# Training to walk off leash



## GoldenLove88 (Jul 25, 2014)

Keep practicing her on Stay, Look at me, No, Leave it and Come command. These are useful for off leash walking. I am still training her with these but she does really well but haven't mastered "Come" command because she is still easily distracted with stranger or dog. Usually off-leash in neighborhood area is not a good idea because most strangers don't know your dog well and even doesn't know dog behavior, it can be misled thinking that your dog is aggressive and possible attack instead of actually playful and wanted to be pet. You don't want your dog to be around with police on off leash.


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## SwimDog (Sep 28, 2014)

If you are in a brand new place with her on the longline (for safety reasons - not to pull her in), how reliable is her recall?

Do you have friends with fenced yards that you can borrow for 1-2 sessions so that you don't have to fear her running off?

For many dogs like her it can be a good idea to do a lot of practice in other places before your neighborhood- she's already learned to run off for more fun in that location. Once her reliability is greater (almost perfect) in other places, then go back to the training tasks in your neighborhood.


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## tennessee_rose (Apr 7, 2014)

I'm still trying to get mine to walk nicely ON the leash..... LOL!! 
If he is out loose and I'm trying to get him back I just put a few of his dog food kibbles in a bowl and shake it around and he hears the noise and 99% of the time comes running. (Probably not the greatest method but it works and at least he's off the street and not getting run over).
Is your dog spayed? I know my dog pretty much quit with the wandering thing when we got him neutered.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I once took a classes at a great dog training school. The owners had a golden, lab and Spinoni. Very trained dogs, lots of titles.

One day she was telling us a story how she was putting her dogs in the car, the neighbors across the street came home, and all three dogs went running over to say hello. From that point on, I decided to never trust any of my dogs off leash. If those very well trained dogs could take off, then mine could too. It only takes that one car to be driving by.

I lost a dog over twenty years ago to a car, so I know how quickly it can happen.


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## Susan: w/ Summit we climb (Jun 12, 2014)

One of our trainers told a similar story that had happened to her. She believed that her girl was 100% reliable, but one day the dog saw a cat across the street and took off. She watched as her dog was run over and killed.


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## GoldenLove88 (Jul 25, 2014)

Susan: w/ Summit we climb said:


> One of our trainers told a similar story that had happened to her. She believed that her girl was 100% reliable, but one day the dog saw a cat across the street and took off. She watched as her dog was run over and killed.


That.... you never know what could trigger the dog excitement no matter how reliable our dog are. Anything could happen in the neighborhood such as got ran over by car when running after something or got shot by the one of the neighborhood or the police when trying to greet or want to be petted.


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## Pemyquid (Jan 16, 2015)

It can be done, but I agree with other posters that for now there should be no opportunity for your dog to be off leash in your neighborhood. It's simply too much fun and you haven't given him a strong enough reason -negative or positive - to outweigh that. In safe open areas, have to tried the "find me" game? I did it tons and it helped sooo much in terms of teaching them to keep an eye on me when off leash rather than the other way around. If your dog runs away, take off in the opposite direction, making as much of a spectacle of yourself as possible. Make her come find you and have to chase you down, and each time make a huge fuss over her. She is the most spectacular girl when she does that. 

Also, this is very much NOT in vogue now, but I did once or twice, after doing all the positive stuff and still being ignored, I did tackle my dogs and thwack them. I'm not sure I would do it the same way now, but I was operating under the principle that there had to at some point be a consequence for willfully ignoring me. I would rather my dog be a little bit afraid of me and listen to me when I really mean business, than have no fear of me and be dead because they didn't. Again, this was once or twice over the course of 15 years along with all the positive stuff, hide and seek, etc. it didn't make them fearful of me in general, change their personalities or anything.

And, like everything else, it takes time. Both dogs were much more reliable off leash at 6 than at 2. My Golden was always more reliable than my husky mix. We never tried to have them off leash around traffic or any place we knew we couldn't reasonably control them off leash. 

Hope some of this helps, and best of luck!


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## Jenagro (Jan 26, 2014)

It sounds like she loves the "catch me if you can" game! Have you tried having her catch you instead? Run in the opposite direction while sounding like you're having a crazy party with yourself. Instead of treats, you could have a special toy that she only gets to play tug with when you're out of the house - like a squeaky, soft one.

Also be sure to never call her to you for anything unpleasant, and to be extra positive when she does come. This is especially hard if she's been acting up and won't let you catch her, but she'll sense your anger and frustration and be less inclined to come to you.

One thing to also consider is the command itself. If you have been using the word "come" during times when she doesn't listen, she may have learned to ignore it or not take it seriously. You could start from scratch with low distractions and less distance with a new word (like "here"), and gradually build up again with distractions, new safe locations... 

I do have to agree with the other posters that even the most well trained dogs may make a bad split decision that could be tragic.


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## Loukia (Sep 20, 2014)

cubbysan said:


> If those very well trained dogs could take off, then mine could too. It only takes that one car to be driving by.


This actually happened to my cousin's dog. He had a very well trained dog whom my cousin walked off leash for almost 8 years. One day something came over her and she ran into the road and was killed. I live in a suburban area where there are always cars around, so, while I am taking an off leash course right now for the skills, I won't be trusting my guy off leash.

I can understand that in different circumstances off leash could be great, but in my area there are just too many distractions and too many cars.

In the mean time, while you try to train your dog, have you tried using two long leads hooked together with a carabiner? That's what I've been doing to practice for the off leash class. It gives my dog 60 ft of space, so he feels pretty free, but I can reel him back in if needed.


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## Yaichi's Mom (Jul 21, 2012)

You have received a lot of good advice above IMHO.

I have to agree with the previous posters that it is very, very dangerous to even attempt to train off leash reliability in an urban or suburban environment. 

I have wonderful off leash reliability with Brisby on trails, conservation areas etc, however I would never test this in my neighborhood.......too many potential disasters for one fail at heeding a command.

I am no expert, nor am I a certified trainer, however in my experience before you ever attempt any off leash in a "safe" environment, you must have reliable training and results with commands like come, sit, stay, watch me etc. as others have indicated.

2 other very important commands IMHO are :stop" and "with me". You can use any words you wish for these commands, however essentially what you want to do is train that your dog will stop on command and will stay with you off leash on command until you release....my release word it o.k.

I also incorporate both voice and hand signals for this however stop will only work if you are in front of your dog for a hand signal. 

What I did with Brisby was to practice these at home first ( we still do daily) and then I took her to a large fenced in area with and without distractions to practice. 

"Watch me","With me" and "come".....as well as "this way" are most important, but the most important IMHO is "stop".

Get some great treats the Chloe loves that you *only* use for this training. Brisby loves kolbassa, salami or polish sausage, so this is what I have used....and practice, practice, practice.

When I walk around the neighborhood on leash, I also train Brisby to stop and sit everytime we have to cross a road. I tell her "look for cars"....then if there are no cars, I say "no cars" and then release with an "ok"...."let's go". She is about 90% reliable in doing this on her own now every time we have to cross any street...even a small suburban one, however although she is wonderful off leash when we hike, I would never let her off leash here in the burbs. 

Good luck with your training. Looking forward to hearing how you and Chloe make out.


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## chloesmomMI (May 4, 2013)

Thanks to everyone for their great advice. In retrospect I think I phrased my question poorly. What I would really like to do is to be able to train Chloe to go to open spaces like the park or beach so she can run and play games like Frisbee, which is hard for her to do in our yard even though it's decent-sized. I agree with you that off-leash walking isn't very safe and we've decided not to try it again, but if we could just get Chloe to obey commands when she's outside would be a major improvement. 

The crazy thing is that she has her CGC and does therapy work at a nursing home. Chloe has perfect inside manners, but when we're outside it all seems to fall apart.

I'm a naughty dawg!


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