I am sooooo proud. Took my 5 months old puppy this morning to a familiar park/creek with the intention to try our off leash manners for the first time. We have been training recalls since he was very small, in the house, backyard, with distraction, distance, on long training leash... I don't know what I was expecting but his behaviour by far exceeded any expectations I could have had. We ran into a 10 months old pup right away and they played super nicely for a good 10 minutes before other people and dogs joined in for another 10 minutes. There was half a dozens humans and half a dozen dogs. But Romeo was amazing. He spontaneously came back to me every couple of minutes, even in the middle of play!!!! I marked with @come: as he was running towards me everytime and jackpot rewards and it worked great. I really can't imagine how it could have gone better. I'm so pumped!!!!! Thanks Pippa on your articles about off leash. We had followed the advise of another famous trainer online and as part of his advice, we had kept Romeo on leash at all times since we had him so I was starting to get worried yesterday when I read your articles. I think what made it still a success was that despite keeping him on leash, we still worked on recall on many different environments and distractions and had also trained on long leash and close in areas. But now, I know we're on the right track!!! Thanks again!!
