Attention new puppy owners! Let your puppy off the lead.

It does.

My apologies, I never watched the video before. I came upon this thread when it was on page three and only read page three. I like Pippa's wording for it too, Safety Response. I've been calling it the Fear of Being Too Far method. Thank you Pippa.

 

Hi all I'm new here this is my first post. I totally agree with letting puppies of the lead as soon as possible. We have a 13 week old chocolate lab x Pointer Roxie and I have been letting her off her lead since her first walk happy pup If only I could be successful in stopping her barking when playing with my jack Russell ....

 

Hello Wagtmg! A warm welcome to the forum. Do pop over to introductions and tell us more about you and your dogs - and we'd love a photo (that can be a challenge at first, but well worth the effort - more info in techical help).

 

We are fortunate to have a fenced back yard and a number of off lead dog parks, some fenced and some not. We let Cooper off leash immediately in our yard and within the first week at a field near us. She tended to stay pretty close and was easy to work with. We used some treats and verbal rewards. Now at about 9 months her recall is better than our 10yr old Lab. Even when she is running with another dog, she will stop and come back when called.

I will probably get flamed for this, but I also often use radio collars. I seldom ever actually use it, but it gives a lot of security if a pup or dog heads off into a dangerous situation. We walk off leash around our vacation home, and there is some traffic to worry about and a lot of off leash dogs. We boarded both dogs at a gun dog kennel a week ago, and they were very happy that the dogs were collar trained. They have 270 acres and a small lake that they take all the well behaved dogs out to, twice a day. Knowing that the dogs were collar trained meant they did not have to use a long leash the first time they went out with the pack.

 

It's entirely upto you what you use or how you train your dogs; however this forum supports and advocates only positive reinforcements for all dogs so most definitely excludes the use of electronic collars, choke chains etc etc

 

I have to say that we don't let poppy off the lead yet. I have tried it and she just runs off. I don't think that she was ever let off when she was a pup.( we got her at 7 months) We are doing recall training its very slow going. On Saturdays we do a training class in a field and its shocking. I drop the lead with out any fuss her nose is on my hand and i think she is focused on me..... but no she is off and my heart is in my mouth. i just d aren't do it if I am on my own . we will get there. I just wish this had been started when she was a pup.

 

7 months is most likely too old for this method to work. The first time I read about it (after having done it on my own anyway) the suggestion was 16 weeks was about the limit. It works when they are very little and need the reassurance of Mum (YOU ) nearby. My puppies knew COME reliably after two weeks of this method, making them 9 and 10 weeks old. It lasted JEt all her life. Oban needed a refresher course at 18 months.

 

@niclibrarylady Have you tried Pippa's book Total Recall? Chapter 10 is specifically for starting to train a recall with older dogs (from 6 months onwards). It isn't unusual either for teenage dogs to have recall problems even when they had brilliant recall before. Recall training in a field with other dogs around as a major distraction may not be helping. I've just been flicking through the book as Juno's recall is a bit iffy sometimes around water - not in that she fails to recall only that she has to splash through the puddle first

 

Thank you for you input. Funny enough I do have the book and I pick it up again last night I had got to chapter 10 but not read it, so I have bought it to work to read it at lunch.

On another Note Me and OH took out the dogs yesterday evening, and we did some recall and it went really well , poppy ran between us ( both of us had yummy treats) Onyx helped too he has amazing recall. My heart was full of joy. So I will be repeating it tonight. wish me luck

 

I walk Annie (13 weeks) in the fields where we live, I let her off the lead and she loves it. She never go far. When she was sniffing, I kept walking and she looked up so I blew my whistle and she came running back to me. Early days yet but fingers crossed all will be well.

 

We let our 8 week labrador pup off her lead in the garden for the first time today. We practiced recall in the safety of the house for a couple of days first and she recalled perfectly, didn't take her eyes off us once!

 

Well in my pjs this morning, let little Bramble out (9 weeks..)to have a wee, she just legged it! Our cottage sits in a large plot of farmland, next to a beautiful old farmhouse..we live in the original pig barn. perfectly safe, no dogs...etc..
Was she bothered where I was? Not at all, so I had to hurry after her in full view of the neighbours!

 

HaHa - Charlie says go Bramble....

Hope your PJs were decent!

 

Matter of opinion...they are wonderful neighbours, always have a slightly amused look when the see me out and about.
And Bramble is being a madam today....sigh..

 

Wow, a teenager already . I blame those gorgeous boys of yours for being such softies and besotted with her that she now rules the roost

 

Hey all! What if you live in a urban area and there is no safe place to let the puppy off the lead?

 

Most people on this forum are in the UK where, even in urban areas, there are places to let your dog off, as it's legal here to have a dog off lead in recreation grounds, parks etc. If you live somewhere with different laws then you're more restricted.

 

So my puppy is 5 months old... Is he too old to use this method? He has a decent recall, he comes 80-90% of the time. We haven't taken him off leash except to go to the dog park, so my biggest fear is him running.

 

Hi @kpointer13 and welcome to the forum.
A puppy's natural inclination to run to its owner is greatest when still quite young.
It is tricky developing a good recall if you are subject to leash laws (are you in the US?)
You might find Pippa's "Total Recall" book of great use.
Please pop over to Introductions and tell us more about yourself
jac

 

We are in the US, and there are leash laws where we are, but we can walk in our neighborhood and a few other areas close to us without a leash. One of our neighbors trains search and rescue dogs and walks her terrier everywhere without a leash and has been slowly helping me train Major with his leash. I'd really like to get him comfortable off leash though.

I'm already planning on buying the book tonight. Looks like it is something I won't be putting down for a while once I get it.