Letting puppy off the lead for the first time?

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Bix

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What age did you let your puppy off the lead for the first time? I've read about doing it early on when they are too scaredy to leave you but I think I'd rather wait till we've worked on recall.

What do you do?
 
Quite early on in secure area to begin with, usually with a very light line with the hand loop cut off still attached if I needed it. Lots of recalls and lots of praise upon return.
 
Day one. Lily was a nervous big girls blouse and far too frightened to run off! She scuttled back the second you called her and massive fuss and praise could be used. She very quickly got used to coming back and it being very pleasent. Much easier than not getting off until they're confident and cocky and quite happy to bugger off on their own.

The likely hood of a very young puppy (unless it's extremely confident) running off is minimal but make sure it's somewhere safe in case they bolt in fear.
 
day one if going to be let off in future may aswell start as mean to go on. Atleast you can practice recall then, for first few weeks before jabs are completed i worked on recall in garden.
However now he is 1yo nightmare who has decided to become a real dog and recall is slightly dicey...its just him being over friendly lab tho!! and being worked on
 
Thank you for your replies :) He's just coming up to 13 weeks and he's had all jabs and so we started walks late last week. I do spend half the walk trying not to trip over him as he just can't get close enough to me and runs along under my feet (the rest of the time he does actually walk along very nicely next to me without pulling, clever puppy), so I do feel that he's unlikely to run off too far when I let him off. I like the idea of a long line though, it would need to be very light to not hinder him though as he's very little (Cavalier), do you have any recommendations/links?
 
Hi Bix.

A new puppy, how exciting!

I do a lot of work with my puppies (I breed), off the lead in the garden from around 3 weeks of age. Lots of recall and 'follow me' games, with lots and lots of praise and an occassional treat to reinforce the good behaviour.

I'm lucky as I'm surrounded by fields so from 6 weeks or so I progress out of the garden into a safely fenced paddock, lead free and the learning continues but in a bigger space.

As soon as the vaccinations have kicked in I pick the safest of my dog walks and venture out and at some point on every walk, even when we're only out for 15mins at 12 weeks, I let the pup off the lead. It always help if you have an older well trained dog to walk with, and/or a pack as a pup will naturally gravitate towards it friends. With my last pup she was walked off the lead from 12 weeks with her mum and I've had very few problems - she'll be 1 next week.

My advice is don't wait too long. Make walking/being with you whilst off a lead
the norm for you and your pup as soon as you can. Use a treat if necessary, to encourage your pup to stay close/come back when called. In my experience, most dogs that have issues with recall were kept on a lead too long 'in case they ran away', so freedom when it came was something they weren't ready to give up without a fight as it was such a treat. The older the pup the more independent it is, so training a 4-5month old pup to come when called is a much bigger task than training a 12 week old pup. (Think toddler versus teenager!)

If you do end up with a 'bolter', as a previous poster has suggested, use a long line and at random times during a walk call the pup back to you and use the long line to draw them in giving the instruction to 'come' and lots of 'good boy/girl' as you do. Once they are back with you make a fuss and reward with a treat if you want to (I don't often give treats, but they do work well for some dogs). Then walk on asking the dog to follow and a few minutes later repeat the exercise. Over time you can start to drop the long line and encourage the recall without having to use it to pull them in. If they do head for the hills you can step on the end of the long line - again in my experience an owner won't often be quick enough to catch a running dog!

If you live near a canal that can be a great place to use your long line as there's generally no where for a dog to go other than straight forward.

Hope that helps, sorry it's turned into a bit of a sermon.

Good luck with your pup and keep us posted.
 
Let your pup off lead ASAP. Use guy rope from a camping shop attached to his collar. Tie knots in the rope at intervals along its length then let the rope trail. Just before you call him put your foot on the line then if he doesnt come gently pull the line in. DO NOT pick up the line as it is "running" as you will get rope burns as i did the first time I used the rope. Make sure you call your pup at frequent intervals during the walk, slip a finger in his collar, give him a fuss or a titbit then let him go again. We used this method with my mum's rescue CKCS and within 2 weeks the line was not needed. Libby was 14 months old and had never been off the lead.
With my young pups I also play hide and seek. It makes them look for you and then they will keep you in their sights all their life.
Good luck and enjoy your walks
 
As suggested whilst young and when no distractions, tackle distractions when you have good recall.
Ideally 2 people and as suggested line attached and call the puppy between you in the most over excitable manner "comeeeeeeeeeeee puppy puppy puppy "name" come on come come on" in a over bearing squeaky voice and down on your knees:o:D and when he/she gets there "yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what a good baby" lots of phrase and rolling around the floor and a treat:D and do this between you and get the puppy super excited to get to you. After a few sessions even introduce a whistle:)
 
Let Ozzie (JRT) off as soon as his jabs allowed (so about 12weeks), had done lots of recall in garden prior to this, so was confident he would come back. :)

I used to walk my brothers dogs (ESS & Lab) and my dad's Lab then too, soo used to alternate between walking the pack together and taking Oz out solo, so he socialized without the pack too.

Don't ever remember him having a problem with recall (except at the end of the walk if he fancied going again)! Little sod would stay 10ft from me, got fed-up one day, so put the others in the car and drove off down the carpark without him.:eek: He came super fast when I stopped and called and never did it again.:D
 
I Always make sure I have a dog with me that will come to call, have always done it this way and the pup will follow. If you don't have one get a friend who has one to walk with you.
 
We did it!!! :)

Hubby had some lightweight rope in the shed so I cut off a 5 metre length and tied (and sewed!) it to a keyring clip I had so that I could clip it easily to his harness, tied a few knots along the length and hey presto, £15 saved lol.

Unfortunately the local field was quite busy today (typical, there was not another soul to be seen yesterday!), a couple of kids playing with a football, another dog and a bunch of kids on one of the benches so I only completely let go once as he just loves people! He went scarpering off towards the kids on the bench and didn't pay any attention to me calling. Luckily he came across a smell that was more interesting and I was able to catch up without running. For the rest of the time I kept hold of the end and with lots of fuss and a few fishy treats in my pocket he came back every time I called him! Very clever puppy!

Thank you for your help :)
 
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