# Outside Etiquette



## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

*For all of you members who have dogs who are trained to be off leash, what sort of rules do you have for your dogs and how did you train them?*

A little background about what I'm talking about:
I know the number one thing my dogs need to know to be allowed off leash is a solid recall. Oliver finally has that again (now that we're past the teenage stage and we've been vigilant with our recall training). But I also want him to learn that he needs to stay close to me while off leash. I don't mind if he wanders here or there, but I don't want him 100 - 200 yards away. For example, today I had him off leash outside my apartment while I cleaned off my car from the snow. He was wandering around, but every so often he'd go too far away for comfort or too close to the edge of the road. For the most part he'd come trotting back if I just called him over by his name, but if he got too far and I used our recall word he turned on a dime and sprinted back to me. He was great. I'm really happy that our recall training has paid off. But I also don't want to have to recall him every 5 minutes. I ended up putting him back inside because he kept wandering too far off. Even though he was coming back every time I didn't want to test my luck and have him blow off the recall. He finally just got his off leash privileges back. The same thing would apply if we were to go hiking or do some sort of outside activity. I want to be able to have him within a certain radius of me where we can both enjoy the activity. Just the other day I saw a couple walking their golden off leash on the sidewalk. The golden was maybe 10 ft from them walking on the sidewalk sniffing leisurely. I'd love to have that one day. 

So back to my question, how do I get my boys to not run around willy-nilly off leash? What kind of rules do your dogs have to follow to be allowed off leash? And how did you go about training these things? 

Thanks


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

We're in a very different situation then you are. We have a bridge between us and the road, so the bridge is off limits. Her feet aren't allowed on the bridge--not ever. The way we trained it was negative reinforcement, we yelled if she got near. It took about two or three times (we were quite loud and she was young).

Other places it is very different. We walked her off leash at a reservoir early. Lots of treats in pockets and lots of reinforcement for returning. If she didn't return, we would go to her and leash her up for a time.

Anywhere there is a road she is on leash. The exception is UCSB where she (now at 22 months and even before that truly) trots ahead and is given a "down" command at every bicycle path. She waits. Once we are caught up and it is safe, we release her. 

With our previous golden, we would throw balls in the road (a small unused road) to teach her not to go into the road without being on a heel. First cross on a heel, then with her on a heel throw the ball. Correct if she moves, reward if she doesn't. Then inch forward to tossing the ball into the road and correcting if she puts a foot out. Of course, Maddie doesn't like balls particularly, so that isn't the best way to train her.

There are people here who are really, really good at training. We aren't in that crowd. 

Still it mostly works for us and also did with our previous golden.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

If you can't be closely watching your dog, I wouldn't allow him off leash anywhere near a road. Get a long leash and tie out. Our neighbor just lost his golden retriever that way. The dogs were allowed out front while he worked on the car or in the garden or garage. Usually the dogs stayed on the property, though a couple of times one would come over to us when we were walking past the house. One day the dog took off after a squirrel or something and was hit by a car. Even a well behaved obedient dog will get tempted sometimes.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Yep. Even Maddie, whose down stay I swear by, got spooked a couple of weeks ago by a loud noise at a brake shop. She was lying under my feet while I was eating. Then she wasn't. Horrible few minutes. She was fine. I almost had a heart attack.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

GinnyinPA said:


> If you can't be closely watching your dog, I wouldn't allow him off leash anywhere near a road. Get a long leash and tie out. Our neighbor just lost his golden retriever that way. The dogs were allowed out front while he worked on the car or in the garden or garage. Usually the dogs stayed on the property, though a couple of times one would come over to us when we were walking past the house. One day the dog took off after a squirrel or something and was hit by a car. Even a well behaved obedient dog will get tempted sometimes.


I understand the risks of a dog being left unattended by a road , but that doesn't really have anything to do with this thread. I'm asking for advice on how to teach my dog to always stay close to me off leash - that way what you just pointed out doesn't happen.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Gwen_Dandridge said:


> We're in a very different situation then you are. We have a bridge between us and the road, so the bridge is off limits. Her feet aren't allowed on the bridge--not ever. The way we trained it was negative reinforcement, we yelled if she got near. It took about two or three times (we were quite loud and she was young).
> 
> Other places it is very different. We walked her off leash at a reservoir early. Lots of treats in pockets and lots of reinforcement for returning. If she didn't return, we would go to her and leash her up for a time.
> 
> ...


Thank you, I like the idea of tossing a ball in the road to teach the impulse control. Once I get my long line back from my BF's house we'll add this to our training. I live at an apartment complex on 12 acres. We're about 100 yards from a quiet road. The other direction is either more apartment buildings or woods. I'd like to teach him to stay on the woods/apartment side and away from the road. For right now he's only allowed off leash when the roads aren't being used (aka cleaning off my car after a snowstorm), or if we go into the woods. I'd like to work up to being able to allow him off leash at other times as well, but I know we're not there yet.

Looking forward to more training advice!


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## GoldenMum (Mar 15, 2010)

When Clyde was a pup, we walked a golf course every morning. Eventually, he was trustworthy enough to go off leash. I always had treats in my hand, and he knew if he checked in and nosed my hand there would be reward.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

GoldenMum said:


> When Clyde was a pup, we walked a golf course every morning. Eventually, he was trustworthy enough to go off leash. I always had treats in my hand, and he knew if he checked in and nosed my hand there would be reward.


Oh wow, the golf courses around here would never allow a dog on their property. There are some nice hiking trails though. If it ever stops blizzarding up here I'll have to get the long line out and start doing regular hikes with treats for checking in. Oliver knows to check in, but I feel like once we get out to a new place he'd much rather explore than check in for a treat. I'll come up with something though!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

It's easier if you start when they are younger - train them to "check in" on you and quarter back to your side when you stop or change direction. 

And even there - the more "space" you have between you and roads or other people and dogs, the easier to transition to getting around off leash with your dogs. 

Walking around the block - Jacks has off leash privileges, but Bertie doesn't. I would trust him to a certain extent, but he still had no "control" when it comes to PLAY PLAY PLAY with his buddies on our walk route.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

I realized I didn't respond to the etiquette part of this. 

1. If a person approaches me (walking by) with a dog on leash when Maddie is off-leash, I call Maddie to me immediately and put her on heel. 

2. Maddie is not to approach a stranger without my permission. You must know that I lose on this one occasionally, but not often. When I see a potential person she might want to "visit" I call her back.

3. I have to watch her for being a brat when people she is allowed to say hi and then I discover that the person has treats on them. Maddie gets insistent on getting those treats. Error.

4. She may not join another dog in play unless I have checked with the owner and gotten an okay.

5. You're going to have trouble with people and their dogs (off-leash) who let their dog roam. The last one I dealt with as the dog approached stiffly, I put Maddie on leash and blocked her as I said, "Is your dog aggressive?" The answer was no then yes, but only with certain dogs. 

Well dang, I thought. And you just watched me get my dog on the side away from you, click on a leash and still you let your dog come? 

So there are challenges out there.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I let Molly run "willy nilly" off leash on fields every day. She usually sticks close enough to me that I don't have to keep calling her. It's a wide open space so I can always see where she is. Sometimes she gets stuck on a scent and I'll have to call her back. But I want her to run and burn off energy, so she is usually running around and not walking leisurely a few feet away from me. She can do that when she's too old to be running around. 

Hiking is a little different. Molly always runs ahead on trails, but not too far. I just call her back when I see someone coming. If the trails are winding and in the woods, I'm hesitant to let her off leash because I can't see what's ahead around the corner. I play that by ear. 

I never trained Molly for off leash etiquette. Sometimes I do treat her for checking in. But a reliable recall is the most important thing and would never let Molly off leash without it. 

I did take a Control Unleashed class. It taught us how to teach our dogs to pay attention to us. We would let our dogs off leash in a fenced off area of the class with increasing distractions (toys first and then other (leashed) dogs outside of the fenced area) and we used a clicker to click and treat every time the dog volunteered to give their attention to the handler (turning their head your way, following, etc). Of course, Molly knew it was work time and did not get distracted at all and just followed me around while I clicked and treated. The instructor asked me why I was even in the class! I chose not to train this outside of class. I did a few times and Molly would not leave my side knowing she will get treats. So, I stopped. I didn't want to make off leash time too restricting. I wanted her to run around. Plus, she knows when it is work time and she can heel past distractions when I tell her to. It wasn't something that I needed..I think it was more for dogs that couldn't distinguish between work and play since most of the dogs needed the class for beginning agility. I guess if you wanted to train your dog to be offleash on the street and stay really close to you, the Control Unleashed methods would be an excellent way to train it. We also did counter conditioning with the clicker for distractions. By the end, most of the other dogs in the class that did not have good attention, improved and had better attention. 

I will never let Molly off leash on a sidewalk on city streets. I am too paranoid that she will run into the street. There are so many squirrels around!

I also don't let Molly meet other people or dogs. Even if the other owners are okay with it, I don't allow it. I just don't trust strange dogs. But, there are always exceptions (other goldens ). Most of the time, I leash her up or tell her to heel with me past the people/dogs. 


Sent from Petguide.com App


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## ilovesandwich (May 1, 2013)

Yes, I don't think I could walk down our main street with Sandwich off leash. There's always a risk that something really good catches her attention (a bird, a squirrel, some tasty food) and she will certainly take off! 

We let Sandwich be off leash in areas that are away from roads and don't have a lot of people around. We'll go on hikes and Sandwich definitely runs ahead of us. We play a game of calling her back every 15-30 seconds, i.e. as soon as she is out of sight, and she races back to us for a treat/love, and then flips around again. It's good recall practice. If we see people without dogs or people with children, we always call her and leash her. 

We frequent dog parks and obviously, she chooses which dogs to meet and play with. She also chooses which people she would like to meet, which I'm fine with, too. I mean, I chose to bring home a golden retriever because they're social and playful. Sandwich is a confident dog so we don't need to "protect" her constantly. If there is a reactive dog with an owner who doesn't do much, I call her away and we go to another area, or we leave. No big deal, Sandwich and I both shake it off!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Thank you everyone! It looks like I have a lot of different things I can try to have Oliver behaving like a gentleman off - leash.


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## Gwen_Dandridge (Jul 14, 2012)

Here's another trick that I use. Maddie is taught the position "home." Whenever I see a situation that I want her particularly protected from, this is what I do. It also serve to warn others not to let their dog too close.

It may not work for everyone, but it leaves my hands free and my legs able to kick. Sorry, it's hard to get a picture of this as a selfie.


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