tips on letting dog off lead ??

drunky monkey

hi all
i have an 8 yr old lab. to be honest i got her when i was 17 and still in school we did our best at training i suppose :rolleyes: in the house she would do anything you ask, but on walks was always a different kettle of fish! we did the short lead for years as she was showing a lot of aggression to other dogs. now our walks our pleasant sometimes she would show "interest" in other dogs (our fault not really socialized enough) now i would love to be able to let her off we have a lot of fields and parks around us ? anyone with similar experience ?? like can you teach an old dog new tricks ? information of interest maybe = feed, royal cannin and gets walked for just over an hour every day

are you serious

Get yourself a long feild leash and harness.. this way your dog has the freedom to run about and you still have control over her.

What is she like at recall? If she is terrible a long leash works wonders. Work it out at distance progressively getting further from you, what you do is call har to come or here(whichever she responds to for you) if no response pull her back into you(not aggressively) when she gets to you keep her at your side again until she is behaving, work at this with nice tasty treats for walks when she is good she gets nice treat, bad, she has to walk beside you on short grip on leash.

Ive been doing this with my guy and its working perfect for me as he was getting quite bad at recall for about a month or so. Plus now that its summer there are kids everywhere I turn and all he wants to do is play so kids are included in his eyes, this is where the long leash helps lots as he will never get within 10feet of them if I turn a corner in the park and kids are there I can quickly call him back and if he doesn't respond I have the option to reel him back in. If the kids want of course I will always let them pet him though.

You will get lots of help with your topic here drunky monkey, best of luck

serenacat

drunky monkey wrote: »

hi all
i have an 8 yr old lab. to be honest i got her when i was 17 and still in school we did our best at training i suppose :rolleyes: in the house she would do anything you ask, but on walks was always a different kettle of fish! we did the short lead for years as she was showing a lot of aggression to other dogs. now our walks our pleasant sometimes she would show "interest" in other dogs (our fault not really socialized enough) now i would love to be able to let her off we have a lot of fields and parks around us ? anyone with similar experience ?? like can you teach an old dog new tricks ? information of interest maybe = feed, royal cannin and gets walked for just over an hour every day

Dog whisperer on Nat Geo wild is amazing for tips, really recommend it. Cesar Millan also has some books

Fluorescence

The most important thing to do before letting the dog off-leash is to make sure her recall is excellent. If you can't guarantee she'll come back when you need her to without getting distracted by stuff, then don't let her off the leash just yet. A good way to teach her recall is in your own back garden - calling her over and giving her praise and reward for responding promptly (not necessarily stuffing her face with doggy treats - pats and toys or games work just fine). Once you're confident, take her out someplace without too many distractions and see how she gets on.

Good luck