RECALL: Coming when called when there’s no environmental competition simply doesn’t count as a “good enough recall”. One of the reasons I decided to let Tootsie off leash in the woods last weekend is because we have spent several months working on her coming when called while running away from me at a dead run toward something she really, really wanted. I’ve worked on her recall ever since I got her a year and a half ago (if you missed those blogs, she had been a puppy mill brood bitch for 7 years). It took me months to let her off leash at the farm, and then only in specific contexts in which I felt her behavior was completely predictable. But it’s one thing to have a dog come when called in a predictable and consistent context. It’s an entirely different matter to be able to get a dog to come to you when it is already dashing away toward something it wants.
I was lucky here, because the farm provided the perfect set up. First, I have several fenced areas where I could safely let Tootsie off leash and work on her recall. The area around the house and barn is not fenced however, and has a road that runs by about 75 yards from the house, so I was much more cautious about letting her off leash there. In that context I first worked on teaching Tootsie to heel beside me as we walked from the house to the barn. She adores food, and so it didn’t take long to get a reliable response. Then I began asking her to stop or recall when I released her from the heel. I knew she would run straight to the barn, so I had no worries about her safety. I had her favorite food (chicken) in my pocket and asked her to stop when she had just barely left my side. Gradually I began to give the cue when she was farther and farther away from me. Once I could get to her turn on a dime and run back to me even when twenty yards away, I began to test it in other contexts. And sure enough, she flipped her little body in mid-air and came running.
CONTEXT: Location, Location, Location. Realtors aren’t the only ones who emphasize the importance of location. There are many places I would never let Tootsie off leash. Here’s an example: we went recently to visit a friend who lives in a suburb, with a small lawn between the house and the road. I never would have considered letting her off leash in that context. Why? Because first, we were just too close to a road for comfort, she could have gotten into the road before I could blurt out a cue. Second, what would be the point? The cost/benefit balance was skewed far to the negative: the risk in no way was worth the pay off. However, when I finally did let her off leash away from the farm, we were at least 600 yards from the closest road, I’d tested her emergency stop first, and the payoff was huge. She got to be a dog trotting down a trail woods for the first time in her little life, and although I’m sure some people would argue one should never take any risk at all, I’m not one of them. The only 100% guarantee of safety for Tootsie was to live in a cage, and she’d already done that for seven years. Enough is enough.
WHO’S YOUR DOG? If asked to name three things we all needed to consider before letting our dogs off leash, I’d say knowing each dog as a personality is the third. Tootsie spent 7 years in a cage, and didn’t know that the noises people made were meaningful for most of her life. She’s come incredibly far, but she’s still a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that I got at age 7 who had never been trained to do anything for most of her life. Willie, on the other hand, came with recall software pre-installed. I could just about take him anywhere and let him off leash, and know he’d come back to me when I asked. He’s a Border Collie, Tootsie’s a Cavalier. Genes matter. I should add here that there are still contexts in which I would never take the chance with Willie, because the pay off wasn’t big enough. His safety is still my primary concern.
NEVER DONE: One last point: Don’t ever stop “training your dog to come.” I still often reinforce Willie for coming when called, sometimes with voice, sometimes with the toss of a toy or letting him chase me as I run away from him. And I’ll never stop watching Tootsie like a hawk if she is off leash, and reminding her how very, very fun it is to come when called.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Ah, fall is in its glory. Still lots of color left, although it is clear it’s not going to last long. Here’s a bush in the front yard that makes me smile every time I walk to the barn:
And here’s my Polly girl, a farm cat whose never been on a leash. She loves (as do all cats) getting up high, and probably thinks that fence posts are put there for her to perch upon.
I couldn’t decide which photo to include–the one above or the one below and so, decided to use them both. I rather like the unique perspective.
Erin James says
I love the photos of Polly, especially the bottom one. Delightful perspective!
I don’t have perfect recall, or even a ‘pretty good’ recall on my dogs. I have three Jack Russell Terriers; Snickers is almost 13 years old, he was born deaf and now he is blind from glaucoma (poor breeding), he has never been off leash outside. He did agility off leash until his vision got too bad, but recall for him only worked when he could see the sign for ‘COME.’ Tulip is almost five, she’s a certified Therapy Dog and has her CGC tag, but she’s not quick to come when I call, Rascal is 17 months old, I’ve worked with him the most on recall but I still would not trust him off leash. We have a fairly large, fenced yard which they roam at will. Terriers being terriers, I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable letting either Tulip or Rascal off leash. I like the idea of a ‘stop’ command and will include that in our training immediately.
HFR says
Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart. I can’t imagine not letting my dogs off leash. It is my joy in life (and theirs). I think you have spelled out the prerequisites for doing so very clearly. The safety of the dog is extremely important and your points are spot-on and comprehensive.
But the thing that I find other dog owners who let their dogs off leash don’t consider enough is the safety and concerns of those around them. I wish I had acres and acres to let my dogs run free on my own turf, but unfortunately I’m stuck with trails. If I’m walking on a trail and see people coming towards me who don’t have a dog, I will call my dogs to me and either put them on leash (these are trails that have no posted rules or do but no one pays attention to them) or will feed them treats while I wait for the people to pass. I’ve been walking my dogs off leash for so many years that I think I’ve become quite adept at reading other people’s body language from afar. For instance, when they see me and my dogs, is there an almost imperceptible hesitation? Do they slightly slow down and cautiously wait to see what the dogs will do? If so, I will make the sure the dogs are by my side as they pass. Or do their bodies relax and do their faces show a hint of a smile? Then I can usually tell they will stop and pet my dogs and ask me some questions about them or even just smile as they walk by and say “How cute”. I will always gather them up if there are small kids approaching. Just yesterday I saw a runner jogging towards me so I called my dogs to me and fed them until he passed. As he ran past, he said “Thanks!” and I had a feeling that probably others had not been as considerate at some point. And if another dog is coming my way, is it on leash? If so, I will always leash my dogs. If not, I will watch the other dog to try and see how I think that dog will react to mine.
I was once asked to write a rebuttal for the local newspaper on why being able to let dogs off leash was so important. I wrote about tolerance (if I will put up with your bicycle whizzing by or your skateboard, then can I ask for some patience and tolerance with my “hobby”?), about the need for dogs to be “wild” every once in awhile and about quality of life for everyone, including me and my dogs.
I often see people with off-leash dogs behaving badly, with little consideration for others and it pains me because, of course, it reflects badly on everyone else with dogs. But our dogs are part of nature and they need to return to it untethered every once in awhile.
Jean Bolt says
Owning two well behaved Bedlington Terriers of 8 and 9 years old I rarely let them off leash. Living in the mountains there are too many deer, squirrels, and even bears to tempt them. Also, have to be away from roads, and then risk losing them! They love it when it snows and I let them loose to play, and due to the cold I am close to 99% sure they will run to the garage and warmth!
Kat says
I’ll confess that both my dogs have a good solid emergency stop but the way they learned it was not as benign as your method of teaching it. When we first adopted Ranger we didn’t have a fence and while we worked on building him a fence he was on a dog tie out nearby. When I saw him start to run after a squirrel I knew what was going to happen when he got to the end of the tie out and yelled “Stop” in a fruitless effort to spare him the consequences of hitting the end of the cable and being jerked to a halt. It took twice before he knew that stopping when told spared him pain. We’ve since worked on it with lots of positive reinforcement in a manner similar to what you describe. Finna came to us with no social skills at all and zero leash manners. When she’d start to run after something or lunge at something I’d yell “stop” and plant myself. She wasn’t as quick a study as Ranger probably because like Tootsie she had no idea that human noises might be relevant to her. Still in time she did learn good leash manners and to understand what stop means. These days I practice “stop” with Ranger about once a week and with Finna nearly everyday. Ranger is reliable and has good judgement Finna is still too unpredictable to take chances and her judgement is questionable at best. We practice “stop” when Finna is playing fetch. She gets sent out on a run and if she stops when told I throw the ball if she doesn’t she has to come back and start over. It’s a fun game and she gets her favorite reward of a thrown squeaky ball.
Finna also practices three kinds of recalls, “Come” which has her run between my legs and around to a heel position (we’re working on a sit when she gets into position), “Front” which is to return and sit in front of me making eye contact, and “On” which is run to my hand and touch it with her nose that one I sometimes run away from her and she has to catch me to put her nose ‘on’ my hand. She’s incredibly smart and driven so I need lots of ways to keep her engaged.
Ranger’s recall is excellent in most environments but he does do a cost/benefit analysis assessing what’s in it for him if he blows me off when I call. I know this about him so he’s only off leash inside a fenced area or when I know I’m more interesting than anything else in the environment. If he decided to blow me off I know he’d come back when he was done with whatever he decided was more interesting but I want him to return on my time not his.
Kit Veerkamp says
Thank you for this article! I too live in a very rural area, on 5 acres, half of which is steep wooded hillside covered in oaks and brush, including poison oak. Mountain lion, coyotes and foxes are not uncommon around here, day and night, and in the summer, rattlesnakes. We have purposely fenced about a 1/2 acre around the house so that our dogs can safely leave the house on their own accord to use the yards (side-benefit: deer control). But once or twice a week, in our local area, there is a post about a lost dog or two because they wandered off. Many are never found because they became prey. A couple of times a year, there are posts about dogs starting to attack and injure or kill livestock. This isn’t fair to neighbors nor the dogs.
Greta says
Watching the utter joy my black Lab Stella gets from running off leash on our walks, be it beach or woods, is the best part of our walks. Love nature, but it’s better watching Stella investigate all the smells and chase sticks in the lake. It helps that she would rather be with me than anywhere else 99.99% of the time. She does have a very good recall and a emergency stop, (but it’s a down-stay) which I routinely reinforce with treats. I do like the idea of a stand stop, she already knows stand, but I never used it in that context. I will try that. Another very important command when walking off leash is Leave It. I use that one more than recall. It so helpful when encountering other, alive or especially smelly dead ones. And it even works when we encounter other dogs.
Jann Becker says
You describe so well the reasons I have not, and do not plan to, let my 6 year old goldendoodle off leash! My brother-in-law has a river house in the country where my nephews often bring their dogs; my husband wants to bring Kira and I always have to remind him she doesn’t have a solid recall even in her own yard. No F***ing WAY is she going down to the river, off leash with a bunch of dogs she doesn’t know.
But you put it so much more politely.
ALW says
I have a foot in both worlds, I live in the city and my parents have a home out in the country where we visit frequently. I have a Westie who has typical Westie hearing (he listens when he wants to and sometimes when I’m holding food) so he is 100% on leash at home. In our fenced city backyard he is allowed to drag the leash but not be completely off because he has enormous prey drive and is also a digger; that dragging leash has let me grab him at the last second more than once. We do not go to the off-leash dog park area as my dog finds that much activity overwhelming.
My parents place is the polar opposite, it is in the middle of nowhere with virtually no traffic and plenty of wide open spaces. Sounds perfect, but if I let him off leash I’d never see him again. We can hardly get from the car to the front door for all of the smelly stuff he has to explore – he’s a little ADD anyway but at my parents house he’s off the charts. Combine that with the wildlife – there are coyotes, bear, and mountain lion in the area, and as much as I’d like to, it’s just not safe to let him off leash.
Frances says
I am very, very lucky, and I know it. I live in a rural part of Northern England, with easily reached fields, mountains and beaches. There is an old railway track converted to a shared use surfaced path a few miles away, riverside walks that run for miles, a surfaced track across fields close enough for quick early morning walks, and a nearby park with miles of surfaced paths through lawns and woods – it even has a warm, comfortable dog friendly cafe that welcomes dogs inside and gives away poo bags and dog biscuits! My dogs have been off leash since puppies, when the first thing I taught them was that the safest place in the world is between my feet. There was a small blip in recall at adolescence, but knowing I had a pocketful of chicken persuaded them it was worth checking in regularly. Sophy reads both dogs and people extremely well, and only greets those who are friendly, and Poppy does what Sophy does. There have been some 0.05% moments – the day they went off after rabbits with their friend Jilly-dog, and found something hugely exciting in a field completely cut off by hedges and a stream (mine came back eventually, but we had to wait a lot longer for Jilly!), or the time a hare lifted right under my feet and they were off coursing before I was over the surprise, but even then they came back in the end!
Our version of Stop is Wait!, a multipurpose cue that embraces waiting for leashes on before getting out of the car, waiting for me before going further, waiting where vehicles might cross the tracks we walk on, or when bicycles need to pass, etc, etc. One lesson it did take me a while to learn is that, when teaching your dogs to wait with you by the side of a path used by cyclists, be sure to keep your own body between the dog and the bicycle. I have found too many cyclists will speed past within inches of a small dog – they are rather more circumspect when faced with my large and solid figure!
Christine says
Yes, I know that problem! One second of distraction ….. and my command “stay” comes too late !!! So it happened lately walking with my Jura-Laufhund on a well known trail, on one side a river at the other side woods. What I didn’t think of was that hunting season beganthe day before and game escaped from the hill behind the wood. My dog’s nose went up and so I knew I had to take him on the leash, but I was distracted with talking to a friend … and off he went with his happy houwling sound. I knew his ears were blocked now and so he wouldn’t respond to my command. A few minutes later he came sprinting back with sparkling eyes and a happy smile.
I let Tabasgo off leash whenever I can, but since he is a hunting dog I never do that in places I visit for the first time or when there is a road nearby.
After reading your article Trisha, I will work more often on the commands!!!
Katy says
With my two older dogs, I was lucky, because we lived in a city with a huge fenced-in dog park (almost 10 acres). They both have incredibly solid recalls around people and other dogs. I never really thought about how I taught them the recall, but they do both know that my whistle means stop and look at me. I then use either a second whistle or a verbal command to recall them. In emergencies, they have a completely different word that means get to me as soon as caninely possible.
With Claire, though, I learned early on that no matter how solid her recall, once those legs start moving in pursuit of a rabbit, nothing gets through to her. I honestly do not think she even hears me, so focused on catching that rabbit is she. So she was never allowed off-leash during what I think of as the rabbit hours. Now that she cannot hear any more, she just is not off-leash except in the house or fenced yard.
My newest dog is only off-leash where I know we will not see people or other dogs. For some reason, her recall is great in the woods, even if she sees squirrels or deer, but the draw of meeting a new person or dog – and potentially getting a belly rub or having a new playmate – is too great.
A peculiar thing we noticed a few weeks ago is that Allie does not necessarily come to the person who calls her. When I call her, if her favorite of my students is closer to her, she will go to that student (running past my colleagues and other students she knows). Last night, that student called her but I was closer so Allie came to me. I’m planning to recruit a few of my students, including Al’s favorite, to stand in a big circle with treats and take turns calling Allie so we straighten this out.
Melissa L. says
I really agree with what HFR says–walking a dog off-leash requires knowing what good manners are. I live in a suburban neighborhood with a natural area and trail at the end of the street. The trail is used by joggers and bicyclists as well as walkers, so you have to have good management skills if you intend to have your dog off-leash.
I also strongly believe that knowing your dog’s personality is really key. My first dog Shadow was allowed off-leash on the trail (not in the neighborhood with traffic) because she was rock-solid with people of all ages and ignored other dogs. Her recall was excellent unless faced with a deer or squirrel, but would always return as soon as she had chased them a short distance (another reason she wasn’t allowed off-leash in the neighborhood). My last dog had a more difficult history and was afraid of people and dogs she didn’t know and could be aggressive if cornered or startled. So–never off-leash because you never know when someone will pop up out of nowhere. A tale of caution, however: I was so used to walking Shadow off-leash that I never thought about the consequences when she became deaf at 13. She was either bitten by a bee or had a small stroke (never knew which) and ran off on the trail one day. Because she couldn’t hear me she got lost. I recovered her that evening at the shelter, but it was a scary and difficult day for both of us. She was never off-leash after that.
Andy says
In my car- and dog-dense city, it’s just not practical to allow my dog off-leash. Even if his recall were better, his insecurity and the lack of control other people have over their dogs makes it too risky. So I’ve got a couple of ways to help Cecil get his ya-yas out and express and pursue preferences. First, I’ve gotten really good at initiating zoomies in the backyard so he can get a good sprint in every day (albeit a very circular one). Second, I’ve decided that, while Cecil’s leash manners have improved immensely over the last few years, it’s not necessary for him to heel all the time and if he wants to sniff something off the beaten path, I just ask him for a nice sit and to not pull me all the way there. It’s a negotiation that sometimes looks sloppy, but I’d rather he enjoy his walk than have a perfect heel.
Barb Byer says
My criteria for each dog is different. Both like to explore the boundary when they are placed in a fenced area. Jazzy understands and respects the boundary, even if a gate is left open. Cowboy, my escape artist, makes mental note of any objects that might be used to climb over or gaps that provide an opportunity to crawl under. If there is something interesting on the other side—especially sheep–he will try to get to them. I have to examine the area with his eyes before I take him off the leash.
KShaw says
My stomach gets in a knot just reading about this. I struggle with it so much. I have two dogs, a hound mix, and Bluetick Coonhound. My Bluetick was born to run and hunt, and if he picks up a scent and is not on a leash, there is no stopping him. He is fantastically food motivated under any other circumstance, but if he’s in hunt mode, you can wave red meat in front of his face, and he won’t even look at it or me. He is a rescue. I got him when he was two, and he came up from West Virginia. The story is that he was on his own in the woods for awhile, probably abandoned on hunt when they couldn’t round him up when they were ready to go. So, I do my best to give him exercise – on a long leash. I work with him in the sport of Nosework, which he LOVES. And I try to find fenced in acres where he can indulge in rousting rabbits and digging holes, but that’s hard to find. My partner thinks I’m being cruel, but my dog has no concept of roads or property, and there is so much potential for risk. This is a great topic. I lean towards being protective, but I am well aware that my guy is paying a price for it.
Sara says
I love that this article makes it okay to NOT have my dogs off leash! I get a ton of comments about it and it makes me crazy especially when the dog owner in question is trying to get their dog to come back and it isn’t listening. I absolutely am okay with people who can control their dogs having them off leash regardless of trail rules. Two of my dogs are friendly all the time but the oldest (but newest) is aggressive on leash and it just ticks me off to have someone think it’s okay to let their dog run up to him while he’s snarling and I’m working on getting him to focus on me and the chicken jerky so that he doesn’t blow out the bad discs in his neck.
While the youngest two do have a fairly reliable recall, it’s only fairly reliable. My 3you 55lb Chow/Shephard mix will come back every time… As soon as she’s done sniffing what she’s sniffing when I call 🙂 My 2yo 40lb Hound/Whippet mix is reliable unless he wants to sniff what she’s sniffing 🙂 My 11yo 30lb Terrier (or whatever, nobody seems to be able to figure him out except he’s ridiculously adorable) has only been with us for a couple of months and is too hard of hearing, has poor vision and wasn’t trained as far as we can tell. Along with his pretty serious medical issues that boy is staying on leash!
Also a shout out to people who listen when I tell them the oldest (who is probably barking) has issues and actually end up helping by waiting for me to get him “off sides” which is their command to leave the trail and sit and wait while others go by. We always give right of way to others so the youngest two are really good at moving over when they see someone.
Kitt says
A standard poodle I’d trained intensively from puppyhood enjoyed walking off-leash in my urban neighborhood in the latter half of her life, in part because we never, ever, *ever* crossed the street without her stopping and sitting at the curb and waiting for my OK. When it became clear that this was hard-coded, I started giving her more autonomy on walks. It just evolved that way.
She would even stop in mid-squirrel-chase if the squirrel dashed into the street, and that was darned impressive, even to me. It was a sad day when at 13 her increasing deafness required that I leash her again.
I doubt I’ll ever reach that level of confidence with a dog again. I love the poodles I have now, but I did not train them from puppyhood (they were adult rescues) and I will not trust them off-leash except in a fully fenced area. Like Tootsie, they have hidden pasts, with potential triggers and command overrides that I don’t know about and cannot plan for and control.
Lila says
Like ALW, Nick and I and the dogs, Badger (1.5 years old) and Marley (7 years old), both ~13 lbs. are in both worlds. We live in town in an apartment, and Nick’s mom is out in the country.
At home, the dogs are 98% on leash. I say 98 because I will take Badger out on a long line and let him drag it, because there’s a nice open area surrounded by trees, and even though it’s not fenced, it’s a good place to work on recall and other outdoor training. I try to stay close enough to step on the line if necessary. His recall is not great but he will come if I move out of sight or run, and since I can’t drive him out to the country to work on recall all the time, this is the best I’ve got. He also is not aggressive, which leads us to Marley:
Marley is 100% on leash, or a *held* long line if I’m almost positive there won’t be other dogs around. She is very reactive and she’s snapped at dogs before, though the snapping has only been on leash (a few times she was dragging a leash and while still reactive, she wasn’t as bad. That was when she first came to live with us this summer, though, and now that she’s settled in she seems more aggressive, which is frustrating.
(Oh Marley. Her previous owner (Nick’s aunt) loved her and meant well, but didn’t know much about training, so we inherited a nervous dog who knew two things: run away and cower when addressed with a raised voice, and sit-pretty or bounce for attention/treats.)
When we go out to Nick’s mom’s house, the dogs can run around as much as they want. The driveway is long enough that they’re unlikely to run into stray traffic, and when we take them for a walk down the driveway they are pretty good about not running into the road.
Watching Badger running is so joyful, especially since he broke his leg as a puppy and getting it healed was such an ordeal. He also provokes Marley into running and playing, which she needs because she’s lazy and very prone to weight gain.
I would love to be able to take them on trail walks off-leash, but I don’t think it’ll ever be possible. Badger, while his recall is improving, is still a terrier. Marley’s recall, when it exists (which isn’t often) is a terribly slow and meandering one, and she can’t be trusted around unknown. dogs. Sigh.
Carolyn says
For myself and my dogs, I am an off leash person! But done wisely considering the dog. My previous Golden could go off leash basically anywhere, but with my current two, they are on leash when we go into the urban area or any kind of busy street. The secret is getting the right dogs and TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING and then more TRAINING!
Much like HFR, when we are on a trail where there are other people or dogs, I call my dogs to me. They have been trained not to interact with those people or dogs unless I give them permission (my Sheltie mix has no interest in interacting with others anyways). I typically move to the edge of the path and have them sit. They have also been desensitized to joggers and mountain bikers zipping past them. I get positive feedback from others 99% of the time. However, I try to take my dogs to places where we won’t run into non dog people.
Because I LOVE walking with my pups off leash, I choose my dogs carefully specifically getting puppies (under 4 months) from breeds (Goldens) and mixes (Golden/herding dog mixes) known for their obedience potential. It does bother me when people who don’t put much thought or effort into their dogs let their dogs off leash in populated areas
Samantha says
Great article. It’s always good to be reminded of the importance of recall. And I will now add a ‘stop’ into our training routine, too. Thank you.
colleen Belanger says
I have alaskan malamutes and live in the country on 20 acres of mostly woods. It is what use to be an old small farm.
Our off leash depends on the dog, right now I have 2 off leash on my property only and 2 youngsters still learning the ropes.
I had my 8 yr old out yesterday morning and we flushed a deer out and she took off….I gave her our command…..far enough….which means stop wait for another command. I could notesee her and my husband started to chase after her and I grabbed his arm…..gave my come command and sure enough she trotted back.
They are all also sled dogs so they know…..whoa, stand, wait and gee haw from sledding.
Madison is my 99.9999% dog……Deuce is my 99% dog but I run him off leash with Madison and they stay together and work as a team, Deuce is 10yrs.
My other two are 2-3yrs and are on leash until they learn their commands.
Marjorie says
Love the picture of Tootsie running flat out!
In regards to off leash and recall I wish people would actually teach a recall instead of just letting their dog off and screaming their name and hoping for the best. I have a Cavalier and I find many Cavalier owners say they do not make good off leash dogs because they are chasers (butterflies, birds, leaves) and too unpredictable. I found that with training (continuous, always on going) and good common sense you can let most dogs enjoy off leash time. I agree that getting to know your dog over time so that you know what environments/situations will require more control than others. I always choose a safe environment away from traffic for off leash and if possible I will scout out any new trails without my dogs first. I also have trained them to not go beyond certain boundaries in some parks by picking either a specific rock or bench that they go to to be leashed before heading to the parking lot. I heavily treat them while training for this in the beginning and I find it works well. I try and set them up for success and don’t let them off if I feel there is any potential for them to be put in harms way. I think having strict routines around getting in and out of vehicles and entering and exiting parks helps them to know what is expected of them. Mine enjoy a great deal of off leash, but always in safe environments. For good off leash experiences you also need to teach “wait” and “leave it” as well as “Come.”
I criteria for off leash:
know your dog
previous and ongoing positive training
a
previous and ongong trining
Margaret says
Thanks for this spot-on article. Your comment about knowing your dog’s personality is key to our decision to keep the lead on our 2-year-old flat-coated retriever. Lucy has limited impulse control. Even in indoor agility class, she can only get through a sequence of 4 or 5 obstacles before she loses focus and takes off to play with the other dogs. My husband wants to take her bird hunting (what she was born to do), but we can’t accept the off-leash risk right now. The last time Lucy was off leash in the woods (8 months ago), she jumped a couple of deer and took off after them (fortunately away from the road), and she was gone for 10 minutes. We recently learned that in our neighboring state of Minnesota (don’t know about here in Wisconsin), dogs that chase deer can be legally shot! So one more thing to worry about.
Lucy has matured since the deer incident, but her behavior is still unpredictable. We try to split the on/off leash difference by putting a long line on Lucy, and we practice her recall while she is dragging the long line. We will add the “stop” step in our ongoing training efforts…it makes a lot of sense.
Karen says
” The only 100% guarantee of safety for Tootsie was to live in a cage, and she’d already done that for seven years.”
Truer words were never spoken. Dogs need to (safely) run free and often in order to feel like they have a little control over their lives. This is why every dog should learn how to do it without freaking out their human.
Patty Jones says
I live in a rural area that is surrounded on 3 sides with a creek and 1 side with a major highway and although there are 28 acres, I never walk my mastiff or Bernese off lease. They are known to dart after every little thing, and I would never catch them if they went over the creek and I fear them getting hit if they go towards the highway. My Bernese is in training and I use a 15′ lead with him.
christine Zeltner says
I have two Great Pyrenees and have two fenced acres in the country. My dogs get lots of time to run in the fenced yard. They are never off leash out side of that area.
Steve Soberski says
Interesting subject, I live in Nebraska, I have two border collies, we herd at a ranch north of Lincoln, my dogs have always been off leash on the ranch, do I need to add they are off leash while herding. They are hundreds of yards away at times, almost out of sight, while herding I trust them completely. But I live in Lincoln and would never in a thousand years let them off leash in town, we have cars, trucks, buses, squirrels, all the things they would chase in a heart beat…
Vicky says
Experience of this in the UK is, I think, very different. I live in London and in many of the great parks here, dogs are allowed off-leash except in designated areas (e.g children’s playgrounds). Keeping a dog on-leash all the time would be considered unusual. From puppyhood on, most owners expect to take their dogs to the park and let them off-leash for most of their walk.
peggy says
MY thoughts for off leash or not. First I have to have a dog with a consistant recall, I need to know the area aand have a reason for thr off leash. My dogs are herding dogs and trained from puppyhood to work livestock so along the way we develop trust in ewwch other. a funny thing happened with my dogs. we visited friends who live in a rural area on five acres. I know their neighbors and all the dogs are free. When we arrived I let mine out knowing they would return. the ae bi-black Shelties. Annie was arescue so had had free roaming for months probably before coming to me. My male had herding experience , titles and only had been off lead when working. we think he got confused and wandered into the neighbors house whose Border Collie to this stranger and wanted him to leave my dog didn’t have a clue what hits dog’s problem was and took exception to his behavior. when Scott got home he found two dogs with fur hanging out of their mouths one dog he know and didn until summer when the neighbors had a get together’t hear the story’t know the other who ran away. He finally found
his way to my friends. we didn’t he didn’t venture far after that. Still he loves going up there. the rescue made friends with my friends dog and followed her around. the two girls stayed safe and out of trouble.
D says
This is a topic I’m currently struggling with, so it’s an interesting coincidence that you’ve revived an old article. I have some input that I’ve been hesitating to add, because I don’t want people to use this as a crutch or an alternative to training.
Like you, Tricia, I have working Border Collies, but I’m in a different part of the country. Like Willie, my older working dog (and previous BC) came with that recall software pre-loaded. At 8 weeks old when I brought him home from the breeder (I had paid for him before he was born), he knew his name and had an amazingly solid recall. I had an older BC with a similar work ethic. I didn’t get my next dog (pup) until more recently – again, a well-bred working Border Collie from a reputable breeder. Boy, did I ever get a wake up call!
This little girl has been my “challenge puppy.” The world is an interesting place to her, and the allure of great sniffs has been a greater draw than the pack instinct or high-value treats and toys, and even as a pup, she’d wander off, exploring, regardless of the treats or toys I had with me. So, I practiced and practiced and practiced her recall in safe areas. I have a farm, so like you, I have good, fenced areas to work. And work I did. But she was not that food motivated, and while toys were cool, the world more interesting. Fast forward- she’s more mature now and has been started on sheep and is showing some really nice talent. (BTW, she is also more food and toy motivated than she was as a youngster.) Some trainers have told me that I should start using her for chores – BUT, my farm consists of many many acres of unfenced land, and the white tail deer are abundant. I’ve been afraid to use her for “real” work on my farm. BUT, honestly, what good is a working dog if you can’t allow it off leash?
I finally bought a GPS collar attachment for her. It has made a world of difference for me, AND for her. It has allowed me to give her that autonomy you speak of, just on regular dog walks. It has allowed me to put her to work, moving sheep from one area to another (big expanses of unfenced land where we might encounter DEER!). It has made me realize that, all my hard work on practicing recalls in safe situations has given me a better recall than I thought I had on her.
It’s critical to note – the product I bought (and I suspect most of the ones on the market) is not perfect. The update rate of the software is every 12 minutes. I spoke to one of the company representatives on the phone, and said “Do you have any idea how far a fit, working Border Collie can go in 12 minutes?” But they make their product for the “average dog,” whatever that means. But eventually – even the fittest dog will slow down, and the GPS tracking software will (hopefully) tell you where it is…and hopefully you can then get to it before anything horrible happens.
Three weeks ago, my dog took off after a deer. I suffered a moment of sheer panic, whistled a recall with my herding whistle over and over, then took a deep breath, took out my iPhone, and started trying to track her. The dang software said “she is still in the home zone”…NO SHE IS NOT! I yelled and cursed at it. She returned within seven minutes – before the darn software even realized she was gone. S0 – again – just my example of how this tool is far less than perfect.
But – I just wanted to throw that out there. Modern technology gives us more options than we ever had in the past. But, please, please, please, if you are a dog owner and reading this, remember:
1. It is not a replacement for training your dog.
2. It shouldn’t even be used with dogs who don’t already have a fairly good recall.
3. It uses a cell phone signal (you purchase a monthly plan), so if you don’t get good cell reception in your area, don’t even consider it.
4. The update rate – 12 minutes – is slow – so if you have traffic, a lot of predators or any other dangerous situations – it may only help you locate a dead dog. DO NOT RELY ON THIS TOOL in situations where your dog could be in danger that quickly. (My farm happens to be surrounded by hundreds of acres of woodland, not roads or houses. Plus, there is GOOD cell phone reception here.)
On a final note – I must applaud the notes from HFR and others who say PLEASE consider others before allowing your dog off leash. Regardless of this GPS and my youngster’s exceptional dog and people skills, my young dog is still on a leash when we go places where we might encounter other people or dogs.
Gayla says
I keep trying to remember the name of the trainer that advocated using an E-collar for training a solid recall. I think he called it “safety training.” Does anyone remember?
Jane Jackson says
We have 6 dogs, 4 of whom I walk almost daily on our dirt road (the other two are LGDs). Two are Border Collies (aged 7 and 10 mos) and two are Jack Russells (aged 16 and 6). The three mature dogs are off leash, the pup drags a long line. We see 0-5 cars on a typical day. Sadly, even though it’s a dirt road, they come fast. Luckily, we are on a long straight stretch (one reason they go so fast) so we can see and usually hear them coming from quite a distance. All dogs have been taught to come to me and sit at my feet when a car comes…we practice that every time a car passes and I ALWAYS have high value treats for those recalls. I stand on the pup’s line when cars pass: short enough so that he cannot move but otherwise doesn’t feel it. The mature BC and 6 yr old JRT have rock solid recalls. The 16 year old JRT used to but can no longer hear my recall. When that happened, he went onto a leash for a while but he pouted so badly for the couple months I tried it that I gave in and let him back off leash since at 16, I can usually stay within a couple feet of him to give him his visual recall cue, which is rock solid.
I stay right smack in the middle of the road until all my dogs are at my feet, thereby slowing the approaching drivers until I have everyone close and we step to the side. Also, the 16 yr old no longer sits as his knees bother him so he’s allowed to stand.
All recalls are also practiced at other times during the day around the farm. For the Jacks, critters are the biggest distraction but they are probably 90% reliable anyway (they always come but it might not be immediate), for the mature BC, she’s 99.99999% reliable (I’d say 100 but that would be tempting fate). For the pup, the other dogs, good smells, can be distracting and of course, stock is reeeeally distracting.
When I go elsewhere, I trust the Jacks around most things except traffic (in places where is is socially unacceptable to walk in the middle of the road to slow cars down). The BC doesn’t leave the farm. If we go somewhere more settled where there are a lot of critters (squirrels, chippies, etc), I don’t trust the 6 yr old Jack…it’s just too tempting to have a plethora of them so close. At home, the wildlife is more elusive and therefore less tempting.
Cloudine says
Ah, a worthwhile meditation topic. There are additional factors to consider beyond your poignant points. Certainly, the average person has little to no actual impulse control training on their dogs. I’ve taught recall classes where people who regularly let their dogs off leash couldn’t even recall their dog successfully in a small, indoor, gated area. Add to that the need to train these skills (impulse control, distance position(s), and recall) under arousal, and you’ve lost the majority, by far. They want that degree of, I hesitate to call it “control”, but they won’t bother to put the time in to train even half of it. The real tragedy, IMO, is that these can be some of the most fun exercises to train (when executed well;)!
My favorite off-leash protocol is to collect my group when anyone approaches, with or without dogs, and sit everybody in a cluster off the side of the trail. The huge challenge is other people respecting the effort the stay requires (hardest for the client dogs with less training). This is where fights can happen between me and other dog owners. If they allow their dog(s) to “say hello”, and crash into the pile, I will head them off while trying to verbally get the owner to assist, and when that doesn’t happen in time, I will remove the offending party, however I need to. All the while, my biggest focus is on my reactive rescue, who, won’t seek out a confrontation, but will hold his ground (quite logically and fairly from a dog’s point of view (he had to fend for himself in the yard with a pile of BCs at rescue)).Does it all come down to boundaries?
For instances when a dog might not heed the recall, consideration of temperament comes into play. consideration of temperament comes into play. The goofy flat-coat that doesn’t listen well when she sees other dogs is bombproof, sweet, passive. So, not too big of a miss. But, my reactive rescue can down at a distance while chasing squirrels, and is at the top of my priorities. It’s a lot to juggle, and there are few who should ever try to. I’ve encountered other “dog walkers” who had too many dogs to handle, each of which would probably be difficult to control verbally alone, and they have a gang of them off leash. This becomes an altercation where I start demanding they “call their dogs” as I attempt to back away while organizing my group. They usually can’t catch their bunch, but I can usually manage their dog and send them back to them. Because my group is already anchored.
But, it could all go wrong. Nothing is certain with animals. For that reason, I wouldn’t bring multiple difficult dogs on the same outing. I rely on the rest of the group being under good to excellent verbal control so I can focus on my one loose cannon (who will spend much more time on leash, possibly entirely). I don’t recommend other people attempt this feat. I have over 20 years of professional animal handling experience. And still, there’s risk. But, the benefits are too great to play it perfectly safe. I’m sure to discuss with clients (and have them sign off on paper) the hard truths about what can go wrong. A dog could get lost chasing a deer or a bear. Or attacked, by a wild animal or a rude dog that shouldn’t be off leash! There are poisons and dirty water, holes to break legs in, etc. It is a gamble.
P.S. I love Kat’s variations on the recall arrival. Isn’t it important that we turn the arrival into a more dynamic and fun event? The last thing you want to do is stop the dog from moving around every time!
KT Howard says
Luckily I live in a town where there are leash laws but rarely enforced except on the city streets. Most people only use leashes while in town or on the river walk but rarely do I see a dog on leash anywhere else. All of the dogs I encounter are friendly and all of them seem to know who their “person” is so, after saying hi, they merrily scamper off after their person. My dog will wait if I ask him to and will return to me if need be but I would certainly not call it a solid recall. He’s on leash when there is any danger of him running out into traffic but, other than that, he’s rarely on a leash. It’s awesome to see all of the dogs able to sniff and run about with no restrictions. Truly doggie heaven!
Larry Caldwell says
I have always been rural, so my dogs live off leash from early puppyhood. We go for walks and they learn the boundaries. Sometimes they are out of sight, but it’s a safe area with no roads or livestock. Sometimes when they get fixated on scratch hunting I will just go back to the house and let them come when they are ready. They know where they live. They would come if I insisted, but I trust them to make good decisions because they have learned their world.
They stay away from vehicles and equipment by their own volition. When the garbage truck picks up our garbage, they bark at it, but stay at least 40 feet away. When I am farming they do the same with the tractor, but come running up as soon as I shut down.
OTOH, my wife and I just adopted 7 year and 12 year miniature dachshunds. They lived their entire life in an apartment in town. So far we have kept them in a harness for all walks, except special occasions when we are willing to dedicate an entire afternoon to retrieving them. They have no experience of being free, and are at risk of getting lost or injured no matter what environment they are in. We will gradually allow them more freedom, but it will probably be six months or a year before we can trust them to just go for walks with the other dogs.
Margaret McLaughlin says
Nope. Only in my fenced yard. Nina is off lead in many different locations when we are training Obedience–but we are TRAINING, not walking. Walking always happens on leash, & is usually walking for exercise, with sniff breaks.
I was discussing this with a friend a few days ago, & we both have changed over the years. My first dog I often let off leash in the park–I could drop him on a hand signal from 50 yards, & it was a long way to a road. He started to challenge other dogs in “his” park, & I had the sense to stop before anything happened. My friend, after many years of allowing her dogs to run at her horse barn, had a dog killed by a car in what had always been a safe area. Terrible for the dog, for her, & for the driver.
A separate issue is the problem of loose dogs approaching leashed dogs. I quit dogwalking on one popular local trail (which has a 6-foot leash law) because so many people thought “He’s friendly!” was good enough. My Lia was very reactive, after having been attacked as a 9-week puppy, & altho’ she made great progress with LAT, I considered that my part of the bargain was to keep strange dogs out of her face.
I’d also question whether dogs & cats really are “a part of nature” or whether they are invasive species interfering with local ecosystems & harassing wildlife–don’t know the answer, just asking the question.
kevin says
Spot on about the stop command. Our Aussie, Cooper, will freeze mid-stride at “Wait!” Recall still a work in progress
Elisabeth says
Thank You for this spot on article, and for the delightful pictures!
We live in a rural area and have 1/2 acre around our house fenced in. I consider it a certain degree of peace of mind for us and also a courtesy to our neighbors.
Personality, recall response level, where we are hiking, and a little bit individual breed/mix of each dog, determine who in my 5-dog household is allowed off-leash on a hike and who isn’t. One exception was my Great Pyrenees, who could never be off leash in all of his 13 years. He was sadly not reliable in his recall and his personality was not friendly toward strangers, so he had to be walked on leash his entire life. Ironically, my two youngest dogs, two rescued Pit Bull/Am Staffs, are the most reliable off leash. Last week, we came across a herd of deer on a woodland trail, and all I had to say was “Stay” and stay they did. Had my Sheltie Mix or my other two Bull Breed Mixes been on that walk, they would have chased the deer to a varying degree, with my Sheltie Mix chasing them the longest, no doubt. I never take more than two dogs on an off-leash hike, and I like to take a step to my right or left into shrubs when my dogs are busy sniffing. It has taught them to not let me out of their sight for longer than a few seconds at a time. It has become nearly impossible to slip away unseen because they have learned to pay attention pretty well. No one even goes around a bend on their own without me anymore.
Because my dogs are breeds/mixes that have received a bad rap in recent years, I feel they have to be better behaved than other breeds, especially in public.
Jocelyn says
I look after a few dogs and take them on walks. They all have to be leashed. There are way to many dogs with no recall or some kinds of aggression that run loose. This is in parking lots, beside the road, and on trails. Owners not paying attention to there off leash dogs. Now my dogs have leash aggression when there are off leash dogs. What bothers me so much, is that, the owners blame us with the on leash dogs for the reactivity. And I do not only call owners once to call there dogs, lots of times I may have to call 4 or 5 times.
And there are lots of people with fear of dogs. When the dog runs at them is is not fair.
This problem seems to be getting worse.
People need to remember they are dogs. If the human race really love dogs like they say, why is it we must turn them into 4 legged humans. Lets keep dogs as dogs. We can still treat them with respect, love and family members but lets celebrate the fact they are dogs and need to be treated that way.
That includes leashes.
Matriarch says
I ache to let my dogs run off-leash, but my tiny (7 lbs) yorkie mix thinks he’s a very bad, very big dog. He immediately attacks big dogs. I’ve worked hard on socialization, training, classes, positive reinforcement. But still he’s a serious hazard around big dogs. That’s why your lovely, sweet and friendly dog running off-leash is my worst nightmare. Your dog, running up to my leashed dog, is in danger of having his eyes ripped. No, I won’t pick up my dog. I have come close to being bitten by big, friendly dogs lunging at my suddenly aggressive little dog. I love the notion of free running dogs. But not in public. Not in the park. Not at the lake. Not on the mountain trail. Please. If you can’t 100 percent (99.999 isn’t good enough) be sure that your dog won’t come close to my leashed dog, please, don’t let it off leash in public.
Margaret Auld-Louie says
Size matters. I had a Chihuahua mix dog and quit letting her off leash in parks or on trails as there was too much risk of a coyote grabbing her and running off with her. Coyotes are prevalent all over the Denver metro area where I live and small dogs get carried away by them.
jes says
All of Patricia’s points are spot on – the reasons for doing it, the conditions. Context is so hugely important!!! I’ve yet to come up with the scratch to buy a farm (or even a fenced yard), and the only way my dogs can enjoy physical activity (run, frisbee, etc.) is off-leash. First dog was a BC mix, adopted as a puppy, got my one-in-a million first time out. Highly food motivated, easily trainable, I was the center of her world, and we trained off leash before on-leash, eventually got into agility and our partnership blossomed. Lived in a neighborhood with a lot of greenspace, so usually walked her offleash (always carrying a leash, of course), and picking up religiously bred neighborhood tolerance (all too often the offleash issue is conflated with the dog poop issue). We tried dog parks, but she was attacked one too many times, so we started seeking out spaces/trails that weren’t crowded (often walked the neighborhood after midnight). She didn’t let me out of her sight, so a perfect trail dog. Our route was often a negotiation, and I tried to say yes to her requests as often as possible – enjoying her autonomy was a huge part of our bond. Lost her a year ago at 14 yrs. To me, our off-leash adventures were all about celebrating her dog-ness. Leashes are about humans, not dogs.
Now, we just got a new house, and new pup (fence comes next year). I have the same BC girl that D described above! Not food motivated, just gaga over the exciting world, smart but initially impossible to train outside of a vacuum. Got her “accustomed” (I won’t say “trained”) as pup to follow me on daily trail walks offleash (private land with permission), it’s part of our routine. Her aural understanding of human language is pretty impressive, but more importantly, finally seems to be developing an interest in what I want – She’s 10 months old now – so our wait and recall have gotten pretty good. She’s still HORRIBLE on-leash in the neighborhood, but we have accomplished some self-control – she automatically lays down now when a car approaches (she desperately wants to chase them), so even though we have a lot of work to do, I’m pleased. Yes, off-leash activity has to be managed, but I can’t imagine a dog’s life without it.
Susan Boyer says
Walking a dog I know well and who knows me well off lead in a roadless area has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Seeing my dog come to a fork in a path and stop and wait for me to signal with my body or my eyes which fork to take. Knowing by my dogs’ body language when they stop and sniff– whether it’s something they’ve encountered hundreds of times or never before. Having the dog stop, look up and seek me out with his eyes in the midst of a mad passionate chipmunk dig, taking a moment to share his joy with me, including me in his world of scent. Walking together through the countryside, feeling my dog “tied” to me with deep bonds of love and partnership, knowing that despite our differences in form and brain we have somehow become family in the truest and best sense of that word….There’s something about all this that is extremely soul satisfying. Surely it’s because, in a perfect world of no cars, this is how human and dog were meant to be; it feels good and right because we evolved that way. I grew up like this and lived this way for my first 30 years and later moved to a much more “civilized” part of the world where my dogs are on lead 99% of the time. Cannot tell you how much I miss it. Though it has been thirty years I still grieve for it. My relationships with the dogs I’ve had since moving here is nothing like the ones I had back then. I’m so glad for those off lead experiences with my old dogs. The worst that ever happened to them is they occasionally found a carcass to roll in. They all lived well into their teens. I have so many amazing memories of moments of intense and complete nonverbal communication that took place between me and those dogs….that never could have happened had they been on a lead. Today my dogs know the “wait” to get them stopped and are 99% on their recalls. Still, it is too crowded here with too many roads to risk their precious lives by letting them go. They have their big fenced yard and onlead daily rambles with me and that’s the best I can do. I’m thankful for memories of happier times. Thank you for the opportunity to share and thank you for reading.
Minnesota Mary says
I live in the city of Minneapolis with three well-behaved dogs. Two are huskies and one is a Golden Retriever/Border Collie mix as near as I can tell. All are rescues. All have passed the CGC and one of the huskies and I are a pet therapy team. That said, I’d add breed to the list of questions to ask oneself when considering the risk of allowing a dog off-leash. My rescue fostering has taught me that, with the breed “husky” there is no safety off-leash. The breed has, for centuries, been turned loose in the spring, summer and fall to fend for themselves. A sled dog team is expensive to feed. Only those with a strong prey drive survived, so essentially the northern circle dogs (Malamutes, huskies, Samoyeds, etc.) were all bred to have a strong prey drive. Any critter will consume these dogs’ attention and they’ll turn a deaf ear to their owner’s commands. Additionally, they were bred to run run run run all day every day. One of mine (the therapy dog) has “pretty good” recall but it’s still not anywhere near 99%. No off-leash for my pups! Mostly due to the breed.
Michele Godlevski says
I think the first question to ask is “am I endangering my dog or other dogs by letting my dog off leash?” So many people are completely inconsiderate to the fact that their “friendly” dog is not welcome in the personal space of every dog they meet. The other issue is do you really know what dangers lie beneath the leaves? Here in rural NC if you let your dog off leash in the woods, they are likely to encounter Copper Head snakes and even barbed wire. When at the beach, we have to worry about jelly fish on the beach and sharks in the water. When visiting the mountains, there are rattlesnakes and bears. I know…Oh my! Sorry. Its bad enough that one of my dogs ate fish bait on a hook at the beach – while on leash. He survived it, but many dogs don’t. I am the responsible adult here….and my dogs count on me to keep them from harm. I live in a rural farm community…and I have my property fenced in. I let my dogs off leash in safe, fenced areas where they will not bother other dogs or get hurt. I also rent out fenced areas to people who want to let their dog run, but don’t want to go to a dog park. Live and let live…but not at the expense of someone else’s dog or even your own.
Chris from Boise says
Just yesterday the results from 2700 users of our extensive local trail system was released. Many of the comments were about off-leash dogs (about 90% of the trail system is off-leash trails), and the results showed users are very polarized. It was either “No rules – let my dogs run free!” or “Off-leash dogs (supposed to stay within 30 feet and be under owner’s control) are a menace to wildlife, other dogs, bikers and hikers, plus owners are extremely irresponsible about picking up their dog’s poop”.
Having a bombproof dog and a recovering-reactive one, I feel for both sides. The good side of having a reactive dog is that Habi has far better manners than the average pup, as we have worked so hard on her issues for so many years. Using all the criteria Trisha listed above, Habi is now (seven years in) able to be off-leash on some trails; most importantly, both dogs come when called and step to the side of the trail with me when we meet others. Her life has changed exponentially for the better by earning off-leash privileges, as she now gets the exercise, social stimulation, and mental stimulation of the natural world that she so badly needs, and it’s doubly sweet for us, as we never thought we’d reach this point.
As usual, it comes down to owner responsibility – good owners know their dogs’ limits and abilities; irresponsible owners cause the problems. IMHO, off-leash in public is a privilege, not a right.
I agree with a point Margaret McLaughlin brought up – dogs (and especially cats) can have a huge impact on the environment; owners need to be responsible about when and where (and if) they allow pets to roam.
And lastly – Frances, may we come live with you? I’m sure Sophy and Poppy would love (?) our thundering horde…
em says
I’ve commented many times before about how much I love walking my dogs off leash, so I’ll spare everyone a re-hash and just re-affirm that, done wisely, off-leash walking can be some of the most soul-satisfying time an owner can share with their dog. As with so much else, I credit Otis with teaching me about the value and pleasure of off-leash walking. I’d never considered it practical or important, as an urban/suburban dog owner, but he changed my perspective in a couple of critical ways: 1) Watching him truly RUN for the first time, in the kind of open space necessary for a dog his size to hit full speed, and seeing the joy that it brought him, was one of the most moving and exhilarating moments of my life. For him, a life without this opportunity would have been sadly constrained and diminished.
2) I feel I might be harping on his size, but unavoidably, I had to face the fact that with a dog Otis’ size (150lbs of lean, hard muscle, built for strength and speed) there is NO chance of ANYONE controlling him with physical strength. I can put him on a leash if it makes the world feel better, but the truth, I knew in my heart, was that if he wouldn’t listen, no leash was going to hold him. I had to embrace the idea that with a dog like Otis, control (and I should more accurately call it ‘influence’ rather than ‘control’, I suppose. ‘Control’ is always something of an illusion when it comes to living creatures) doesn’t come from the strength of my body but from the strength of our bond.
It was a revelation that changed nearly everything about how I trained and thought about my dogs. Realizing that I didn’t NEED a leash was like riding a bike without training wheels for the first time, and I feel that sharing that experience, and the work I needed to do to do it safely, deepened my relationship with my dogs in ways I didn’t realize were possible.
I know that off-leash walking in unfenced areas is not safe or appropriate for all dogs, and I would never suggest that it is, but for me and my dogs, it may be the greatest pleasure of our lives together, and it’s not one I would lightly decide to forego for any dog I owned in the future.
On the topic of wildlife, I have no satisfactory answers, because I do worry about dogs running amok in sensitive wildlife habitats, but because of the choices I make and rules I enforce, most of the animals in a position to feel harassed by my off-leash dogs are themselves invasive species like gray squirrels or massively overpopulated (whitetail deer) due to human manipulation of the environment. Wildlife pest control is actually an increasing problem in my neighborhood (150 year old village, not new development) as a direct result of the leash laws that constrain dogs to fences and leashes. I AM wholeheartedly in favor of leash laws, but one of the downsides is that prey species populations willing to habituate to human environments (squirrels, rabbits, deer, skunks, possums, woodchucks, raccoons, etc.) have exploded in the absence of predation and harassment. They do a great deal of property damage, spread dangerous parasites like Lyme-infected ticks and suffer from some very unpleasant diseases (chronic wasting) due to overpopulation.
People don’t tend to live comfortably in close proximity with large wild predators (even the shy and mostly trouble-free local coyotes are the subject of much fearful and harsh reaction) and so dogs CAN be a way to maintain balance in an ecosystem already unbalanced by human interference.
The woodchuck that Sandy cornered and terrified (but didn’t harm) in the back yard might not realize it, but an ounce of harassment can be worth a pound of extermination if it leads to a decision to set up a burrow down in the woods rather than along my foundations.
Once Bitten says
When testing your dog for readiness to be off-leash consider unseen temptations. If you are walking on a trail and your dog is ahead of you and sees something down a side path that you can’t see, how confident are you that your dog won’t run? I was bitten by a dog who was off-leash on a trail, ahead of his owner. He saw me down an adjoining side path, but the owner had no idea I was there. The dog charged my (on-leash) dog and ended up biting me. Without having the dog right beside him, the owner had no chance to prevent this attack – aside from the obvious option that he could have had his dog on a leash.
Diane says
No time to read all the comments….yet. My dog is old, and slower than in his youth, and very controllable off leash. I am happy that he was able to be off leash on many a long wonderful walk when he was younger. My goal when my dog was a pup was to have the neighborhood look upon him like “Lassie”. So he was taught all the obedience basics (he loves obedience – something my husband doesn’t understand about him at all!), and most importantly for me, he never goes into the street unless it’s with my permission. And, agreeing with HFR, it was also important to respect the other people and dogs who may have been out when we were out. Sometimes that involved asking him to wait, or calling him and leashing him. I also leashed him if it was just too busy (a lot of car activity or children) or if I felt he was not as attentive to me as he needed to be for off leash privilege. He did earn the neighborhood reputation and he is now regarded as the “smartest dog”. But it involved work (fun work), and respect for others. My fear is other people in the neighborhood don’t realize the work involved. A neighbor’s dog took off in the park when her friend let her dog off leash. It took a while to retrieve her after she picked up either scent or movement or both. When we finally got her, I put my dog on a sit stay, moved quite far away, and recalled. (Luckily he did it perfect that time). After done I advised I would never let my dog off leash if I didn’t have that as a solid behavior. I hate to be like that, and did want it to display as show off behavior as much as I wanted to make a point. Luckily the advice seemed to be well received … my neighbor is still talking to me!
Mireille says
@Karen: I’m sorry but your comment “This is why every dog should learn how to do it without freaking out their human.” makes me a bit upset. I have Siberian huskies. They have a high prey drive, are very very fast and have very quick responses. I currently train with dog trainer who breeds working Malinois sheperds and even she is awed by how quickly Spot reacts.
Letting them off leash is always a gamble. If a deer or hare bounds past, they are gone. Period. No human can un-train that, not even with a e-collar. Same goes for cats. Only last monday I was walking home, and just as I approached our front garden, Spot (on leash) bounded over the low wall and across the pond, almost dragging me with him. There was a cat there… He had never done that before, I was not prepared but because he was leashed the cat survived.
Our previous Siberian was a very independent dog. He was never of leash in the Netherlands (to closely populated, to many other animals, cars etc). Yet I think he had a full and rewarding lifetime with us. As do our current dogs: we walk them, let them run in front of the dog scooter, I do tracking and man trailing with them. Especially the man trailing is very interesting: there I have to follow the dogs choices, since he can detect something I can’t. It makes Spot so PROUD when he found the victim. I think that working together, in all those things, can be as rewarding as just letting them roam free.
The truth is, whenever I have my dogs off leash, I gamble with other animals lives. Now these two have a pretty good recall actually (practiced it a lot, leashes can break, clumsy owners can drop them (ahem), doors can be left open) so occasionally I do let them off leash. In areas with good view, no deer and no other (small) dogs. (This because Shad chased a small dog, luckily I was near and he let go immediately when I yelled at him and there was no physical injury but boy did I feel bad…. ) . I take the risk of them chasing rabbits, so far the only two rabbits they caught where when they were leashed. That is debatable if it is fair on the rabbits.
On two occasions things did not go well: once Spot disappeared into the mountains in Austria. He only came back when I went outside (again) to look for him and decided to HOWL. Second time it was Shad that scared the wits out of me when he suddenly decided he could swim and swam after a duck with ducklings, almost crossing a big and busy river. He was swimming for almost half an hour before I could catch him. So Spot will not be allowed of leash when we return to austria and Shad will not be off leash whenever there are small ducklings.
By the way, I can recommend the HOWLING recall. Spot’s leash broke one time, when he saw a deer in the woods (it was a long leash for HORSES: go figure..) and I started howling like a siberian, throwing all my anguish in the sound and he came back within MINUTES 😉 . Best compliment ; some people told me they had heard my dog howling. Uh, no, that was me…
Bruce says
We live in a small city and I train my dogs to be reliable off-leash. This lets us go more places, spend more time together, and I believe it gives the more energetic dogs a vastly higher quality of life. The nerve-wracking part is managing the dog’s safety during the awkward transition between “almost reliable” and “fully reliable” off the leash.
Red Dog is a work in progress so I manage risks; maintain constant vigilance; and revisit prior training as needed. We spend days in the woods and she “almost always” behaves beautifully. The best way I know to proof her behavior is through exposure to ever-more-tempting distractions in safe locations. One benefit of this exposure is that Red Dog finds obedience class to be pretty easy compared with mastering “sit” at the dog park or “look at that” below a freshly-treed squirrel.
The other dogs are simpler. The Sammy recalls gloriously and shows little interest in leaving my side. The Pug – let’s just say she is a very sweet dog.
Years ago I trained my first two dogs to be trustworthy off leash. My first dog, a Beagle mix, was particularly challenging. Beagle brains do NOT come pre-wired for recall. Merle’s Door includes a vivid description of convincing the dog not to chase cattle. My experience training the Beagle mix was similar – just substitute rabbits for cattle and city traffic for rifle-wielding ranchers.
D says
Different circumstances require acceptable rules for fun and safety. Used to be a city girl. My dog went on long walks each day (about 6 miles in three walks). She was always on a lead unless we went to a fenced park to play ball. This was a daily activity. Live in a rural area now. She is never out in the dark or dawn/dusk with out a leash for safety reasons as we have many wild animals. During the day, she follows me through my chores around the farm. She was having difficulty with chasing the mail-car, but we have making strides with breaking that adverse behavior.
JulieT says
I live in the UK – we don’t have leash laws here. I live in the city, in London, and my dog was off lead in the park at 10 weeks old and we have never looked back. If you let your puppy off lead right away, and work on recall from the get go, it seems to be less of a big deal. Where I live, all dogs are off lead – those with great recall, ok recall, and dodgy recall. But because they have always been used to sticking around their owners off lead, more or less, that’s what they do.
Rose says
With regards to recall software being pre-installed – one thing I really wanted in a dog was one with amazing recall, so I spent a ton of time playing recall games with my puppy, and progressing to more challenging recall training as she got older. Now that she’s 2 (and a bit) her recall is super super solid, much to my delight! However, one thing I’ve always secretly suspected is that despite my training, the *real* reason why she’s so good at recall is because she’s a Rottweiler and she probably was just born that way. If I had done the exact same recall training with a beagle, would it be just as awesome? Seems unlikely. What breeds would you say are known for having great recall naturally?
Off-leash in general: I feel like life would not be nearly as fun or rewarding for my dog if she had to be on-leash all the time, so I make an effort to take her places where she can run off-leash. I’m not so worried about a lack of fences as long as we’re reasonably far away from roads and other dangers. I’ve never had her be more than about 20 metres away from me in any direction, she seems to have some magnetic force that keeps her close by. As soon as I get a certain distance away from her, she runs to me… not sure where this comes from, I didn’t train it specifically, although I do reward it 🙂 Anyway, as a result of her good recall and desire to stay close, I don’t worry much about her running off! Still, I do leash her unless we’re in a safe spot, since there’s no point in tempting fate, and I don’t think she has any road sense at all. Plus there’s just this sense of manners. It seems like the polite thing to do to leash your dog, and I’d hate to be yelled at by someone with a chip on their shoulder.
Trisha says
Fascinating comments. A few things stand out to me. One is the cultural difference in expectations about whether dogs can be let off leash safely. JulieT mentioned that dogs in London are off leash in the parks all the time, but, of course, are put on leash around traffic. That’s been my experience in the UK and Germany too… London, for example, has massive (and gorgeous) parks all over it, and everyone lets their dogs off leash inside of them. I suspect that greeting other dogs off leash leads to a lot less dog-dog aggression than one sees in areas where dogs are always on leash. I wish the U.S. had more large (LARGE) places for dogs to be safely off leash.
Another point, made by several of you, is that it’s a lot easier to teach a dog to stay close or come when called if you start when it’s a puppy. I couldn’t agree more. Start when the dog still has a “following response,” work through his or her adolescence, and you have a much better chance of having a dog come when called.
One last comment: Mirielle, I LOVE the howling recall idea! I also have had luck, when in dire straits, of throwing myself on the ground and whimpering. Dogs are astounded and curious!
The importance of an individual dog’s personality is crucial. I made that point in the article, but many of you have provided wonderful examples of it. I love Rose’s comment above that her Rottie may have been carefully trained to come when called, but is probably genetically hard-wired to stay close. I’ve seen that over and over again, even in one breed. Willie has always stayed close, while other BC’s I’ve had needed training to come when called and pay attention to me when out in the woods.
Last thing for now: I hear you about the frustration of off leash dogs running up to your own leashed dog. Believe me, I’ve been through it with hundreds (thousands?) of clients, and with my own dog, Willie, who was terrified of unfamiliar dogs when he was young. That’s one of the reasons I say that all off leash dogs need to be able to stop when told and come when called… but I didn’t say (should have) that those cues need to be used to keep your dog from running toward a person/dog/horse/deer/nesting bird/dangerous cliff… etc.
It is a nightmare to be walking a dog-dog aggressive dog and have another come running at you while the owner yells, obliviously, “It’s Okaaaay! He loves other dogs!” I had to use the method I illustrate in the Reading Room on the website for years to protect Willie from dogs with owners who weren’t, uh, helpful. (See How To Stop an Approaching Dog) http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/aggression-towards-other-dogs.
JulieT says
I LOVE the fact that the UK has no on-lead restrictions. And it’s true that the London parks, particularly the deer parks are massive. It is actually difficult to find a place to walk a dog on lead and not be approached by other off lead dogs. You have to stick to walking such a dog on the streets, really, where most (but certainly far from all) dogs will be on lead. Lots of people do have dogs off lead around traffic, although I wouldn’t do so.
My dog was injured and I had to walk him on lead for a few months. It was pretty much a nightmare. The only green space I could find that required dogs to be on a lead was the flower beds outside Buckingham Palace. Seriously.
The huge downside is that this culture of “all dogs off lead” means walking a reactive or injured dog on lead is very difficult unless you stick to the streets. The huge upside is that I suspect there are massively fewer reactive dogs because they have all happily mingled freely, off lead, in the parks since puppyhood….and none of them know what a “dog park” is – there are just parks.
Nic1 says
Couldn’t agree more with Trisha’s last paragraph in her last comment. It’s a nightmare….
I am reeently concerned at the number of dog walkers who advertise themselves as ‘professional’ walking up to 6 dogs off leash and also letting them go charging out of the back of vans without due care or attention. They can be pretty adrenalised charging up to other dogs which makes them spooling for a fight if they pick the wrong dog! How many dogs is one person allowed to walk legally in the UK?
Luckily I am fairly rural and have access to a lot of public pathways through farmland and the countryside so there is plenty of places to walk my dog reactive dog off leash. I only consider it safe if there are no livestock, cats or wildlife to let her off. She’s high drive and loves to chase so have to pick my places carefully. But again, every dog is an individual and no one size fits all.
Gayla says
@ Susan Boyer: beautiful post! That non-verbal connection with another sentient (any other) being, almost touches “oneness.”
Frances says
I often walk my neighbour’s somewhat dog reactive terrier, Jill, as well as my own two more polite tinies. I have finally managed to convince Jill that she is safe once she is on her lead beside me, so that she happily comes to be leashed as soon as another dog comes into sight – I then have to keep my part of the bargain by keeping dogs she doesn’t like well away from her! If we are walking anywhere without good sight lines in all directions she stays on her lead, which is pretty miserable for both of us as she wants to dawdle and stop to sniff and pee every few yards. And my two are on leash if we are near traffic, or sheep, or (especially!) chickens, of course. But a walk that is completely, or even mainly, on leash doesn’t really count as a walk as far as they are concerned.
A useful tip for dark nights – I use cyclists reflective armbands with flashing LEDs as hi-vis collars for my two when they are out in the garden after dark. The armbands are adjustable with velcro and elastic, and much cheaper and better than the collars sold for dogs, and very easy to follow in the dark. Not to be recommended for dedicated chewers who might swallow the battery, of course!
Jackie D says
I am from the UK, and live on the edge of a village. Predators are not an issue but cars are, as is common politeness to other dogs, humans and livestock. Both my dogs were adopted as untrained adults.
My BC mix who has serious ‘issues’ is never allowed off leash except in a private fenced field that I lease once a week for his benefit. I haven’t put as much effort into recall as I might have because I know I can’t let him off whatever happens. On the very rare occasions that he’s got away from me (eg the time he saw a deer and pulled the lead right out of my hand) he’s gone home on his own after a short period of time.
My spaniel has a high prey drive and a strong tendency to go ‘self-employed’. Her recall is less than good. However she DOES check in regularly (heavily rewarded), DOES follow directional signals from a distance, and DOES recall from both people and dogs much better than she does from hunting. (She is also very good with people and pretty good with other dogs). If she doesn’t get at least a short run every day she goes insane and drives the rest of the household insane too. So I do let her off in the nearby woods where I know there are no livestock, game bird feeders, or roads close by. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I can do.
I have the low tech equivalent of GPS – a falconry bell on a spaniel’s collar will reassure you that a lot of the time, even if you can’t see the dog and she is ignoring you, she is hunting systematically in the undergrowth only a short distance away!
Chris says
I have to say at the outset that a large part of off-leash recall ability comes hardwired in the various breeds and to a lesser extent in the particular dog. I could never let, say, a German shorthair off lead and watch him race around and disappear for an hour until he was (just a bit!) tired and came back, but I know people who can, without shrieking his name after 5 minutes. My chosen breed is goldens and so I’ve been able to let them off leash because I’ve been very determined to do so. I think it’s so important for a dog, and in particular a hunting breed, to be able to run off leash and sniff and smell and roll as the mood takes them. I’ve lived in a couple different communities in CA, one an overbuilt beach community where I still found places for them to run, some of them I had to sneak into, and for the past many years in another beach community which also has a LOT of legal off leash trails and beaches. Dog heaven, basically. I do start them as early as possible, while they still have that following instinct, and they always stay with me or in sight even after they’re grown and will come with me away from other people/dogs if I ask them. All of my dogs have had a good recall but my current youngest one has had, from day one, the most outstanding recall I’ve ever known! From 3 months old, if I called her name, she would stop from a dead run, whirl around and come back to me just as fast as she left. I thought it might go away when she hit about 7 months and the teen-age years were upon her, but no. She’s 4 now and she still has it, no thanks to me, she just came with it and it’s pure joy! We do a lot together, rally and agility, but walking on a trail or open space with my dogs off-leash is my most fun and we get to do it almost daily. I’d shrivel up if I couldn’t, and I’m sure my dogs would too.
Kat says
Walking Ranger today I realized that he’s only technically on leash a whole lot of the time when we’re out walking. We were doing our usual park loop walk today before taking him to school so he could listen to kids read. He’s got a leash attached to his collar and I have the other end draped over my arm, literally draped, I don’t have a hold on it anywhere, the hand loop is dangling down around my knees. When we meet a couple with their small very reactive something who is barking and lunging at Ranger I signal him to my other side and we walk on past. Several yards past the reactive little thing I realize that I really could have take hold of Ranger’s leash. We’re almost always connected by a leash but apparently it’s habit and leash laws rather than any particular need to control him with a leash. LOL
lak says
Thank you again for such and informative post. I do let my dog off he leash on the trail and my pockets are loaded with treats. She is a pitbull mix rescue and has quite the mind of her own. But she loves food, so when I got her I taught her HALT when people walked by us, or bikes rode by us, or a motorcycle rode by us, you get the point. When she halts she sits as well, she is immediately rewarded with treats!!!! Her halt is perfect. She is off leash on a citified trail with no cars anywhere near us. She is off leash on my sisters 20 acres and stays right in the back of the house with us. she is off leash on the high school football field, again with no roads near. Everywhere else other than my walled courtyard she in on a leash. We do a 3-4 mile a day walk so she gets plenty of exercise. Thanks for such an informative article, it is nice to know as a novice dog owner I am on the right and safe path!!!
Melissa Shapiro says
I always had dogs that I could let off their leashes at parks and other safer type areas. My vet school dog didn’t need a leash in NY city or Philadelphia. She had been a research dog for years. She was attached to me the second I met her. I thought I was an amazing dog trainer! After I got married, our border collie and whippet, and retired seeing eye dog black lab didn’t need leashes either. We had a fenced back yard but the fence really wasn’t necessary to keep them with us. Things changed when we adopted a 9 pound terrier mix from Tenn. She only wanted to chase chipmunks. I had time to spend working with her so she quickly learned the emergency recall “HERE”. She will turn on a dime even if she’s face to face with a skunk and be back in front of me as quickly as she can. She loves to run along the beach, is dog friendly, and comes when I call her. But, I never feel that we are truly walking together. We added 4 more young rescue dogs over the next 2 years which made spending individual time with any one dog almost impossible. As each one came in, the others had less one on one time with me. The dogs all went to dog classes weekly for about 2 years each, and then they went to agility classes. I spend a huge amount of time working and playing with them. I can certainly let a few of them off leash at our town beach, but some are scared of other dogs, and one is deaf in one ear. So she stays on her leash unless we are in a fenced area. The problem I have is that even though the dogs don’t run away at the beach they are used to going to, they have tended to pick up each others worst habits, including anxiety, and they will ignore me when they are playing all out in our yard unless they know I have treats for them. I’ve found that the best thing I can do is spend time with each dog individually or in small groups of 2 or 3. They all look forward to having me call their name to come out and play with me in their own special way. I also take them in groups of 1, 2, or 3 for walks. I’m wondering if it’s partly just the group of dogs I have, or if it’s just a matter of having gotten too many dogs too close together. So, we plod along making steady progress towards having a more “normal” relationship despite many disabilities and anxiety issues in the group. There’s no question that the individuals behavior on and off leash is tightly tied into the group dynamic, the young ages of the dogs, and the time frame that the dogs were added. Fortunately, they all love each other and enjoy doing group activities.
Bruce says
Is your dog safe off leash? Perhaps not even in your own house or fenced yard, according to a November 13, 2015 article in The Washington Post, titled “Police can shoot your dog for no reason. It doesn’t have to be that way: Training could go a long way to reducing these senseless animal deaths.” Link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/11/13/police-can-shoot-your-dog-for-no-reason-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way/
Some of the stories are heartbreaking. A Florida police officer went to a person’s house to let them know that their car door was open. The family’s gregarious 2-year old rescue dog bounded out to greet the officer, who shot the dog three times in the head. The dog used to sleep in bed with the family’s 8-year old son.
In the past 70 years, not a single police officer has been killed by a dog. In contrast, police officers in Atlanta killed 100 dogs in two years; similarly police in Buffalo, NY shot 92 dogs in three years.
One single Buffalo police officer shot 26 dogs in the 3-year time period.
The article contrasts police “shoot first” tactics with the Post Office and utility companies, which train their employees how to avoid dog bites. In Chicago, Commonwealth Edison reduced dog bites by 90% through hands-on employee training, improved safety policies, and requiring meter readers to carry an umbrella to distract potentially aggressive dogs.
The article includes several links for further information and references.
RC says
I have a beagle mix that I’ve had for 1 year. Somehow, when we got to recall in class, she never hesitated. I’ve heard that beagles are stubborn about recall, but not her. I don’t even have to have a treat handy, she’ll do it for a “good girl” and a pet
That being said, while I will let go of the leash while doing “down, stay, leave it” on our quiet road, I won’t do it outside of our large fenced yard other than that. I trust her, but I’m not sure she knows how dangerous the world can be for her.
She has “missed” on the leave it release when I’m more than 25 yards from her. The look on her face when she realizes she overshot me is priceless.
GSwan says
I also am fascinated by the off-leash question. In our case, the practice I’ve chosen is based on a combination of training, my dog’s personality, and my own willingness to gamble. Amani, my now 9 1/2 year old Australian cattle dog, raised in the city, spent many hours at a large off-leash dog park as a pup, following around his buddy Rudy, who rarely strayed more than 5 feet from her humans. Some combination of these early years and his herding temperament’s desire to check on the herd (me) magically created a dog who never “runs away.” As he’s gotten older, I’ve gotten much more strategic about practicing lots of recalls with him at the park. When he was young, we evolved the command “let me get it” which means “come here and let me adjust your collar.” This command really has nothing to do with his collar, but it’s a quick moment for me to lay hands on him and then very quickly release him back into the fun of the park. Overall recall at the park is also often reinforced by just calling his name, then stopping and waiting for him to return to me for a treat. Over the past few years, all of this work has made him much easier to call him away from other dogs that I don’t really want him to meet. Provided I call him early enough….
The other place where he occasionally gets off-leash freedom is when greeting a visitor to our house. We live on a side street in the city, rich with squirrels, but not too many passing cars. Somehow the value of greeting a visitor to the house and ushering them up the sidewalk creates a single-minded focus that I trust enough to allow Amani to perform his welcoming ritual: a run out the front door, down the walk, to the person, and then back up the walk and into the house, with the person trailing behind him. This phenomenon fascinates me more than the dog park. If we were a block down the street, I wouldn’t let him off leash. But his specific greeting task is so reliably performed that I trust it most of the time. [I typically don’t let him do this if there’s a car actively driving on our block, and the person arriving must be on our side of the street, not across the street].
Jenny H says
As with just about everything “it depends”.
My timid Sallee (German Shepherd) is NMUC better behaved OFF leash. She tends to either pull on leash or walk around and around me so I’m foreverlastingly having to pass the leash around myself, or *nag* her 🙁 Neither of us like walking this way. But when she doesn’t have me securely attached to her by a leash, she stays by my side. I tend to wrap the (double-ended) leash across her back to make a harnessy sort of thing, so I can hold it (at the cross-over point) when other people/dogs pass by.
Her brother Ironbark is pretty good off leash too — but I need to be more alert to him. He’s big and friendly but more likely to be on-leash.
But Mad Milly the Speagle (Cocker/Beagle) is ALWAYS on leash on the streets and open parks. I can almost trust her in Club, because she just LOVES other dogs, so IF she does decode to make a break for it, there is somebody able to attract her attention so I can get her back.
Christine says
I have just got (well actually 7 months ago now) a rehome aged 8 — never trained. Talk about a wake-up call. I come from a ‘dog’ family, I had a Border Collie previously – my mother has always throughout her life had two springers on the go. My sister has Alsatians and my other sister any weird mutt/stray etc.
Absolutely none of these dogs has ever had to be on a leash. They all come to call and circle back and I never even thought twice about it.
My rehome is a scent hound – and of course I want to walk him off-leash but urggghhh! he just doesn’t listen when he has a scent. It drives me nuts. I have phoned a dog trainer but she has failed to get back to me despite multiple messages – I will have to try someone else.
I do actually let him off leash whilst walking in the countryside but it is a risk. I need him to be able to come to call more reliably. Maybe an e-collar is the way? I don’t know. I hate the fact he simply doesn’t listen. I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get a rescue/rehome again – puppies are difficult but at least you can train them the way you want them to be!
Penny says
I have two 4 year old blue healer lab mix littermates that I’ve had since pups. The male recalls on a dime. The female will chase wild life and be gone for up to ten minutes. Once she returned with 3 coyotes on her tail. For her safety I no longer let her off leash. The thing I worry about is jealousy between the two. I give both of them lots of hugs and praise on the walks. Do you think my on leash dog feels slighted?
Penny says
I forgot to mention that the decision to not let my female off leash is fairly recent and their “play” has become little more aggressive lately.
Lauren says
My jack Russell Chihuahua mix is so good offleash. She comes when called but sometimes she wants to finish what she was doing first. In that case I whistle and whistle trumps ALL things . She will immediately head to me from any where, despite anything w one whistle. She is a great dog. She understands come, go, sit, roll over, quit it ( when I catch her growling at the window at squirrels or whining BC the neighbors are out with their dogs and she is going crazy at the window ) I do take her out while they are outside but not while acting like an instinctive freakshow. I tell her to quit it and she does. On the rare occasion she just can’t get herself together, we wait until they go back in. She knows if she wants to see her friends ( she’s very social to other dogs and ppl alike) she has to be in specific mode or we are not going to have interaction. I still take her out off leash but only if neighbors are not in sight. She behaves and she listens. She will jet after a squirrel but I’ve worked with her and I have gotten her to stop in her tracks and come back after 5 seconds of impulse instinctive darting off into oblivion. She gives cues too.. Like her stance will change and she will face in the direction of a possible dart off scenario and I say Chloe , stay. Then I say good girl and get her attention on doing something Else. She isn’t perfect but she’s good at keeping up to the fluctuating expectations of being off leash and so am I for that matter. Like if your dog is not coming back to you , kneel and call them pat your knees if needed, they will come then.
Lauren says
Penny with them being four, is she fixed? She def would not be in charge of her instinctive impulses around certain times if not fixed. Have you tried taking her someplace else with out the male, away from the woods or any of that and walked with her off leash? She may just need one on one attention to get her on par with your male. I’d try taking her on a training one on one walk someplace safe or in a fenced area , specifically aimed at working against chasing like where she can’t disappear off someplace leaving you worrying your head off..that’s no good ! I know! Jealousy or Alpha dog battles can trigger all types of instinctive behaviors in dogs . one on one walks might be a very good tactic if that’s an issue. You have to be alpha, not them. .. If they constantly are dominating the other , trying to shove the other out of the frame when you pet the one that isn’t them, that is all behavior pointing that they are the leader and call the shots ..if you pet one, that is the leaders call, not an opportunity for the pack party to alter your actions to their way. Be the alpha one on one, then combine them , and work on leading the pack as a group, after one on one is solid. Being together isn’t permission to throw out the leaders guidelines.
Miss Cellany says
It gives me way too much joy to see my dog running free that I would never consider keeping her on leash all the time. That said I only let her off in locations where it’s unlikely she’ll come across something dangerous. Not impossible, just unlikely. She hasn’t got 100% reliable recall, but it’s close. I can only think of one or two occasions where she’s run off out of my sight, and she did come back on her own so I wouldn’t classify that as “running away”, just “running too far”.
She is sort of dog neutral. She won’t usually approach dogs but if they approach her she’ll greet if they look friendly, and avoid them if they look aggressive or pushy. I call her back when I see a leashed dog approaching just in case it’s reactive or aggressive – but if a dog growls or warning / threat barks or even stares too hard at her she gives it a wide berth anyway so it’s very unlikely she’d approach an aggressive leashed dog in the first place. She is a bit too enthusiastic around cats – she always wants to greet them (I blame that as her having grown up with 3 cats that play and interact with her a lot). She doesn’t seem to realize that most cats want nothing to do with her (though the feral cats that hang around my mother’s house tolerate her more or less now).
Douglas Holsclaw says
If you don’t have a yard, don’t get a dog. Aside from the many pit bull attacks we have in San Francisco. Also, what about the dog? My neighbor has a medium sized dog on the third floor. He takes it down 3 times a day for three minutes. Is that fair to the dog. I,used to go to an on leash park by the bay, but there were 9 pit bull attacks in one year, plus a police horse was attacked and had torn muscles and ligaments and was sent to an animal sanctuary for life.
Thanks
Melissa McCue-McGrath says
Hi Douglas!
I’m only emailing to defend dogs without yards all over this country who do great without their own patch of grass. For every owner or guardian who may struggle without a yard, there are hundreds who work incredibly hard to get their dogs to exercise, mentally stimulative games indoors to keep their dogs satisfied, and, I’d argue as a trainer and behavior consultant of 20 years in urban environments where backyards were a luxury most didn’t have access to, those with yards tended to leave their dogs outside without supervision to run fences, bark at mail carriers, scream at people passing by, and in one serious case, a dog who had a small yard was so frustrated he broke out of an open door, through the opening in the gate and nearly killed a 6’4 man and his German Shepherd on Halloween night in my city. This was not a pit bull (a generalized term that paints any dog with a head 1/4″ wider than a golden retriever – pit bull is not a breed) but a large dog who was frustrated from years of living behind a fence with a yard, without a capable handler to work with the dog. The yard became an easy way to ignore the dog and allow him to get more and more frustrated.
This was the event that led me to write a book advocating for dogs in urban environments and to discuss everything that we tend to ignore when acquiring dogs in densely populated areas.
A yard does not make a good dog owner. In some cases, it can make things much worse.
As for a dog in your area having only a few outings a day, a dog with severe anxiety, illness, or a dog with arthritis may only do well for going out to pee for three minutes. The owner may have PTSD or struggle. We just don’t know. Anything longer may be torture and increase anxiety or pain for that individual dog or owner. I have professionally advised people in *some cases* to NOT take their dogs out unless they can do it when the risk of running into other people or dogs is incredibly low. We don’t know the situation of the dog on the 3rd floor – he may be living his best life with an owner who is advocating for the dog beautifully, he may not. I don’t know this man or his dog and cannot weigh in specifically to this situation, but hope this can point out the nuances of owning dogs in cities. It may look different compared to traditional dog ownership, but it can be done and there are many great ways to have dogs live their best lives with and without a yard 🙂
I’m just chiming in to speak up for the dog owners who may be doing their best and strike down the notion that the only way to satisfy a dog is with a yard. This thinking is unfair to the millions of people in cities who work incredibly hard to work with their dogs when they do not have access to a yard, who spend thousands of dollars a year on additional support in daycares, dog walkers, car payments in cities where cars are a massive luxury in order to take their dogs somewhere calm, or dedicate time to figure out how to get a dog out of a city for a nature hike on the weekends. And for the people who have dogs who are challenged by anxiety, physical ability (of the person or dog), and who are doing their best with the tools they have access to in order to give the best life they can to their beloved companions.
Trisha says
Hear hear, Melissa, I agree with you that “yards” are not the answer to responsible dog ownership. The solution that Douglas, understandably, seeks, is exactly that: Responsible dog ownership. I too have seen free running dogs terrify, traumatize, and badly injure both pets and people (including two professional trainers/behaviorists–and if they couldn’t protect their dogs, no one could), AND plenty of cases of dogs left to moulder or go crazy in yards. I wish just one thing was the answer, but I truly sympathize with those who are sick of being under threat, but, as usual, things are much more complicated.