daring to let puppy off the lead,

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SophieLiz

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when and where do you do it with yours?

im terrified to let mine off, shes quite a good girl, she almost always comes to call about the house and has learnt to 'sit' near on perfectly and knows 'bed' but she can be a bit excitable and daft (shes only 13 weeks old so i think we can let her off for that).

normally i would go to a secure field and im lucky enough to rent 5 acres which are secure enough to keep even my mini shetlands in nd have good hedges but the puppy is tiny (chihauhau X) and if she wants to go through them she will make it through and i cant think of anywhere more secure. we dont have dry stone walled fields round here they are all either post and rail or hedges.

what do you lot do with yours? everyone keeps telling me to keep her on the lead bt that doesnt seem very fair.
 
Presumably she has a run about off lead in your garden, at 13 weeks that is probably fine and more than enough. Why don't you just put her on a long line (would have to be a very lightweight one) and use that to let her have a run about on when you are in the field, and you can work on her recall at the same time. My pup is nearly a year old and I have only just started letting her off in strange places, she has been hard work to train though
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The early you let them off the better IMO, at that age she will still be fairly clingy to you, therefore isn't likely to go far. Then you can re-enforce the fact that you are "safe", and keep her "comfort zone" close to you, even once she is older.

Plus being off the lead will be normal for her, she won't go mad when she does go off it!

As for where, as long as you are away from roads, stock, etc, there wouldn't be much that could go wrong!

Or you could get a long line, and let her have a bit more freedom, yet still be in control, until you have her recall perfect.
 
Every puppy I have had has followed me as a tiny baby and never wanted to go far, until I got Evie, who at 7 weeks wouldn't come in from the garden when asked. So I went inside the house and left her, at which she proceeded to carry on playing for another 10 mins or so . Bless her
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hummmmm thank guy, ild prefer to get her off the lead asap whilst she is stll a bit clingy, shes still at the stage where she follows you about and wants to know what your doing all the time so i dont think she would go far but i just wanted somebody else to reassure me lol
 
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Every puppy I have had has followed me as a tiny baby and never wanted to go far, until I got Evie, who at 7 weeks wouldn't come in from the garden when asked. So I went inside the house and left her, at which she proceeded to carry on playing for another 10 mins or so . Bless her
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Otto is exactly the same, although I think it is more of a case of he was allowed to become independant!
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I let them off the lead as soon as it is safe with their vaccinations or sooner if we are in a place not visited by unvaccinated dogs. I find that the younger they are, the more insecure they are and they stick to you. I also teach them a word for staying off the lead but in a 'safety zone' where I can see them so that they learn not to stray. Much easier to do with a really young pup than an older dog or an 'adolescent'. Ideally you want to teach a really strong recall, in all kinds of situations, before the dog becomes an 'adolescent' (one to two years old) and starts testing the boundaries!
 
Oh, forgot to say, if your pup seems to run off, do not chase her, do not go after her, walk away in the opposite direction. If she still does not come (I would be surprised to be honest), hide somewhere where you can see her and she can't see you and wait for her to notice you are gone, panic a bit and then come out and call her again. She needs to learn that she has to pay attention to you all the time otherwise she will lose you.
 
I'd also add (even if just because you're understandably concerned) train her to recall in a familiar area - your garden, even in the house - with an extra special treat just for the occasion, such as tiny cubes of chicken or cheese. Put them in a particular container, call her in whatever way you're used to, then reward her with the special treat you use only for coming back. When you go out and about take the same treats in the same container and call her the same way.

If she does start to wander away/refuse to come as advised start walking away or hide slightly, but also resist the urge to get angry or agitated in your voice, keep it light and high pitched. I see so many people calling their errant dogs in a voice that certainly wouldn't make me want to come to them!;) Make her think being with you is the most fun place in the world.
 
I'm convinced that earlier is better through experience! But I also know a lot of people who have dogs of two years or older that are never off the lead except in the garden, which to me negates the fun part of having a dog!
 
The only advice I would give, is as MM states practice some recall in the garden and maybe use a light longline, and the other is always place her back on the lead if you see another dog running for her, be calm, just recall and treat and walk as normal, but don't leave her loose, the times I have seen puppies off and other loose dogs chase them and the puppy panick and run for it's life, and either get injured or run away or bitten by the dog, ending in a bad assosiation and fear for the rest of it's life, otherwise it's best to let them off little and often when they are little in a quiet place for starters.
 
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