Charlie was a star on his first walk this afternoon. We had some pulling on the lead but was walking to heel for 1-2 minute periods of time both on and off the lead. Let him off the lead and he followed us (was petrified he would run off) and he recalled to the whistle 3 out of 3 times. The final time he even did it when running in the the opposite direction from us with another dog he'd made friends with! Probably a fluke but felt slightly smug when the owner of the dog said what a well trained puppy I had (she didn't need to know we had been working on it 3 times a day for 4 weeks lol). All in all my initial fears are now relieved and I am looking forward to meeting more people with dogs. This afternoon we made friends with a Collie, Bassett hound, black lab called Sky and a Great Dane called Basil (the size of a Shetland pony I kid you not!)
Re: Charlie's first walk Aw can't wait to take holly out for her first walk Glad it went well for you. I'm also terrified of letting her off lead but I let her walk up the ginnel at back of my house to collect wheelie bin and she stuck to me the whole time so hopefully she'll be ok!
Re: Charlie's first walk Thats lovely to read Emma , its so good that you let him off lead too , the very very best thing to do whilst they are so young , sounds like he had a blast with the other dogs , well done
Re: Charlie's first walk It was totally all Charlie so pleased he is breaking the myth that chocolate labs are crazy and untrainable...
Re: Charlie's first walk Well done to you both. I let Harley off her lead the first time we went out and it has proved positive. She comes 9 out of 10 times when called. Keep up the good work
Re: Charlie's first walk Ah Emma....that's a great start,it's the best thing to let them off now while they are young.....I was a nervous wreck about it,I had to force myself to do it and I'm serious when I say I used to forget to breathe in case he ran away ;D I think it's because I missed this time you have got now,we didn't get Dexter until he was 5 months so it was a steep learning curve....enjoy your walks and making friends....I've met some lovely people and made some nice new friends ( forum members included) through having the yella fella in our life x
Re: Charlie's first walk Well done, so glad it went well! Nerve wracking to let them off the lead, but definitely the best thing!
Re: Charlie's first walk Hurrah it's not a fluke! Charlie recalled beautifully again this morning on the school run, even when chasing another dog at full pelt. Couldn't believe how he instantly changed direction to come back to me. I think the dog is now more predictable than the children (who I lose on a fairly regular basis)!
Re: Charlie's first walk That's wonderful, Emma! Really great. Protect and guard your wonderful recall carefully, if you are super careful with it you can get all the way through the teenage years and then you'll have something amazing for life.
